What's On in Parkdale Archives | Creating Together Parkdale

Black History Month 2020: Going Forward, Guided by Our Past

February 4, 2020 by Melanie

Across the country, February is the month that Canadians honour and celebrate the legacy of Black Canadians, with Black History Month.

Join us as we celebrate, for a special snack on Friday the 21st!

This Year’s Theme

With a different theme selected each year, the theme of the Government of Canada’s Black History Month campaign is “Canadians of African Descent: Going forward, guided by the past”. Feet forward, head turned backward, the Sankofa bird reflects on the past to build a successful future.

Rita Cox Collection, Parkdale Public Library

Resources to Learn and Share

This gives all of us an invitation to learn ore about our history, so we can move forward knowing from whence we came. Here in our own community, we are fortunate to hold the Rita Cox Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection at the Parkdale Public Library. This collection is recognized as one of the most significant Black and Caribbean heritage collections in Canada. The collection features over 16,000 print and audiovisual materials for adults, children, and teens about the Black and Caribbean historical and cultural experience. So in the spirit of literacy and connecting with your community, go and check out this incredible collection this month with your family!

Read! Read! Read!

January 29, 2020 by Melanie

Each year ABC Life Literacy Canada celebrates Family Literacy Day on January 27th, raising awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. An crucial indicator of child success, there are loads of free resources available to help parents and caregivers be the best possible support they can be.

Family Literacy in Canada

Children spend five times as much time outside the classroom as they do in school, so parents and caregivers need the tools to support their learning (The Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease, 2006).
Children whose parents are involved with them in family literacy activities score 10 points higher on standardized reading tests (The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions On Children’s Acquisition of Reading: From Kindergarten to Grade 3, Conducted by Monique Sénéchal for the National Center for Family Literacy, 2006)
One year of parental education has a bigger positive impact on whether a son or daughter will attend a postsecondary institution than an extra $50,000 in parental income (Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, 2011)
A mother’s reading skill is the greatest factor to affect her children’s future academic success, outweighing other factors, like neighborhood and family income (National Institute of Health, 2010).

Did you know that early literacy begins before a child can read? According to research by the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, children who are successful readers have usually engaged in many early language and literacy activities before starting school. In fact, hearing and engaging with books read aloud to them is one of the most important activities for infants, toddlers, and pre-school children.

We are here to help. In fact, given literacy has such a positive impact on children and families, each Monday at Creating Together is committed to literacy. We hope you will join us!

Designed for one-on-one or small group storytelling, Literacy Mondays feature developmentally appropriate books and CDs. This gives children the opportunity to read and sing along with parents/caregivers and a staff member. Through the week, you can enjoy our reading nook at Creating Together with your child, filled with a wide range of books and comfortable seating.

Out in the Toronto community, there are lots of other opportunities to create positive memories of literacy with children:

Check out the Parkdale Library’s “recommended reads” for family literacy.
Welcome to School is a program offering resources and programs for newcomer student success.
Children’s Book Bank provides free books and literacy support to children living in low-income neighborhoods across Toronto, such as dictionaries for newcomers, and these family literacy tips.
Toronto’s ReadUP‘s mission is to provide children with access to free reading support that complements and consolidates the literacy learning they receive in school.
Enjoy your favourite children’s stories any time with Dial-a-Story and OverDrive eBooks & eAudiobooks for Kids.
Handbook of Language and Literacy Development

Lunar New Year Celebration

January 22, 2020 by Melanie

The Lunar New Year, Chinese Chunjie, Vietnamese Tet, Korean Solnal, Tibetan Losar, also called Spring Festival, is celebrated during the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between January 21 and February 20 on the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is typically celebrated in Asian countries, beginning with the first new moon of the year and ending on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later.

Chinese New Year, January 25th

This year’s Chinese New Year begins January 25th, as we move into the Year of the Rat. Here are a few rituals that are traditionally done to celebrate the Chinese New Year:

Visit family and friends – This tradition is so crucial that LNY travel is annually heralded as the ‘world’s largest human migration’. In 2019, 3 billion trips were projected to be made during the holiday season.

Share wealth with family – Red packets carrying cash gifts are given to friends and family. It is also tradition for children to give a gift to their grandparents / elders.

Clear out last year’s clutter – In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, the last year is washed away: windows, walls and furniture are all cleaned and dusted. However, all cleaning stops on the first day of the Lunar New Year, so good fortune is not swept away.

Hang red decorations – it is said, according to lunar new year mythology, that red is hung to ward off Nian – a lion-like monster that is afraid of the colour red.

Watch a traditional dance – Further to the red decorations, Nian also doesn’t like loud noises, so drums and cymbals accompany a flying lion dance outdoors.

You won’t want to miss the festivities in Chinatown this Saturday from 12-5pm: https://www.chinatownbia.com/eventsnews/lny2020/

Come and Celebrate with Us!

