Join in the week-long fun for family literacy
By Erin Perkins
Celebrate a love of learning while spending some quality family time at four Family Literacy Day events planned for the Boundary this week. Family Literacy Day, Jan. 27, has been a national awareness initiative held annually since 1999. According to the event creator, ABC Literacy Canada (abclifeliteracy.ca LINK), more than 1.5 million Canadians have participated in the initiative over the past 12 years. According to the website, “Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development. Even just 15 minutes a day can improve a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well”. Three days of fun in Grand Forks Why keep the love of literacy to one day when you can have a week? That’s why the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL) and the Grand Forks Public Library have teamed up to offer several family fun days this week. “(Family Literacy Day) is a chance to do something new and different around learning with your family,” said Sheila Dobie, CBAL community literacy coordinator in Grand Forks. “We hope these activities motivate people to implement new learning activities in their own lives … It’s about having some fun around learning and literacy.” The Family Literacy Day kicks off with Journey to Learning activity stations at Hutton Elementary’s StrongStart program on Wednesday, Jan. 25 from 5 to 8 p.m. There will be another Journey to Learning activity stations set up the following day, Thursday, Jan. 26, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Boundary Family and Individual Services Society (BFISS) Glanville Centre. Both Journey to Learning events are more suitable to preschool and first grade aged children. Children and their parents will explore a variety of real life simulated situations, like going to the post office, and how to make those daily activities into a learning experience. That same day, pack up the kids complete with their comfiest pajamas for Pajama Story Time at the Grand Forks Library from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. After some lively story telling, kids can enjoy a bedtime snack of cookies and milk before heading back home to bed. The week ends off with The Smart Apple Game on Saturday, Jan. 28 from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Explore your smarts with apple lore, games and activities at the Grand Forks Library. The all-age team event will help participants explore their eight smarts in everything from words to music and body movement. This is the first time Dobie has used the game in a library setting and she anticipates a chaotic afternoon of fun. “Everyone is aware of being smart in words and numbers because that’s what we’re tested in, but there are other ways we can be smart,” said Dobie. And don’t forget to attend all the usual literary events held at the Grand Forks and District Public Library. Children’s story time is every Friday at 10:15 a.m. The monthly Book Club meeting is also this week on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 7 to 8 p.m. This month’s selection is Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright. The same book will be discussed at the Christina Lake library location on Wednesday, Jan. 25 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. To check out more of what is going on at the library, visit their website at grandforks.bclibrary.ca
