Staff at the Confederation Centre Public Library are excited to be participating in Family Literacy Day activities this weekend.
Family Literacy Day, an initiative of the PEI Literacy Alliance, will be celebrated on January 26 at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery. Library staff will be offering puppet shows, reading stories and setting up a reading tent at the event.
“I applaud the PEI Literacy Alliance for once again offering this fun Family Literacy Day program,” said Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour Minister Carolyn Bertram. “Our provincial libraries are proud to participate and to offer programs and services to support family literacy throughout the year.”
One successful family literacy initiative which has been underway in several rural branch libraries this year is the Spring Into Reading (SIR) Program. First piloted at the Morell Library in the spring 2007, SIR is designed to help parents to develop and enhance their children’s reading skills. The pilot program involved 17 children, their parents and two coaches who met on a weekly basis for 10 weeks.
This was a community partnership with support from the Morell Learning Centre, Morell Consolidated School, a local kindergarten, the Friends of the Morell Library Committee and members of the Home and School Association. The program was delivered by the PEI Education organization Learning and Reading Partners Adult Learning System. Financial support was approved by the PEI Family Literacy Committee.
“Response to the pilot program was overwhelming,” said Kathleen Eaton, Provincial Librarian. “The public library is an ideal community location for this program, since it is away from the structured school program, meets at a convenient time for families, offers the resources of the library and develops the habit of regular library visits.”
SIR programs are now underway in Mt. Stewart Library, Souris Library and Alberton Library this fall. Community spirit plays a pivotal role in making these projects a reality. In Souris, families were finding it challenging to squeeze in a family supper and still participate in the early evening program. The solution came when the local Knights of Columbus stepped in and offered to bring a hot meal in every week for the participants.
Organizers are working on plans to develop partnerships and fund the program in four more communities – the Cornwall Library, Georgetown Library, Kensington Library and Murray River Library.
“This initiative is a wonderful example of a community family literacy effort aimed at supporting parents and children. I encourage Islanders to take a look at the latest program guide of the Provincial Library Service to learn more about the programs and services that support family literacy at our provincial libraries,” said Minister Bertram.
The Fall and Winter Program Guide of the Provincial Library Service is available at your local public library or online at www.gov.pe.ca/go/library.
For more information on the Spring Into Reading (SIR) Program, contact the Provincial Library Service at 961-7320 or your local public library.