Many adults enroll in A.K. Smiley Public Library’s Adult Literacy Program with the goal of improving their reading and writing skills so they can read to their children, help their children with school assignments, and communicate effectively with their children’s teachers and medical professionals. Recognizing the critical importance of literacy within a family, the Redlands Adult Literacy Program initiated family literacy services in 2019. Members of the family literacy program hold monthly meetings to help low-literacy parents develop skills that can support their children’s education, promote the value and pleasure of reading together as a family, and provide solutions to reduce the risk of multi-generational illiteracy.
Initially, the children in family literacy were ages 2 to 7 years old. Now, the program serves children up to the age of 12 and provides books of interest for a wider age group. The family literacy team provides a welcoming and consistent environment which supports learning. Each meeting dives into a book’s theme to involve and make learning fun for the whole family. During the meeting, families are engaged in interactive games, reading and writing, science, art, and math opportunities. The meetings model what parents can do at home to encourage a love of learning in their children.
One of the most important aspects of family literacy meetings is ‘parent time’ where parents meet separately while children participate in various activities. This special time for parents allows parents to ask difficult questions, share ideas with each other, and learn new ways to engage their children with literacy. The parent time helps parents learn new literacy skills that are immediately practiced when they rejoin their children in parent/child time. Family literacy consultant, Joan Prehoda, teaches a strategy that covers a single topic that encourages one aspect of reading, writing, or communication within families. Joan has shared strategies that support parents in many areas of literacy including: teaching the stages of writing development, developing children’s self-esteem, identifying and naming feelings, teaching problem solving skills that help children build their independence, identifying questions to ask children while reading to them to build reading comprehension, and sharing the importance of reading every day.
Over the past five years, the family literacy program has provided more than 1,500 books to build home libraries for family literacy participants. The children are always excited to choose new books to take home at the end of the family literacy meetings. Joan Prehoda shared that “during the last meeting I quietly uncovered the books and had to quickly step out of the way as the children swarmed around the table to see what books were available.” The books are readily available to children at home as the family literacy team has encouraged parents to leave them on shelves or tables in every room of the house and in the car so they can be taken along to appointments where families spend time in waiting rooms. Several parents were excited to report that because books are always within reach, their children are reading more and developing a love of reading.
Joan Prehoda and Renee Kennedy guide the overall family literacy program and are assisted by: Melany Chong who leads children in various interactive activities, Evan Shimota who teaches science lessons, and Barbara Vester who helps with community building exercises. “Without a caring and supportive team, the family literacy meetings would not be successful. Each team member contributes to our welcoming community that helps families develop a level of trust in us,” shares Renee Kennedy.
Future plans include hosting a book club for the older children to participate in. Together, they will read the first chapter of their book club selection, then they will take the book home to read independently and prepare for a discussion of the book during the next book club meeting.
Renee Kennedy also leads a state-wide family literacy community that is available to leaders of family literacy programs throughout California. These meetings provide an opportunity to share and develop new family literacy practices which enhance family literacy programming at other libraries. “Selecting Renee Kennedy to spearhead the statewide family literacy effort is a reflection of how respected the Smiley Library family literacy program is,” observed Diane Shimota, Adult Literacy Coordinator at Smiley Library.
The Family Literacy Program seeks to address the special needs of families whose adult members are currently enrolled in the Redlands Adult Literacy Program or who would like to enroll in the adult literacy program in the future. To learn more about the Family Literacy Program, please call Diane Shimota, Adult Literacy Coordinator, at (909) 798-7565, ext. 4138, or email literacy@akspl.org.
The Redlands Adult Literacy Program also invites you to consider volunteering to be a literacy tutor for adult learners. The next Volunteer Tutor Orientation is April 22, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Library Assembly Room. Call (909) 798-7565, ext. 4138, or email literacy@aksp.org to reserve a space or to obtain more information.