Early Childhood Program Highlighted at Family Literacy Day Event

It is never too early to start reading to children. That was the message delivered today by the Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education, who participated in the Tots Time winter storytime program at the A.C. Hunter Library in St. John’s as part of Family Literacy Day activities in the province.

“Over the past number of years, the Provincial Government has introduced a number of initiatives to support families, schools, and communities to access enhanced literacy resources and programming,” said Minister Jackman. “That work continues, as we are now partnering with public libraries to develop and deliver enhanced early childhood literacy programs and resources in a variety of settings, including libraries, schools, family resource centres and regulated child care settings.”

The new programming will be piloted at select library sites this spring.

Minister Jackman noted that the Provincial Government has also introduced parent resource kits at child health clinics with kits for children aged two, four and six months to be distributed province-wide this spring. Kits for children aged 12, 18, 24 and 36 months are in development. In addition, over the past number of years, the department has undertaken various initiatives to enhance literacy programming in the K-12 education system, including:

• Undertaken a renewal of the K-12 English Language Arts curriculum, an initiative which is in its third year of a six-year process;
• Purchased $1 million in resources for school libraries;
• Purchased classroom reading resources featuring a wide variety of materials for all K-6 classrooms in the province;
• Introduced 10 literacy-numeracy specialists to the education system to support classroom teachers throughout the province; and,
• Provided resources and professional learning opportunities for teachers to help enhance their understanding of reading and writing processes.

“Literacy is one of the most important tools you can give your children,” said Caroline Vaughan, Executive Director of Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador. “Success in learning starts from infancy, and engaging young children in exploration, play and social interaction will sow the seeds of future literacy development. As families grow together, developing strong literacy skills in children is often an incentive for adults to improve their own skills.”

Family Literacy Day is a national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and held annually on January 27 to raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. On this, its 15th anniversary, ABC Life Literacy is encouraging families to take “15 minutes of fun” each day to learn together. For more information on Family Literacy Day, visit: www.FamilyLiteracyDay.ca. 

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Photo: The Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education, joined participants in the Tiny Tots program at the A.C. Hunter Public Library in St. John’s today (January 25) for an event to mark Family Literacy Day. The Minister, who is seen here with library assistant Susan Rubin and 20-month-old Gabriella Adey, read a story and sang to the young program participants.

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2013 01 25                      12:25 p.m.