https://www.actionread.com/new/what-we-do/what-we-do/

https://www.actionread.com/new/what-we-do/what-we-do/

Child-focused with parent-child interaction

This program runs through several different locations and caters to families and young children from 0-6 as well as offers several different activities to enhance literacy.

https://ymcaofniagara.org/programs/community-initiatives/earlyon-centres/

10 - 12 hands-on activity stations that promote parent/guardian and child engagement. This program attempts to embed the Science of Reading, as well as the current Ministry of Education math strands into each topic. 

https://www.niagara.edu/family-literacy-center/

Provide early learning and literacy programs/activities for parents and their children. Educators also do home visits.

https://www.actionread.com/new/what-we-do/what-we-do/

https://www.communityliteracyofontario.ca

This program builds on their everyday families practices and provide them with new and engaging ways to include literacy activities in their routine

The program we are designing is a family reading program that is joined with the public library. It is child-focused with the active engagement with parents. It is inclusive as it is free for everyone but they have to sign up. They can sign up through the public library as well in case some individuals do not have access to resources. Having it at the library also provides resources and materials such as books, toys, etc. in case families do not have the resources at home. It is available for everyone. An example of an activity we would run is choose a book for a day where the children and caregivers would find a book they like from the library and read it together. Making sure the parents engage the children and decontextualize the words to help the children understand what they are reading. This is building literacy development, family engagement and a positive learning space.

In re-evaluating the Investing in Children Program, we think that overall, it is really well designed providing children and their families an oppourtunity to engage in meaningful learning activities. By emphasizing the "Science of Reading," this program targets the literacy development of young learners and aids in providing families with resources to encourage learning in non-educational spaces.

An activity we might suggest for this program would be group story-making or board-game making! We think that adding an additional creative aspect would allow children and families to showcase their funds of knowledge and continue to develop their social literacy skills. Creating things like stories or games would be a great way to thoughtfully engage young people in developing what literacy looks like to them, taking into account cultural and social belief as they have creative liberty. We think having families work together, or creating small groups of participants would be an awesome way to encourage communication and growth.

To add, we believe that the program facilitators should further consider emergent literacy theory as it respects children as active participants in their own learning. With that said literacy programs are valuable to emergent literacy theory as they provide children with additional knowledge that they will take with them into academic settings where they can further build upon it.

The individuals who are apart of the program meet once a month, where they open letters from their pen pal, who lives in a different country, and the activity leaders are in charge of translating the letters to the children in the group. Then, they assist in helping the kids write their letters.

Each program headquarters keeps a scrap book where they put the artifacts the penpals receive.

The guides also send a letter back and forth with the other guides with an activity of the month that is custom in their country.

Then, the members of the program complete the activity, and send a photo back of them doing so, to go in the scrap book. This allows for each groups' funds of knowledge to be applied, and allows for cultural knowledge of each group to make its way into the education they are receiving.

This program is designed for preschool children and their caregivers, emphasizing interactive, hands-on activities that promote early literacy development. The program focuses on building key skills, such as community engagement, leadership, and real-world application. Additionally, the program provides caregiver support, offering strategies to encourage early literacy at home, while also recognizing common challenges that may arise in literacy development. Hence, strengthening parent-child bonds through shared learning experiences is crucial!

Activity: Shapes and Sing-Along

This interactive activity supports three essential areas of early literacy development: oral language development, book reading and print awareness, and letter knowledge and recognition.

How It Works: Each child receives a bin of fabric shapes (ex., triangle, square, circle). A song will be played to guide children through shape identification, counting, and characteristics (ex., “How many corners does a triangle have?”). Throughout the video, there will also be pauses to allow caregivers to interact with children, encouraging them to recall where they have seen these shapes in their environment, such as at home, school, playground, etc. In addition, cognitive engagement is promoted by asking questions like “What makes a circle different from a square?” Furthermore, a video transcript enhances print recognition, helping children associate letters with sounds and build early language familiarity.