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February 2023
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 This month in Centre Page:

• Do-Re-Mi, ABC Program
• Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Reading Poetry is Great for You!
• Family Day: Ideas for Family Literacy Activities
Do-Re-Mi, ABC Program
Music and literacy go hand in hand like reading a good book on a lazy Sunday with a warm drink and your favourite cozy blanket.

We use music in all of our family literacy programs. We sing songs to support language learning and communication, we listen to melodies to help memory, we dance to the rhythm of music that supports our motor skills and keeps our brains and bodies in tune. We know music is part of literacy and often our favourite part!
What’s different in one of our newest programs? Do-Re-Mi, ABC is all about music literacy! We share how music fundamentals help develop strong literacy (and life) skills. Each week families come together to learn about musical concepts such as steady beat, tempo, pitch, rhythm and more. An instrument is highlighted each week to learn about.

Families are encouraged to make their own instruments at home and given resources to explore more learning on their own. Books are shared and songs are sung. Music helps enrich families, cultures, communities and has been proven to have many benefits on literacy levels!

Do-Re-Mi, ABC is offered to families with children from 0-6 years. After running this program at full capacity, once a week (with a waitlist) for one year, we are excited that this winter we were able to offer this program twice a week! We have been able to accept more families into this popular program than before and look forward to its continued success.
Join Do-Re-Mi, ABC Program
 
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Reading Poetry is Great for You!
Poetry is an excellent opportunity to explore how we express ourselves. Reading poetry exposes us to a wide scope of creative, vivid and emotional language. Practically speaking, poetry can challenge our reading comprehension and vocabulary skills as we use context and inferences to understand the meaning of the poem.
While poetry can seem intimidating and challenging to understand, reading poems is a great literacy activity for everyone! Poetry encourages us to create our own meaning and understanding of what we have read even while reading something very short. We like to think of poetry as reading skills boot camp!

Our best advice for poetry fans of all ages is to:

• Read the poem out loud
• Look up the definition of any words you are unfamiliar with
• Annotate the poem (write down your thoughts or ideas as you read)
• Always give it a second read through!

Our Recommendations for Adult Readers:
• Our Lady of Ruins by Traci Brimhall - try the poem The Sunken Gospel
• Fierce Fairy Tales by Nikita Gill - Try the poem Mothers and Daughters
• Devotions by Mary Oliver - Try the poem Wild Geese

For Families:
• In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek
• If I Had a Dream by Nina Laden
• Poetry for Kids by Robert Frost, edited by Jay Parini
 
Family Day: Ideas for Family Literacy Activities
Family Day is coming up, celebrated on the third Monday of every February. Family Day is a time set aside to focus on having fun with your loved ones.

If you need ideas for family activities to do during the Family Day weekend - we got you! Our literacy specialists shared activities that they enjoy doing with their families.
Jeanine:

Boost your child's imagination with an indoor camping experience! Make a tent out of a table, chairs, and blankets. Read books by the light of a lantern and eat hotdogs and s'mores. Some great camping-themed books are: Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping by Melanie Watt, Up the Creek by Nicholas Oldland, and Bear in Underwear by Todd Harris Goldman.
Lisa:

Stock up on sticky notes! Scavenger hunts around the house hiding sticky notes, the kids find and read them. Then they decode the clue to discover where the next sticky note clue would be hiding. When the kids were older they wanted us to find their clues that they hid.
Sheena:
My kids love using squeeze bottles full of coloured water to draw shapes, letters and words outside in the snow.
We also love watching movies together! We like to turn on the closed captions to add some extra reading into the day too.
Kristin:
Games are our favourite literacy activity! We love card games like war, rummy, 31 and UNO. We also love trivia games and have recently started playing Triviaverse on Netflix a couple times a week. It is a great way for us to use tech and screens in a meaningful way!
 
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Bulletin Board
1. Family Literacy Day Winter Carnival had over 250 visitors!
2. Family Day - February 20
3. Registration for Spring Programs Opens - March 15
4. World Poetry Day - March 21
5. Winter Session Runs until March 25
6. Spring Break - March 27-31
7. Spring Session Runs from April 3 to June 24
 

The Centre for Family Literacy gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the following:
11642 142 Street NW
Edmonton AB Canada
T5M 1V4
Phone: 780.421.7323
Email: info@famlit.ca