INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Did you know that 90 percent of brain development occurs before the age of five? Or that one major cause of Attention Deficit Disorder is TV watching? To learn more, join us at the next Parent Academy which will provide information on literacy and give away free books to take home.
Connected 4 Kids Coalition of IRC (C4K) is hosting “Reading: The Road to Success”, a series of four literacy workshops taking place throughout Indian River County.
The same presentation will be given at each of the following locations:
- Oct. 6 in Vero Beach at the Boys & Girls Club, 1729 17th Avenue;
- Oct. 11 in Fellsmere at the Boys & Girls Club, 22 S. Orange Street;
- Oct. 20 in Sebastian at the Boys & Girls Club, 1415 Friendship Lane;
- and Oct. 27 at the Gifford Youth Activity Center, 4875 43rd Avenue, Vero Beach.
The workshops are offered free of charge and include free pizza at 5:30 p.m., with the workshops running 6 – 7:30 p.m. Childcare is also available for up to 50 healthy children ages 4 to 11. RSVPs are requested so that adequate food and childcare services can be provided.
Guest presenters include The Learning Alliance, which will provide presentations on how reading occurs in the human brain, why it’s important to spend time reading together every day, and what questions to ask your child to make reading time more valuable.
Barbara Brooks, author of Read to Babies, will present information to help parents discover how to read to your baby, the 10 benefits of reading to babies, and ways in which reading aloud is better than watching television.
Free books will be given away.
Book drives are currently going on at the following locations so that enough books are available: Boys & Girls Clubs of IRC, CrossLife Counseling, Florida Spine, Gifford Youth Activity Center, Healthy Start Coalition, Marine Bank, Starbucks locations in IRC, and at the Family Jamboree to be held on Oct. 8 at the fairgrounds.
C4K is a coalition whose mission is to connect organizations, information, resources and families to one another to benefit children. With over 300 members from throughout Indian River County including schools, nonprofits and faith-based organizations, they produce an annual directory of resources and programs, and hold monthly meetings.
To RSVP for the free workshop and dinner, or for more information, call (772) 226-3092 or email connected4kids@gmail.com.
