Headlines/Dec. 10 1991

- New program aims to foster love of reading at early age

If you’re reading this article now,
chances are that someone read to you as
a child. A love of reading, and the
inclination to read, don’t always come
naturally. They are fostered, however, if
reading is introduced to young children
as a fun, pleasurable activity. |

“Read to Me”, a new program starting
up in Chilliwack, aims to do just that.
Volunteers will visit year one and two
classes twice a week and spend half an
hour reading to small groups of young
children.

“Any child benefits from being read
to,” says Vicki Grieve, a UCFV
instructor and coordinator of the
program. “We want to foster a love of
books and learning through introducing
children to the pleasurable aspects of
reading.

“If children are not exposed to
reading at an early age, it makes the task
of learning to read tedious. They don’t
see why it’s meaningful,” Grieve adds.
“By getting children interested in
reading, we may help to improve their
chances for success in school.”

Grieve says that parents can give their
children a big boost by reading to them
before they reach school age. “As soon
as a child is old enough to look at

pictures, they’re old enough to be read
to. It helps them develop speech,
language, vocabulary, and
comprehension.”

“Read to Me” is a joint effort of the
Chilliwack branch of the Fraser Valley
Regional Library, the Kiwanis Club of
Chilliwack, UCFV and School District
34.

It is one of the community literacy
projects to emerge from UCFV’s Year
of Literacy initiative in 1990/91. Adult
basic education instructors Barbara Bate
and Wendy Watson were given a special
assignment to develop community
partnerships for literacy in the college
region.

Bate and Watson are continuing their
work this year through a grant from the
Ministry of Advanced Education and the
National Secretariat on Literacy. Bate
worked on an advisory committee to
develop and plan the “Read to Me”
program, drawing from similar programs
in the Okanagan and the United States.

Grieve is coordinating the program
for the advisory committee and will
facilitate volunteer training. The
Chilliwack library will supply a
children’s librarian who will teach
volunteers how to select and present

appropriate books.

The Kiwanis Club, which is focusing
on the needs of young children for three
years, is providing most of the funding
and has a member on the advisory
committee.

Central School in Chilliwack will run
the program on a pilot basis from
February to April.

All that’s needed now is a group of
volunteers. Grieve is targetting UCFV
social services and early childhood
education students and retired people,
but also encourages parents of the
children involved to participate.

“The only criteria are that they love to
read and care about children,” Grieve
says. “Little children thrive on the
attention of a concerned adult, and it’s
rewarding for the volunteer too.”

Volunteers will undergo one day of
training with presentations from a
children’s librarian, a speech and
language expert, and a reading readiness
expert. After that, the program will take
up about two hours per week of the
volunteers’ time.

If you fit the bill and would like to
volunteer, call Vicki Grieve at local
2435. ~

It took a plumber two full days of crawling around under the main building of the Chilliwack campus to find the tiny bark-muich filled pipe
that blocked the water supply for almost a week. Custodian Colin Bull displays the culprit. Meanwhile, torrential rains turned the Chilliwack
driveway, dug up for repaving, into a mud pit. The old entrance at the back of the campus was eventually reopened .