Parents of children birth to age 5 invited to literacy program in Albion

File photo by Tom Rivers – Gretchen Murray Sepik of Albion stars as Erie Canal Sal during a performance at the Strawberry Festival in June 2013. She will be part of a family fun night to promote storytelling and literacy on March 31 at the elementary school. The literacy effort will be on four Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. beginning Feb. 11.

ALBION – A four-part literacy program will give parents of children from birth to age 5 tips on helping their children excel at school.

Community Action of Orleans & Genesee is teaming with Albion Central School and the Albion Rotary Club to run literacy workshops on four Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.

The first workshop will be at the elementary school this Thursday and will focus on early brain development, the beginning of speech and use of technology with young children.

“Parents are first and foremost their children’s first teacher,” said Bonnie Malakie, director of the Head Start program through Community Action. “This will help parents with fulfilling their role.”

The program will bring in specialists in speech pathology, language development and storytelling.

The program is free and open to parents in the Albion school district. Child care will be provided. Parents should enter at about 5:45 p.m. through the community entrance in the back of the school.

Besides the Feb. 11 workshop, other sessions include Feb. 25 on story telling (will help parents tell their own stories) and will focus on making reading fun; March 10 will focus on prekindergarten and kindergarten readiness with the parents’ role. The workshop will include classroom visits.

The program will conclude on March 31 with a family fun night that includes children’s author Josie Waverly, professional storyteller Gretchen Murray Sepik, and other games, stories, prizes, refreshments and a book fair.

For more information, contact Community Action at 589-5683.