When Twice Upon a Time first started operations, our very first pop-ups were held at Heartwood House on McArthur Avenue in Vanier. Heartwood House is a dynamic collection of non-profit and charitable organizations, all housed within one building where they can collaborate and share affordable office and programming space. We've remained members of Heartwood House over the years, but our pop-ups at this location didn't quite work. We're extremely happy to announce, however, that we've recently re-launched a service at Heartwood House, and so far, the reviews are excellent!

Since March, Twice Upon a Time has stocked a self-serve bookshelf in the lobby of Heartwood House. Children and parents visiting Heartwood are able to browse through the books we have there, and take something special home for themselves. In the first few weeks, we've given out over 300 books!

The feedback we've received so far has been nothing short of wonderful! Mothers and their children have started gathering in the lobby to select books and read together, and kids love seeing a shelf dedicated to them to choose a book from. During a recent event at Heartwood House, Maureen Moloughney, Executive Director of Heartwood House reported "The sweetest experience of the day was the surprise of the children when they realized there were free books waiting just for them on the Twice Upon A Time bookcase.  It was so much fun to watch the children search for just the right book to call their own."

We are thrilled to be back in business at Heartwood House, and hope this shelf will continue to excite and inspire families who visit.

Why are free books important?

• Early literacy research shows the ratio of books to children in a low-income neighbourhood is 23 times higher than in a middle-income neighbourhood
• Public libraries are not enough: Families under stress may have difficulty getting to the library, returning books on time and paying fines.
• In a 2013 evaluation of Booktime, a literacy program in England that distributes free books to 4 and 5 year olds, respondents reported increased children’s enjoyment of reading (66 %) and increased frequency of shared reading at home (50 %). (Weaving)
• Middletown Ohio Community Foundation found that kindergarten students receiving free books from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program scored 15 percent higher on kindergarten literacy tests than the average score by students who were not participating in the program (Dolly’s Imagination Library)

Why is owning a book important?

• Children who own a book are more likely to read at or above the expected reading level for their grade.
• Owning as few as 20 books in the home has a significant impact on propelling a child to a higher level of education.

Why are print books important?

• Ebooks are rising in popularity and are a great tool to share reading with a child.
• eBooks can be particularly useful for children with a disability, particularly children who are hearing or sight impaired. In these cases, research shows that using a simple eBook without many interactive elements is best.
• There is emerging data on the use of digital books (or eBooks) by infants and toddlers in general: while it shows that toddlers can learn words from using touchscreens, it also shows that they may have trouble transferring this knowledge to the 3-dimensional world, and that in some cases, they become a merely passive “viewer” when engaging with an eBook.
• eBooks often have interactive elements that may further distract caregiver or child, and prevent a child from fully understanding the content or participating in the shared reading experience with a caregiver. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that if families use eBooks, that a caregiver co-view with children in order to help them understand what they are seeing and put it in the context of their daily lives.
• Research supports the idea that the making reading interactive between caregiver and child is crucial, regardless of the format of a book (by directing the child's attention, praising their efforts, putting a story or image in context, pointing out letters, words and shapes). These interactions happen less often when sharing an eBook with a child.

Why do you only give away books for children up to 12 years old?

• Early literacy is a key factor in children’s school readiness.
• Strong reading skills are the foundation for learning in all subjects
• Interventions to support reading for pleasure at an early age have the biggest impact on later habits
• It is important to assist children who struggle with early literacy, and who may later struggle with reading, as early as possible.
• Supporting family literacy when children are young sets children up for success!

Given the above, we believe that Twice Upon a Time reaches children who may not otherwise have an opportunity to discover reading.

Resources:

Clark, Christina and Lizzie Poulton. Book ownership and its relation to reading enjoyment, attitudes, behaviour and attainment: Some findings from the National Literacy Trust first annual survey. London: National Literacy Trust, 2011. Web. 4 Jan 2014. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED521658.pdf

Media and Young Minds.” Pediatrics, vol. 138, no. 5, 2016, pp. e20162591–e20162591.

Neuman, Susan B., and Celano, Donna. “Access To Print in Low-Income and Middle-Income Communities: An Ecological Study of Four Neighborhoods.” Reading Research Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 1, 2001, pp. 8–26.

Ridzi, Frank, et al. “The Imagination Library Program and Kindergarten Readiness.” Journal of Applied Social Science, vol. 11, no. 1, 2017, pp. 11–24.

Wauters, Loes, and Evelien Dirks. “Interactive Reading with Young Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children in EBooks Versus Print Books.” The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, vol. 22, no. 2, 2017, pp. 243–252.

Willoughby, et al. “Do ABC EBooks Boost Engagement and Learning in Preschoolers? An Experimental Study Comparing EBooks with Paper ABC and Storybook Controls.” Computers &Amp; Education, vol. 82, 2015, pp. 107–117.

Wray, David, and Medwell, Jane. “Exploring a National Book-Gifting Scheme: Parents' and Children's Reactions.” Education 3-13, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 209–13, 2015, Vol.43(2), p.209–222.

