NCM Celebrates Family Literacy Month

WASHINGTON, DC (November 4, 2009) – Family Literacy Month, celebrated every November, marks a time to address parent and child literacy and recognize the fundamental role of family involvement in lifelong learning. The National Children’s Museum (NCM) actively supports family literacy programs not only in the local Washington, DC community, but in 8 U.S. states, Palestine, and Bahrain. In honor of Family Literacy Month, the National Children’s Museum celebrates the opportunity to bring family literacy values to your home.   

Family Literacy Month champions countless benefits. Here are just a few:

• Higher standards for achievement. Children and parents alike will not settle for anything less than success and economic self-sufficiency. Literacy reduces unemployment and poverty.
• Elevated self-esteem. Family members feel capable with a valued skill set. Self-esteem evokes assertiveness and confidence.
• Awareness of one’s rights. Feelings of empowerment lead to social and political participation.  
• Improved health. Reading proficiency prompts better healthcare education.
• Strengthened family connections. Spending time together fosters healthy family relationships and opens lines of communication.

Ready to support family literacy?

• Read a book and then talk. Just plain talk is great. Children learn language and new vocabulary from hearing and using language. After a good book, a child may say, “Read it again!” Not only is this normal, it is the way children learn to adopt new language as their own.
• Incorporate art activities. Many children’s book illustrations are easily replicated using recycled materials and other interesting and inexpensive items. Families can explore the artwork of children’s books and the illustrator’s technique to create art that is unique and reflects a personal creative vision.
• Initiate book making. From journals to pop-up books, we recommend making books and encouraging children to create their own stories - writing about themselves and illustrating the world around them.
• Bring stories to life. Entire families can get into costume and act out a scene from a favorite children’s book. Dress up allows children to relate to messages in the stories they read.
• Integrate music into story times. Movement and music helps developing young brains make connections to reading. Families can make and play their own instruments, discover music from the past, dance, and share the music that they love!
• Visit the following websites to learn more about family literacy:
•   www.famlit.org/online-activities
•   www.readingrocket.org
•   www.rif.org
•   www.pbskids.org

While November may be the official month for family literacy, the National Children’s Museum supports the values of family literacy year-around. NCM education experts created the Family Literacy Projects on a Budget® workshop to provide educators and families with affordable resources and experiences needed to foster literacy at school and at home. School age educators and family childcare providers learn to address family literacy with creative hands-on activities, inexpensive supplies, and PACT (parent and child) teaching methods. Initiated by the National Center for Family Literacy, the PACT approach halts the destructive spiral of struggling parents engendering struggling children and combats situational barriers to educational goals.

Wendy Blackwell, Director of Education and founder of Family Literacy Projects on a Budget®, expands on NCM’s role in the family literacy movement. “Emergent reading skills such as identifying everyday objects, storytelling, letter recognition, print and phonological awareness and family conversation comprise an integrated, comprehensive approach to family literacy at the National Children’s Museum.” In addition to providing training sessions and a literacy toolkit, NCM education experts continue to participate in innovative literacy conferences, such as Changing the Odds: Learning from the Harlem Children's Zone Model, November 9-10, 2009, inspired by the Obama Administration’s educational initiative.  

The NCM accompanying publication, Family Literacy Projects on a Budget® Trainers’ Toolkit, offers resources, ideas, helpful tips, and suggestions to develop and present cost-effective literacy activities for family events, based on broad themes and familiar subject matter. By crafting experiences that empower parents and children to investigate their own thoughts, ideas, and behaviors, NCM strives to make literacy a habit.