Halloween isn’t just about dressing up and eating candy – it also provides fun opportunities to learn! Embracing the literacy activities already happening in your life makes it so much easier to ensure your family is getting 15 minutes of learning experiences a day. ABC Life Literacy Canada reminds families to practice literacy skills at Halloween with some fun literacy tips, tricks and treats.

Spooky Literacy Tips

1. Tell ghost stories on Halloween night. Make up your own stories or read a classic scary book together.
2. Organize Halloween candy in different ways. Organize by shape, size, candy name, or even candy type, and then trade! This activity helps to reinforce basic math along with association and matching skills.
3. Bake a pumpkin pie. Following recipes is a great way to improve both reading and math skills. Children can read the instructions out loud to help measure the ingredients when making a treat for the family.
4. Research the history of Halloween, and share spooky statistics!
5. Embrace the Power of Reading. Together, you and your child can create your own Halloween-themed e-book with Energizer’s Power of Reading program. Visit promotions.energizer.ca/powerofreading to access the one-of-kind story builder and watch your story unfold.

Literacy benefits the entire family and is constantly happening in our daily lives. From writing a grocery list to surfing the internet to reading the newspaper, learning happens in many ways all year round. Take the learning journey and celebrate Family Literacy Day® on January 27, 2012. For more information, visit www.FamilyLiteracyDay.ca.

What are your favourite ways to learn and increase literacy with your children at Halloween and all year round? Leave us a reply and share your tips.

September is all about back-to-school. It’s time to get back into routines, make lunches and go to bed early. Since there’s so much to do and kids are still in summer mode, it’s hard to make sure your family is focusing on learning.

Learning together as a family is vital to a child’s future education. Doing family literacy activities not only helps develop children’s reading, writing and math skills, it also provides an opportunity for parents to learn something new, too! Children raised in literate households are likely to enter grade one with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them.

Learning happens in many ways, especially in our day-to-day activities. In honour of September’s Life Literacy Month, ABC Life Literacy Canada offers 10 fun and easy ways to make literacy part of your family’s daily life.

10 Tips for Family Literacy

1. When making your grocery list, have your child write out the items you need to buy.
2. At the store, ask your child to count out the money to make the purchase.
3. Make it a habit to always read a story together at bedtime.
4. When cooking dinner, involve your children in measuring the ingredients. This helps them understand fractions and measurements.
5. Driving is the perfect opportunity to practice literacy. Read signs, billboards and licence plates together, and show your children the proper way to read a map.
6. While on the Internet, make time to research something new that your family is interested in. Researching skills are important and help with reading and comprehension.
7. Sing along to songs on the radio. Singing encourages learning patterns of words, rhymes and rhythms, and is strongly connected to language skills.
8. When playing a board game, read the instructions aloud to each other or count how many spaces to travel around the board.
9. Involve your kids when you pay bills. This will teach them strong financial
   skills early on in life.
10. Children follow by example, so ensure reading is part of your daily life too!

For other family literacy tips and activities, visit FamilyLiteracyDay.ca.

ABC Life Literacy Canada

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How do you encourage literacy in your children? We’d love to hear your tips, too!

Here are some great book suggestions.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
This classic children’s book is deceptively simple at first glance, but Goodnight Moon’s soothing rhymes have been time-tested by multiple generations of babies and parents.

That’s Not My Bunny
This series of books by Usborne is great for babies. With few words on each page and lots of interesting things to feel and look at, That’s Not My Bunny was a book we were pleased to receive as a baby gift and was the first book we pulled out when starting to read to our babies.

Peek-a-Baby Flap Books by Karen Katz
The Peek a Baby series books are great for the older baby and toddler set, who love to sit and “read” a book by themselves. The flaps are the best part, so if your toddler loves these books, it’s probably worth it to invest in a couple to have at home, since the library copies often have flaps that are either mangled or missing.

Indestructibles
Another excellent choice for babies who like to “read” on their own, Indestructibles are baby-sized books with incredibly tough, non-toxic pages, colourful illustrations and no words.

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Suitable for both reading aloud to a baby or toddler and for kids who are learning to read, Hop on Pop does tend towards some rather parent-numbing rhymes, but kids love the silly Seussiness. An excellent choice for an older sibling to read to a younger one.

Hippos Go Berserk by Susan Boynton
My toddler LOVED this book, and we read it every night before bed for months. The rhymes are fun, the pictures are simple, and every time we got to the page with the party, she would throw her hands in the air and giggle. Wheee!

