News and Stories

Family Literacy Week happens across Canada January 26 – February 2 to celebrate adults and children reading and learning together. This year the theme is “Learn to be Green Together,” and families are being encouraged to find ways to be kind to the environment, whether it’s using less electricity, commuting together or reusing items.

We encourage families to read together or learn together for at least 15 minutes a day. That’s all it takes!

Need ideas for how to celebrate Family Literacy Week? We’re here to help! Check out one of the fun activities or resources below!

Five Ways to Celebrate Family Literacy Week

• Gather round, everyone. Take a look at our chock-a-block events calendar to see for yourself all the wonderful ways VIRL branches are inspiring and promoting literacy across our service area during Family Literacy Week, and every week in between.
• Go Wild. Watch the beasts and beauty of the natural world with National Geographic Kids!
• Keep an eye on the weather. Kids can imagine they’re a meterologist and study the weather with this fun activity sheet from ABC Life Literacy Canada. We also have books on weather you can explore. Browse our catalogue here.
• Explore. Pick up one of our literacy kits for babies, toddlers, preschoolers or kindergartners on topics tied to our environment, like sharks, slime and mud, animal sounds, temperate rainforests, animal babies, forest, garden and wildfire resiliency. Each kit is stocked with books, CDs, DVDs and/or toys.
• Read together. Borrow a book, ebook or audiobook from your local library! You can also use the Libby App for ebooks or Blackstone Unlimited, our app for audiobooks.

Family Literacy Day

Family Literacy Day was founded by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and is celebrated annually on January 27 to raise awareness about the importance of literacy and encourages families to engage together in reading and other literacy-related activities.

Canadian author and illustrator, Barbara Reid, is the Family Literacy Day Honorary Chair. Gather your family on January 23 at 1:30 pm for a virtual demonstration by Reid on how to use clay to create a picture (questions welcome!). Register here (this event is ideal for families with children in grades 1 to 6).

ABC Life Literacy Canada also has an activity book with ideas on how to celebrate Family Literacy Day!