Dear Editor,
Irly Learning Skills is a free parent-child activity program made possible thanks to the generosity of Irly Bird Building Centre. Lena (see photo) is a key part in making this special program happen: her brother cut and prepared twenty easy-to-build wooden birdhouses that children assembled with their mothers, fathers and grandparents at Irly Bird on January 31st. Lena was also at the BBQ grill preparing hotdogs so there were free snacks after the industrious hammering, sanding and assembling of all twenty houses.
The Irly Learning Skills programs help kids to build skills by building and creating special memories for the families participating (last year the program was called Dad and Me, but we changed it so that it’s inclusive of Moms too!). The children (average ages 3-8) were all very proud of their birdhouses and enjoyed guessing what types of birds might live in their houses in the future. They were also thrilled that they got to keep the hammers, which for many of them is their first real building tool, and they got to write their names on their hammers. Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make this program possible: Lena and her brother, everyone at Irly, the Bowen Children’s Centre, the Bowen Literacy Task Group, Raise a Reader, Decoda Literacy Solutions and Community School Coordinator Sarah Haxby was there on the day to help with this Community Learning-community-partners-created program!
We’re looking forward to the next Irly Learning event: March 28th, activity #1198. Please don’t forget: you need to sign up at www.bowencommunityrecreation.com, 604 947-2216 and not through Irly!
Sarah Haxby, Community School Co-ordinator
Ann Silberman, Bowen Island Children’s Centre
