From Lullabies to Literacy

This program was designed by the Macaulay Child Development Centre in Toronto, and supported with a grant from the Atkinson Charitable Foundation. It has three components: discussion–where parents can relate their own experiences and learn strategies for supporting their children’s early literacy; interactive play—where parents practise the strategies they have learned; "rhyme time"—where parents and children are introduced to a rhyme or song focusing on a particular letter sound.

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)

Designed to help parents support their children’s literacy development and school success, this program may be run by community centres, libraries, and school boards. Usually a trained parent from the same community visits a parent at home and works with that parent to enable her or him to participate in parent-child literacy activities. Parent assistants may work with 10 to 15 families, and each program has a coordinator for every 12 parent assistants. Literacy resources focus on language and reading with children.

Homespun

Developed in 1991 in Alberta, this program was adapted from Motheread, the North Carolina literacy program for women in prison. Homespun offers in-class instruction for parents and caregivers on reading with children. Using a variety of children’s literature, parents discuss children’s reactions to books, personally respond to literature within their own homes, and address related parenting and educational issues.

Learning Together Workshops

The Adult Education Section of the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Culture developed these workshops. The purpose is to provide accessible family literacy resources and facilitator materials to communities. Workshop manuals, paired with easy-to-read parent booklets allow communities to plan and implement family literacy workshops that meet specific local needs.