This nationally celebrated day aims to increase awareness on the value of reading and engaging in literacy related activities as a family. Families are encouraged to take time each day to engage in literacy related activities – even just 15 minutes a day can dramatically improve the literacy skills of both children and parents.
How Does ACS Promote Family Literacy & Learning?
Family Centre programs focus on strategies, skills and early learning activities that support and strengthen the physical, emotional, and mental health of children and their families.
Abbotsford Community Services’ Family Centre – The Parenting Place is a resource and referral centre for families in our community offering a variety of programs and activities for parents, caregivers and their children from birth to six years of age. There are many different programs available including Community Drop-in Programs, Best for Babies Prenatal Nutrition Program, Abby Dads Fathering Program, Triple P Parenting Program, Food Skills for Families cooking programs, Perinatal Depression Support Groups and more, all offered in English and Punjabi.
In our early learning programs, promoting literacy and learning activities means supporting families in an enriching environment, encouraging and enhancing parent and child interactions while respecting existing strengths, and providing activities that create avenues for learning together.
Participants are encouraged to connect with others to create a sense of belonging, be creative and explore activities together, and learn with one another in an environment that encourages diversity and social responsibility. We achieve this daily through our programming, whether it be an active circle time that focuses on music, rhythm and movement, having a quiet moment in the reading corner exploring age appropriate books, taking some time to work on a puzzle that invites a child to explore and learn about shapes and sizes, or creating a masterpiece at the art table allowing self expression and an opportunity to touch the glue, see how the paintbrush works, figure out how the collage sticks to the page and how all the colors swirl together.
As an agency, Abbotsford Community Services strives to foster community well being, so it is vital that the Family Centre offers quality Early Childhood and Family Support programs so that families with children in the early years can be connected to one another and build a community rich with relationships, quality resources and accessible supports. Our hope at Family Centre is to model to families that accessing resources, building their skills, playing with their children, singing together with them and being engaged in child centered activities enhances a child’s development and readies them for all the next steps in life.
We want to help build a confident and healthy generation by encouraging families to learn together through creative play in a safe, fun, and comfortable community environment!
Written by Tania Rempel, Supervisor of Family Centre – The Parenting Place