Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (The Resource Centre) celebrated I Love to Read Month in February. An integral part of First Nations cultures has always been storytelling. Oral stories are passed down from generation to generation and are an educational and interactive way of sharing life’s lessons. Books are another way to inform us, connect us to other worlds, instruct us, and challenge us. I Love to Read Month was an opportunity to encourage reading for all ages. As a part of the kickoff, MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee, and Charles Cochrane, Executive Director of the Resource Centre, encouraged us all to pick up a book. You can still watch their videos on the Resource Centre’s YouTube channel.
Every Tuesday and Thursday in the month of February, the Resource Centre’s Facebook featured a special guest reader. Every Friday for I Love to Read Month, we shared a First Nations language storybook read in one of the First Nation languages of Manitoba. These are all available on the Resource Centre’s Facebook page.
I Love to Read Month is a reminder to us all how important it is to ensure early years, school years, and older students learn the value of reading. Books are a way of inspiring and connecting us all. On an individual basis, books can be good for mental, physical, and emotional health by strengthening the brain, reducing stress, and improving vocabulary. Reading also creates a bond between adults and children at a very early age.
The Resource Centre publishes a wide variety of high-quality books that promote First Nations cultures, histories, and languages. Our resource list includes fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, and language resources to use in the classroom or library. Many of these can be borrowed from the IRC lending library or bought online at the Resource Centre bookstore at www.mfnerc.org/the-shop
