NILES — On Jan. 23, parents and students of Howard-Ellis Elementary School will trek through “Fluency Flurries,” scale “Comprehension Cliffs” and gaze out from “Phonics Peak.”

The Niles school is hosting Lifting Literacy to New Levels, an alpine ski-themed series of sessions meant to give parents and guardians the skills needed to reinforce reading and writing in their children at home.

The free event runs from 5:45 to 7:15 p.m. at the school, 2788 Mannix St., Niles. Attendees can meet at the Howard-Ellis Café and choose three of five 20-minute sessions to attend, each hosted by teachers. The sessions are comprehension, fluency, phonics, reading aloud and technology.

Howard-Ellis Principal Michelle Asmus said each session covers kindergarten to fifth grade.

The event stemmed from a question Asmus said staff often ask: “How do we help our parents help their children?”

Niles Community Schools’ English language arts committee provided an answer.

It is a variation of previous family nights offered districtwide. Students would often present work, such as historical studies of Native American traditions and the introduction of Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

The committee took the teacher-family structure of these events, narrowed down the event to one school and made it content-driven.

“We want our parents to know the strategies we use here in school so that they can reinforce those at home,” Asmus said.

For example, at “Comprehension Cliffs,” alias, Room 30 at Howard-Ellis, students and adults will make die for a dice game the session attendees will play collectively. On each side of the die is a different question that adults can pose on children on the material they read.

There are multiple goals to the literacy night and its sessions, Asmus said.

First, it provides parents and guardians the opportunity to pick up strategies to strengthen their children’s literacy.

“Their parents are so influential in their lives, obviously, and parents often ask, ‘How can we help our kids at home?’” Asmus said.

School introduces children to literacy skills and develops them. Reinforcing those teachings at home leads to the event’s second goal.

“Our ultimate goal is for our kids to want to read, to be lifelong readers,” Asmus said.

A love of reading not only boosts a child’s knowledge of the world, relationships, issues and emotions, it can help them learn and take an interest in other school subjects, she said.

Of course, a love to read makes life more fun, too, and the “Read Aloud Avalance” session can help, organizers said. Children are able to take home a free book of their choosing.