We hope you’ll join us this Friday at Creating Together to celebrate with some food and origami mouse activities! Take a look below for a tutorial on how to do this at home!

Happy New Year!

Next month, we’ll be celebrating Tibetan Losar as well, which fall this year on February 24-26. Stay tuned for more information on that!

Tips to Manage Holiday Stress

December 14, 2019 by Melanie

Between the lack of sunlight, family stress, or finances, expectations, obligations…the holiday season can be a stressful time for most, even with the best of intentions. In fact, stress and depression can be at their peak for many parents and caregivers at this time of year.

How do we keep positive when tensions are high?

Witness and Accept Your Feelings are Normal. You can’t force yourself to be happy just because it’s the holiday season. If you can’t be with loved ones, realize that it’s normal to feel sadness and grief rather than try to ignore or push those feelings aside.

Reach out. Creating Together is hosting a holiday party on December 18th – come out and enjoy a meal with us while the kids play! And beyond us here at Creating Together, if you feel lonely or isolated, seek out other community, religious or other social events that are meaningful for you. They can offer support and companionship.

*Sign-up for the holiday party at Creating Together – RSVP required*

Be realistic. Managing our expectations of the holidays is important, so we can be realistic and find ways to celebrate which feel authentic and true. The holidays don’t have to be perfect, or the same as they were in the past. Families, traditions, and rituals change and grow over time. Consider which traditions you’d like to keep and which ones you’d like to create. Find new ways to celebrate together, with the people who matter the most.

Set aside differences. Remember you aren’t the only one who is stressed or depressed – others in your family or friendship circles may be as well, so tensions will be higher than usual. Try to accept family members and friends as they are, and be understanding if others get upset or distressed when something goes unplanned.

Stick to a budget. Money cannot buy happiness, so before you go gift and food shopping, decide how much money you can afford to spend – and keep to your budget.

Take time for self-care. Nurture yourself with a steam, a soak, a walk in the park, or curling up with a favorite book. Taking time out for yourself is a great way to nurture peace and balance in your own life.

November Highlights

November 5, 2019 by Melanie

The November Calendar is now out, and we have a lot of amazing things in store for the parents, caregivers, and children of Parkdale. Read below for some great highlights!

Fun With Nature

Join us on November 11th and November 22nd to enjoy the benefits of nature, at our local parks.

Researchers and natural environmentalists have been studying the effects of exposure to nature on children, and have found some interesting results: Engagement with nature has huge benefits for children physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

For instance, Adams & Savahl (2017) discovered it has a significant influence on children’s emotional and social well-being, while Pensini, Horn, & Caltabiano, (2016) discovered that early exposure to nature improves one’s mental health as an adult. Would you like to help improve your child’s short-term memory and ability to focus? Another study shows that being in nature for extended periods of time promotes the development of attention skills, while protecting against inattention-hyperactivity symptoms such as (Ulset, Vitaro, et al, 2017). There are also a number of physical benefits, such as improved vision, and reduced risk of obesity.

Keeping Active

Twice a month, we create healthier communities by bringing in the Busy Body Exercise Cards twice per month.

Did you know Adequate levels (60 minutes/day) of physical activity helps children:

develop cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility, and bone density
maintain a healthy body weight
reduce the risk of chronic disease and health problems
lessen the likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use
feel better every day, through improved mental health and well-being

Scarf Dancing is not only fun, but it’s incredibly good for children, and can be practiced at home as well. Here are some benefits:

Sparking imagination as we explore all kinds of ways to play with our scarves
Teaching directional tracking as we visually track our scarves’ movement
Improving eye-hand coordination as we play catch or peekaboo
Increasing vocabulary as we verbally describe what we are doing with our scarves
Sharpening listening skills as we move our scarves based on musical or verbal cues
Practicing inhibitory skills as we start and stop our movements with the scarves

Fun with Food

Join us at 9:30am on November 5th for some family baking, or the 28th at 9:30am to make oatmeal, raisin cookies. And don’t forget our monthly Toddler Food Preparation workshop with Marcella from FoodShare!

Supporting Literacy

Every Monday is Literacy Day at Creating Together. From 9:30am to 10:30am a staff member will read with a small group or one-on-one, and introduce songs and stories on CDs as well as a variety of stories.

Also, storytime takes place every day at 1pm. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to bring a special book from home that can be shared during this time.

Our Family Support Worker can share with you some strategies on how to read to small children. Every two months a professional literacy consultant provides educational workshops for families. In fact, this month we are very happy to have circle with the Parkdale Public Library Librarian on the 29th at 11am.

Did you know? Books with CDs and headphones are available for use with the children and a variety of children’s books can be borrowed for use at home through our Resource Lending Library.

Encouraging Inquiry

Children learn so much through science. So, each month we facilitate a fun learning science activity. This month’s science activities are the “underwater volcano” on November 8th and “the orange experiment” on November 25th. Curious? Come out and enjoy!