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler
It’s tough to finding the right balance between scary and friendly when it comes to monster characters in a board book, but The Gruffalo is exactly right. Younger listeners may not be able to fully follow the plot, but will love identifying forest creatures and the Gruffalo’s body parts.

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Margaret Wise Brown
Published first in 1956, this is another classic children’s story that has stood the test of time. Harry the Dirty Dog’s charming illustrations are a step back into the world of June Cleaver, and my toddler loves the idea of the doggie having a bath. It’s a little wordy for babies, but a good next step for older toddlers who are building up their attention span.

It’s never too early to start reading to your baby. Early reading is an opportunity for a quiet moment to snuggle together and listen to the sounds of language. It also sets up reading as a habit in your family, and can be an important part of the bedtime routine. Keep reading fun by choosing great books that your kids enjoy listening to, and that you don’t mind reading aloud again and again.

Michelle Carchrae is a freelance writer and homeschooling mom to two girls.  With a serious love for Vancouver and an equally serious need to get out of the house with two young kids, Michelle searches out the best kid and parent friendly places to go. Michelle also writes about parenting at her blog The Parent Vortex.

According to an article titled “The Writing On The Wall,” published in Newsweek in November 2007, children think and write at the same time. “If they struggle to remember how to make their letters, their ability to express themselves will suffer.”

It seems that even in our digital age, handwriting is still essential in kids’ development.  ABC Canada is an organization that advocates family literacy and suggests that parents encourage their children to write to a relative and friend – just one of several activities that families can use to develop and use literacy skills.

Tracy Sullivan, principal and creative director of Design School Kids, founded her company in the hopes of using letter writing as both an art and skill to recapture for children in the modern age. “I feel that in the age of emails and text- and video-messaging, letter writing has become a lost art.” says Tracy, who after years of finding the “big idea” for clients while in advertising, decided to launch her own company. Young children can use the Design Schooled Kids’ Printing Note Cards to help learn printing and etiquette through the joy of old fashioned letter writing. “The Printing Note Cards are a great way to give kids a head start on learning the skills they will need throughout their lives.” says Tracy, mom of an almost four-year-old and a one-and-a-half -year-old.

Its launch timed with this year’s Family Literacy Day, Design Schooled Kids produces pre-printed cards on which children can trace dotted letters to write notes that say “Thank You”, “Hello” and “Happy Birthday” and more. There’s something refreshingly formal about the cards themselves. I adore the classic writing paper with the blue dashed and red lines – it reminds me of the joy I had when rounding out my name’s capital C as a child. The cards come in high quality card stock along with a brightly coloured envelope that are perfect for adorning with a stamp and popping into a mail box for a grandparent or friend – or just giving to someone special in your own home.

Children not only practice printing, but they also gain a sense of accomplishment as they finish the letter and mail the card themselves – and they’re also learning proper manners at an early age.

Design Schooled Kids Printing Note Cards can be found in store at Once Upon A Huckleberry Bush located at 4387 Main Street, Vancouver, or   or online at www.designschooledkids.com.

Design Schooled Kids

www.designschooledkids.com | Twitter: @designschooled

“Singing is a great literacy activity for families because it provides a fun way to expand spoken vocabulary and creates a strong bond,” says Ashley Tilley, Communications Coordinator at ABC Canada Literacy Foundation. “Singing allows you to learn patterns of words, rhymes and rhythms, and is strongly connected to language skills.”

Have you ever heard of the “Mozart Effect?” There was a study done in 1993 that showed listening to Mozart increased the intelligence of babies and young children – which is why the shelves are stocked with classical music DVDs and CDs for kids!

One of the essential parts of learning literacy is something called “phonological awareness.” This has to do with the understanding of words being made from sounds. Your child is hearing the sounds that make up different words, which aids in not only reading but spelling, and with vocabulary development. Same goes for talking to your child – the more you can talk to them and get them involved, the better their vocabulary will grow.

Storytelling and singing songs help your child organize thoughts and words. In a story, events go from beginning to end, and usually a song is similar.

Besides popping the CD of baby tunes when you’re in the car, make up your own songs to sing with your child. Don’t worry if you don’t have a great voice – your child will just be happy to bond and interact with you. Make up silly songs as you take a walk, or make tidying up toys a fun activity with a song.

There are many great musical CDs for kids to encourage language skills. Go for favourite nursery rhymes and songs, or even old favourites like Raffi – Baby Beluga and Old McDonald. Put on CDs while your child is colouring, or while the two of you bake in the kitchen.

