Family Literacy Day celebrates reading and learning together as a family
Family Literacy Day is January 27th and Islanders are making special efforts this week to celebrate the benefits of reading and learning together as a family.
“As parents, we are our children’s first and most important teachers,” said Education, Early Learning and Culture Minister Jordan Brown. “Parents can support their child’s learning by making family literacy a part of their everyday routine, by keeping in close touch with their child’s early childhood educator or teacher, and by taking advantage of the excellent free resources at our public libraries.”
Parents, grandparents and siblings support early literacy and learning in many ways:
- When parents make reading and writing a family activity, they have a positive influence on their child’s reading achievement and success in school.
- When children have opportunities to practice reading at home, they build vocabulary and knowledge, as well as reading comprehension and expressive language skills.
- When reading is seen as important in the home, children will have more interest in reading and learning.
- High literacy skills are not needed to support children’s early literacy. Singing songs, telling stories and talking with children are important things that parents and grandparents can do with children to develop language skills.
- When older siblings read to younger family members they are strengthening their own vocabulary and pronunciation, increasing their attention span and building confidence in their own reading.
- Young children learn through play and when parents play with their children they are building strong relationships with them and helping them build strong early literacy skills.
Schools also have activities planned. For example, West Kent Elementary is celebrating on January 25 by hosting a Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character. Donagh Regional is celebrating all week with a Winter Literacy Celebration including a snowman book character art contest, a family photo display, and a Dress As Your Favorite Character day. Morell Consolidated School will be having a reading celebration on January 25 during the last hour of school when all staff and students will be reading their favourite books dressed in their coziest pajamas or as their favourite characters.
Media contact:
Jean Doherty
jmdoherty@gov.pe.ca