A Message from the
Executive Director
The holiday season is fast approaching
and we would like to thank all of you for your continued support
of Investing in Children. This is the time of year to reflect
on our many accomplishments and to celebrate the difference
that we have made in the lives of children and their families
in our community. This emailer, once again, shares some of
those success stories with you.
I would like to sincerely thank
our volunteers who give tirelessly of their time and energy,
my dedicated Board of Directors who give their constant guidance
and support, our funders for believing in the work that we
do and to my amazing staff who continue to be passionate about
their work.
Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season spent with
family and friends.
Sincerely,
Anita Gilvesy
Executive Director
Investing in Children
London
Gets Mugged
As part of our continued
commitment to show casing London as a Creative City, Investing
in Children is hosting a unique fund raiser called “London
Gets Mugged”. Prominent members of our community are
decorating coffee mugs to reflect their own personal creative
inspiration, using a variety of decorative paints and materials.
These mugs will
be on exhibit for one special evening, Thursday February 28,
2008, at Jonathan’s Gallery as part of a fund raiser
to support Investing in Children’s literacy initiatives.
Guests will vote with their Toonies to determine London’s
favorite mug as they enjoy a sampling of exclusive wines from
Michael Buck, lattes from Starbucks and other hors d'ouevres.
Tickets for London
Gets Mugged will be only $25, with proceeds supporting our
literacy projects. Tickets will be available from Investing
in Children in January. We hope you will be able to join us
for this unique event, to support our projects, and to see
the wonderful creations that our "muggers" create!
Family
Literacy
Investing in Children's Family
Literacy Events continue to shine! This fall, we've presented
four events at schools in London and Parkhill thanks to the
generous support of the Greenshield Foundation.
In November, we also held two
special Family Literacy Events at the London Regional Children's
Museum to celebrate the works of Robert Munsch.
In 2007, we will be running 30
Family Literacy Events at 10 schools in partnership with the
Thames Valley District School Board.
Children's Nutrition Information
Investing in Children's role
in the Children's Nutrition Network allows us to help support
school nutrition programs thoughout London and Middlesex,
and to raise awareness of the connection between of healthy
eating and school success.
We have always recognized the
value of healthy eating for children, but some recent information
is highlighting just how important it is to ensure that London's
children are learning and practicing healthy eating habits:
- Breakfast for Learning's 2007
Report Card on Nutrition for School Children gives Canadian
children and adolescents a D when it comes to meeting the
recommendations of the new 2007 Canada's Food Guide.
- One in three children in Ontario
is now considered overweight. One of the causes cited is
that 1/3 of children don't eat breakfast.
- Longterm effects of childhood
obesity including risks of chronic kidney disease, hypertension,
diabetes mellitus, high cholesterol and cardiovascual problems.
- 40.9% of London Food Bank
clients are children and youth.
Everyday
Literacy Tips
Here are some helpful hints for
practicing family literacy at home:
- Read to your child as often
as you can, fiction and non-fiction books.
- Encourage your child to choose
the books you read together and help the child to tell the
story from pictures in the book.
- Talk about the books you read
and the people, things and animals in them. Interactive
talk is important.
- Children can help in the preparation
of meals by measuring food, which helps their numeracy skills
and fine motor skills while they help prepare a family favourite
as well as see and taste the finished dish.
- Play memory games, card games,
put together puzzles, and make sure to read all the rules
for playing all games.
- Teach the alphabet or numbers
indoors by finger painting words using a clean flat surface
for whipped cream, pudding, alphabet cereal, soap, bath
markers, or by baking edible words and numbers.
- Help your child make their
own book of words, stories and drawings of the family, pets,
the house or apartment, the park, the family vehicle, your
neighbourhood.
- Keep books in bins or boxes
in different rooms.
- Show them how to estimate
by playing games, measuring different toy sizes, the number
of steps to the corner store and your child’s and
their friend’s height and head size, hours, minutes
and seconds, counting the stuffed animals and how much fruit
is in the bowl.
- Write in journals, on a family
chalkboard and pin interesting or important items on a family
corkboard which is accessible to everyone in the household.
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