Fun with literacy

Some local students applied their literacy skills to fun and games Friday afternoon.

Students at Claude E. Garton Public School celebrated literacy and numeracy by playing word and number-based games for their Family Literacy Day. .

Throughout the week, the school has being doing literacy activities to coincide with National Literacy Day on Jan. 27.

The school held a book swap earlier in the week and prizes were given out all week. The week culminated with Friday’s activities where parents came to the school to participate with their children in various games.

Principal Todd Miller said it was important to involve parents because so much learning happens at home.

“Learning with kids, especially at a younger age, happens all the time whether they’re at school or at home and we also want to give parents ideas about how just playing some games that you can find at local stores here town can be a great way to promote literacy and numeracy activities at home,” he said,

It also helps support what the children are learning in school, Miller added.

The Family Literacy Day is an annual event at the school and it’s one everyone looks forward to.
“It’s one of the highlights of the year for the kids,” said Miller. “It’s the end of our first term so it’s a great way to celebrate the halfway point to the year and all the great things kids have done so far.”

Grade 6 student Erik Loovere loves to read. He likes all kinds of books and readily donated some to the book swap.

While he couldn’t pick what he liked the most about the afternoon’s activities, he did know the importance of literacy.

“If we didn’t know how to read or talk, we wouldn’t be able to learn anything so there wouldn’t really be any point in trying to learn stuff,” he said.

“If you couldn’t learn, you may as well just be a caveman.”