Nov. 10, 2005 – On Dec. 3 and 10, the Virgin Islands Institute for Teaching and Learning Inc. (VIIFTAL) will sponsor Beginning With Mother Goose, a two-part workshop for parents that explores innovative ways to share nursery rhymes and picture books with infants and toddlers. The workshops will help parents spur a love of reading in their children from infancy to three years old.
The workshops are geared especially to first-time moms and dads, as well as teenage parents. They will be held at the Education Department Curriculum Center in Estate Tutu from 9 a.m. – noon, according to the press release from VIIFTAL.
Each participant will use the Beginning With Mother Goose Family Activity Guide, which offers tips for engaging infants and toddlers in storybooks and picture books. Each parent will receive a free set of 11 children's books, including: Caps for Sale, Good Night Moon and Mary Had A Little Lamb.
"We are especially hopeful that first-time parents and teenage parents will sign up for this workshop," said Karen Gutloff, executive director. "The workshops will help them build their child's first library. The research is clear that children who get an early exposure to books and reading go on to have great academic success."
The Mother Goose program is a national early literacy project created by the Vermont Center for the Book.
To register for workshops, call VIIFTAL at 777-7030.
