Heroes’ Students Participate in first - ever Family Literacy Day World Record Attempt

Every year on January 27th, families and communities across Canada celebrate Family Literacy Day, a day to celebrate reading and promote the importance of learning together all year round. The prelude to Family Literacy Day 2009 was a great success— more than 190,000 Canadians signed up to participate in the national attempt to break the Guinness World Record™ for Most Children Reading With an Adult, Multiple Locations.

“It was amazing to see children of all ages caught up in the act of active listening.”

If successful, this will break the current U.S. record of 78,791 adults and children reading together. Schools, libraries, literacy groups, families, and other organizations all read selections from Robert Munsch’s Munschworks2 for 30 minutes, during a 24-hour time period.

Locally, 113 students from Heroes’ Memorial school participated in the Canada-wide effort. Heroes’ teacher, Louise Smith, says “It was amazing to see children of all ages caught up in the act of active listening. They repeated phrases, laughed and were totally enthralled. They were glad to be part of a World Record attempt, but they didn't need that incentive to enjoy the reading process."

Co-organized by the Yamaska Literacy Council, the event underscores the importance of the role of the family as a child’s first teacher.

• Children aged 2 to 3 who are read to several times a day do substantially better in kindergarten at the age of 4 and 5 than youngsters who are read to only a few times a week or less. (National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Statistics Canada, 1996-1997).
  
  
• Having a parent or other caring person read aloud with their children helps children learn listening skills, vocabulary and language skills, as well as develop imagination and creativity. (Family Literacy Foundation; 2001).