Use song books to encourage reading and singing. Use illustrated books of song lyrics like The More We Get Together (Glazer, 1990) or Old MacDonald Had a Farm (Rounds, 1989) to help your child make the connection between singing and reading. Repetition in both singing and reading helps your child retain language and become more familiar with the abstract symbols present in both songs and books.

Whatever activity your child is doing to master beginning reading, it’s all about enjoyment. Learning to read is not about sitting and trying to decipher strings of words. It’s about music, language, and creativity.

“Having children engage in literacy-related activities as early as possible will help them develop the necessary skills for good communication later in life,” says Tilley.

You can find out more about Family Literacy Day at ABC Canada’s site.“The ABC Canada Literacy Foundation is also encouraging families across Canada to sing at various Family Literacy Day events and help raise funds by pledging online at Family Literacy Day.,” says Tilley.

Helping your child develop literacy skills is not just about sitting down with a good book each evening before bed. Anyone who has a young child knows that getting your child to read is not always easy. However, there are a number of ways that you can encourage young readers with fun activities that will keep them interested and entertained.

“Children learn by example, so one of the key ways to encourage young readers is to act as a reading role model. Let your kids catch you reading books, magazines and newspapers,” says Ashley Tilley, Communications Coordinator at ABC Canada Literacy Foundation. “Another tip for helping out young readers is to take turns reading alternate pages and make sure to ask questions about the content of the story to ensure comprehension.”

Here are a few other ways you can motivate your young reader (source: ABC Canada’s online resources):

Mix language and song. The theme of this year’s Family Literacy Day is “Sing for Literacy.” Make reading come alive for your child by getting into the act when you read a book. Use different voices and expressionsm, and get your child to do the same.

Talk about the stories you read with your child. After you finish a book, ask your child about what happened, and get them to tell you the story in their own words. Also, as you are reading, ask your child questions. This not only gets your child immersed in the story, it also ensures they understand what you are reading.

Have a family word game or board game night that everyone can participate in. Have everyone take turns being the banker, scorekeeper, and reading instructions aloud.

Turn off the TV for at least an hour each night and have everyone read together, or participate in a crossword puzzle.

Use everyday situations as learning opportunities. A trip to the grocery store can be made fun by getting your child to help write out the shopping list and recognize products. Get your child to point out road signs or ask them to help you find something on a map before a road trip.

Make weekly visits to the library a date. Go pick out books, listen to the story hour, and make it an event your child can look forward to.

“It’s also a good idea to provide a comfortable space at home to encourage reading,” says Tilley, adding that “literacy is more than reading books. There are a lot of fun ways to help improve literacy skills. For reluctant readers, try incorporating reading in fun ways, such as by reading cards from a board game, following a recipe or singing karaoke!”

January 27 is Family Literacy Day. To celebrate, I’ll be publishing our readers’ top 100 picks for your family’s library. These are the books that you definitely can’t live without and that you and your kids reach for time-and-time again. I’m not talking the books that you groan each time your kids ask you to read them – I want the books that everyone in your family enjoys whenever they’re pulled out.

We’ll be giving away a $20 gift card to Chapters / Indigo to a VancouverMom.ca reader. To enter, simply comment below. Your comment must include your top five picks, the age of the child you think would enjoy each book, as well as a quick blurb explaining why you’re recommending each book.

Here are some of my faves to kick off the list (in no particular order):

• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina: Both my two-year-old and four-year-old love the monkeys in this story.
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.: Terrific rhythms and wonderful illustration. My toddler loves this book.
• Up Up Down by Robert Munsch. My toddler loves saying the words and finds the story hilarious. Every family needs a collection of Robert Munsch stories.
• Pet Show by Jack Ezra Keats: Wonderful illustrations. Great alternative to Snowy Day, although a compilation of Keats’ is needed on every child’s shelf.
• Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle: Required reading for all babies and toddlers.
• My Friends by Taro Gomi: Perfect for toddlers. Sweet illustrations.
• Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon: My four-year-old loves this funny story.
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson: Both of my kids enjoy this story although the mouse’s antics are a bit over my kids’ heads.
• Fancy Nancy by Jane O’connor and Robin Preiss Glasser: Any pre-schooler who loves princesses, fairies and other fancy things will adore any book from this series.
  
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. A bedtime staple when my kids were younger.

Looking forward to your recommendations! The best will be compiled in a final list to be published at the end of January.