MATC encourages family literacy
Reading to your children can stimulate their mind and imagination in many ways. While it’s never too late to start, it’s important to try to start at a young age and stick with it. Reading is a vital part of life and used on a daily basis.
Beginning this fall, the MATC library will have a collection of children’s literature geared toward preschoolers, called the Family Literacy Collection.
“I think this is one of the best ways we can serve the MATC community,” stated Michelle Harrell, Library and Information Services manager.
This collection will be used to support the Early Childhood program, MATC child care centers, students in various classes needing literature to complete their coursework, as well as the staff and students of MATC who would like to make an impact on the literacy of children in their lives.
“My parents were told I wouldn’t be able to be a college student, maybe I could attend a two-year college at most,” said Harrell.
She has experienced racial bias, people with disabilities not receiving the help they need, as well as students who were underprivileged and did not have the proper resources for a good educational start.
Harrell stated, “If you’re not reading by 8 or 9 years old, research has shown that unless someone intervenes, you lack that skill for the rest of your educational experience.”
Harrell has been a librarian for 20 years, and sees the importance of reading and the affect it has on our community.
“We will add on, as an ongoing basis, as long as the budget allows us to do so, which I fully expect it to,” Harrell said.
“The primary purpose is that parents will be using them to read to their children, and continue the family literacy legacy,” said librarian Peggy Lasalle.
It’s important to remember that reading is new to children, and as most of us have probably experienced at one time or another, learning new things can be difficult. Teachers, students, parents, and even siblings are encouraged to help the youth in their lives to read, and develop their imagination.
For further information, please visit any MATC library, or https://guides.matc.edu/famlit.
Antoinette Jackson, from Student Life, reads to children from the MATC child care center at the West Allis Campus, during story hour on Nov. 5, with children’s books from the library’s new Family Literacy Collection.
