Friday, January 21, 2011

Shellbrook Library Celebrates Family Literacy Day

Shellbrook Library is celebrating Family Literacy Day by hosting a presentation on teaching preschoolers to read. The presentation by Nancy Carswell is on Thursday January 27th at 7:00 pm. Carswell will share her experiences with Bev Jaremko's (Smith) Anchors and Sails reading program.

The honorary chair of Family Literacy Day is famous Canadian children's author Robert Munsch. He knows the importance of literacy and numeracy to success. Jaremko knows how important it is as well. As a teacher, she had high school students who had become very adept at hiding their inability to read. As a parent, Jaremko decided to teacher her own children to read before they started school. After a futile search for a method, she developed her own logical and fun way of teaching preschoolers to read.

Carswell explains, "The Anchors and Sails reading method teaches letter sounds rather than letter names. Really, when you think about it the letter name "h" is not used for reading; it is the letter sound "huh". Preschoolers are eager learners especially when it means one-on-one time with a caring person. The method is very well thought out. The method begins with only lower case. After introducing seven consonants and a vowel, children can read words like sat, hat, and mat. It is also very visual with a poem to help reinforce the connection between the letter sound and its mnemonic. One of the lines is 'muh is for mittens'."

Carswell's son learned to read with the program and Carswell is now using it for her grandson. She finds the method easy to use with the toughest thing being to remember to use the letter sound instead of the name. She finds it enjoyable as there are many opportunities each day to encourage literacy. "This method makes sense and with a small investment of time we can give our preschoolers the gift of literacy."

There will be time for discussion after the presentation. Alphabet refreshments will be served.

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