Intergenerational Pilot Report

Pilot Program Report

From Lullabies to Literacy was piloted by the Family Literacy Program at the Community Learning Centre in Napanee, a branch of Kingston Literacy. At that time the Family Literacy Program was located in the Community Resource Centre. This centre housed several other local service providers including the Lennox and Addington Child Resource Centre (LARC), the Ontario Works Adult Literacy Program, Babies/Infants Basic Supplies (BIBS), the Ontario Early Years Literacy Specialist, and an employment resource centre. The facility was spacious and included a large children’s playroom, a children’s washroom, a small kitchen, and a separate room where adults can meet.

Napanee is a small market town in a rural area, and the centre is not within walking distance of most of its clients. Public transportation is limited. The participants in the pilot program were all English speaking, and many knew each other prior to their involvement in the program.

Pilot Information

Ten adults and sixteen children participated in the program. Four of the children were under one year old; four children were between one year and two-and-a-half years old; six were two-and-a-half to three years old; and two children were between four and five years old.

Program Practices

The program was held once a week for ten weeks from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. starting in late October. During the first half-hour, parents arrived with their children and engaged in free play. At ten o’clock, the children and adults separated. The children’s program included a craft activity and a snack. The adult session began with a review and discussion of the previous week’s work. The facilitator then introduced the new topic. Participants worked on activities in small groups and reported back to the large group. The parents were introduced to the rhyme for that session, featuring the “sound of the day.” From 10:45 to 11:30 a.m., the children joined the adults for interactive play, book sharing, and rhyme time. The session concluded with a story.

Evaluation Component of Program Model

The evaluation component provided in the program manual was adequate but the facilitator changed it slightly to meet her needs. The participants’ understanding of the previous week’s topic was assessed through a discussion and review at the beginning of each session. At the end of the program, participants completed a written questionnaire.

Program Goals

Program model goals:

Pilot site goals:

Outreach

Two local newspapers carried announcements about the program two weeks ahead of start time. Flyers and posters were made and distributed to community programs at the Health Unit, to community playgroups, to the local libraries and public schools, and to the Lennox and Addington Child Resource Centre (LARC). The outreach worker also telephoned parents who had previously expressed interest in the centre’s family literacy programs. Letters explaining the aims of the program were distributed and parents were pre-registered using the registration form provided in the program manual. A journalist interviewed program staff and took photographs during the first session. Front page coverage provided good publicity.

Program Model Resources

A trainer from the Macaulay centre provided a one-day workshop to acquaint program facilitators with the program. The training provided an opportunity for participants to deliver one of the sessions. Materials were inexpensive and easy to obtain. The centre has a large children’s book collection on site, so providing books for use in the program was not a problem.

The session plans included in the manual were helpful. The text is clear and easy to read. There are teaching aids that need to be prepared each week, but once they are made, it is possible to use them again. One drawback was that there was a lot of photocopying each week.

Beginning and Middle of Pilot

Challenges

Highlights

The children’s responses during “rhyme time” were delightful. They began to anticipate the routine and became more sociable towards other children. Another highlight was the relaxed and happy interaction between parents and children during interactive play and book time.

Participant and Facilitator Feedback

The participants enjoyed meeting other parents and children. Several commented that they appreciated having time with just adults to discuss ideas. Positive comments were received about learning the rhymes and letter sounds. The participants enjoyed working together in the group session as a team. The facilitator reported that she did not have time to read all the suggested books listed as background reading for each session.

Completion of Pilot

Challenges

The program staff enhanced the songs session and the rhymes session with extra material. The rhymes were not always the ones that staff would have chosen, but they did get some new ideas from the program manual. The staff would have preferred the rhyme and sound activities to take place at the beginning of the session, rather than at the end, because the children tended to be tired and restless at the end of the session. The participants did not like the “ground rules” idea, possibly because many of them knew each other and they felt that “rules” were not necessary.

Highlights

The parents enjoyed selecting books to read on the book blanket. They liked working together during the group sessions. Session four was especially fun, using musical instruments to create games to stimulate sound awareness. During session six, the participants enjoyed the role-play that demonstrated positive and negative reading behaviours. Overall, the training was adequate and the information was explicit.

Participant Feedback

The majority of the parents were reading regularly to their children before participating in this program. However, they reported an increase in the time they spent reading together as a result of the program. Many participants reported that after the program they told stories more often. Approximately half of the group said they spent more time singing or telling rhymes than before.

The participants recognized the importance of reading and storytelling and the need for time and patience. They:

Outcomes

Eight of the ten families who registered completed the program (eighty percent). One parent left after attending seven of the ten sessions because she had competing external commitments. The other parent left because she had difficulties arranging transportation. Occasionally, parents were absent due to illness. By the end of the program, the parents had learned how they could support their children’s literacy development in the course of everyday tasks and activities. They gained an understanding of the value of exposing their children to as many experiences as possible. The children appeared to be more receptive and alert at the end of the ten-week program. Running the program allowed the family literacy program to develop a good relationship with the library.

Facilitator’s Reflections and Evaluation

The facilitator enjoyed the program and would like to do it again in the future. The program site’s goal of enhancing family literacy activities was met. She found the manual clear and fairly easy to use and felt that a facilitator with less experience could run the program. The program is not too expensive although having a good selection of books made it easier to implement. A fair bit of time is required to prepare each session, for example, to cut out cardboard letters for the children to take home. However, less preparation time would be required for a future program as most of the resources are reusable. Overall, the facilitator felt that the goals of the program were achievable, and both the adults and children liked the program.