Family Literacy Day takes place every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Since 1999, thousands of schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups have taken part in the initiative. Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to their development. It will help to improve a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well.
Family Literacy Day 2023 Theme: Celebrate Your Heritage!
Canada is a diverse country full of different cultures. Take time to explore and learn about your heritage. Celebrate what you’ve found, share your culture with others and take the time to learn about theirs as well. There’s no better way to learn about your family, than together as a family.
Check out our Family Literacy Day 2023 book list here:
Barrie Public Library will also be hosting some exciting events on Family Literacy Day! Join us at Georgian Mall from 10:00 am - 9:00 pm and and visit the Library Pop-up located at the Community Kiosk. Get a library card while you wait, discover all your library offers from snowshoes and park passes to digital stories to read together and craft kits to enjoy indoors while the cold wind blows.
We're also partnering with City of Barrie Parks for some outdoor literacy fun! Bundle-up and head over to Dorian Park Centre at Sunnidale Park to check out the Outdoor Reading Room. Visit the Library Pop-up StoryWalk, get a library card, enjoy cool stories, and cozy craft activities. Participate in the City of Barrie Hello Winter Nature programs, discover local birds, listen for their calls, and make a winter bird feeder. Community experts and local authors will join in the celebrations to share their knowledge and stories.
Visit our Events Calendar to find all the details.
Family Literacy Day fun facts:
- Children spend five times as much time outside the classroom as they do in school, so parents and caregivers need the tools to support their learning (The Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease, 2006).
- Children whose parents are involved with them in family literacy activities score 10 points higher on standardized reading tests (The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions On Children’s Acquisition of Reading: From Kindergarten to Grade 3, Conducted by Monique Sénéchal for the National Center for Family Literacy, 2006)
- One year of parental education has a bigger positive impact on whether a son or daughter will attend a postsecondary institution than an extra $50,000 in parental income (Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, 2011)
- A mother’s reading skill is the greatest factor to affect her children’s future academic success, outweighing other factors, like neighborhood and family income (National Institute of Health, 2010).