Here are some tips for parents to help children build their literacy skills and love of reading, shared by the volunteers of Twice Upon a Time:

• Learning to read begins at birth.
• Parents and caregivers are a child’s first and best teachers.
• Talk to your child. Children learn words, and narrative (story), because they listen to you talk and learn to join in the conversation. Tell your baby the story of what you are going to do today. Tell your toddler the story of your trip to the park or the library.
• Sing to your child. Singing is a fun way to develop language skills. Sing slowly so that children can recognize the words and patterns, such as rhyming and repeating.
• Play with your child. Use playtime to help your child put thoughts into words and talk about what they are doing when they are playing.
• Encourage your child to recognize letters and print in your daily life. Make it a game. Look for letters on signs, in the grocery store, and in the park. Connect different letters to different shapes. Which letters look like triangles? Which ones look like circles?
• Read to your child. Reading together develops vocabulary and comprehension. It also helps children understand the book as a physical object or tool. How does it open? How do we turn the pages? Where do we find the name of the author? Which languages are read left to right and which are read right to left? Most of all, reading together motivates children to want to learn to read!
• Ask questions when you are reading. What do you think happens next? Where is the fox going? Why is the girl hiding in this picture? Give children time to respond and then praise them. Point out shapes, words, or pictures, or link the story to your daily life.
• Children like to hear the same stories repeated. Reading the same story is good for children, even if it is boring for adults! Every time you read the same story, children get something new out of it. Repetition helps children reinforce their learning, recognize words, and understand narrative.
• It is okay to read only a few pages of a book if you are busy. Focus on building literacy skills in the time you have.
• It is okay to stop reading if your child gets distracted. Pay attention to how your child reacts and take your cues from them. Read when your child is most receptive rather than trying to impose a reading time.
• Make sure your child sees you reading. All reading is good — books, comics, magazines, articles, or newspapers. Boys often fall behind girls in reading skills, so it is very important for them to see men reading.
• If you do not speak French or English at home, use these tips in your own language. It is important for children to be able to speak to their family members in their own language. It is also important to learn a language from a native speaker. Learning more than one language has many benefits — academic, economic, emotional, and more!
• Your child will learn English and French at school so do not worry about teaching them before they start school. The most important thing for early literacy is encouraging a love of reading and learning, and you can do that in any language!

Spring is here! Everyone is scrambling to get outside and enjoy the warm weather after a long, snowy winter. If you’re pressed for ideas of outdoor activities, here are some ideas from some great children’s books!

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert. This book is about a mother and child duo who plant a rainbow of flowers and watch them grow. What a wonderful idea to add some beauty to your yard, and teach your child about gardening! This book is good for children 2 years and older.

Two Blue Jays by Anne Rockwell and Megan Halsey. This book is about some classmates who observe blue jays and all their different behaviours. Reading this book could lead to a fun spring activity – birdwatching! This book is good for children 3 years and older.

Maple Syrup Season by Ann Purmell. This book is great for this time of spring, when sugar shacks are at their peak! Read this book and learn about how this family makes maple syrup, and then head to a sugar shack to see it in action! And the best part, pick up some maple syrup on the way out. This book is good for children 4 years and older.

Who Likes Rain? By Wong Herbert Yee. We might not like the rain after the summer we had last year, but kids probably still enjoy jumping in the puddles! This is an interactive Q&A book that teaches you what animals enjoy the rain too. Use this book to still learn during and enjoy those rainy spring days!

Mud Flat Spring by James Stevenson. Follow the animals at Mud Flat as they welcome spring, and maybe try out some of the activities on your own! Just be sure to have a bath ready at the end of it. This book is good for children 6-9 years old.

Let us know what your favourite spring activities are!

Did you know that volunteering with your romantic partner can help enhance relationship satisfaction?

I bet you also might not have known that the co-founders of Twice Upon A Time are married! Hmm…is there a theme here?

Here at Twice Upon A Time, we have been celebrating love throughout the month of February (perhaps you’ve seen our Facebook posts about the love of reading? If not, check them out here https://www.facebook.com/freebooksottawa/).

There’s lots of love throughout Twice Upon A Time: a love for reading, a love for helping, and much more. But for this post, we are going to focus on a more traditional kind of love – romantic love!

The co-founders of Twice Upon A Time love to spend time together (we hope…they are married after all), and what better way to do it than to create and continue to work on such a wonderful charity.

We also have other volunteers that are in love! Max and Clare are some of our wonderful, dedicated volunteers, and they love to volunteer together. Clare has gone off to university away from Ottawa, but when she comes home, they still come to TWICE together. What a rewarding date night!

We are so grateful to be able to share in both our member’s love for reading, and their actual love. We thank them for taking their time together to help us.

Do we have any other volunteers out there that are in love?

Twice Upon a Time is happy to announce a new partnership. Six first year medical students from the University of Ottawa are joining us each Wednesday as part of the university’s CSL program. CSL is Community Service Learning, a credited educational experience that takes place in structured volunteer settings such as ours at the Argyle St. YMCA/YWCA. We are so lucky that these bilingual students have chosen to work with us from January to April, 2018.

What better combination could there be than children’s literacy and children’s health? The medical students have developed activities around topics dear to their hearts: hygiene, tooth brushing, nutrition, exercise and healthy ways to have fun. Twice Upon a Time has contributed books related to each theme so that a story time can be incorporated into each week’s active games, songs and demonstrations. And the students themselves successfully attracted a grant from the Michaëlle Jean Centre for Global and Community Engagement that will provide the team with supplies for activities! How they do all this and still keep up a first-year medical school pace, we don’t know.

During the first week, three team members got down on the floor with admiring kids and performed push-ups, stretches and jumps. Last week, three other students showed the children how to do downward-facing-dog and other stress-relieving yoga positions. They’ve promised to bring their stethoscopes for a Valentine’s day heart special.

We’re looking forward to a whole winter of great collaboration between the Taggart Y Housing Office, Twice Upon a Time and the students and staff of the medical program at the University of Ottawa.