On the eve of Family Literacy Day on January 27, the kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board offers the following tips to encourage reading.

What can parents of ELEMENTARY school children do?
Parents who take an active role in the learning process have a positive influence on their children’s reading and writing abilities. Here are a few ways to improve your young child’s literacy skills:
Start reading with your young children and keep reading together even after your children can read on their own.
Read daily and frequently; pick a regular time to read with your child.
Read aloud to stimulate your child’s imagination, language and listening skills.
Read a variety of materials to your child such as picture books, chapter books, newspapers, magazines, comics, labels, poems, billboards, menus, recipes, greeting cards, and so on.
Choose books that you enjoyed reading as a child.
Be a role model by letting your child see you read. Discuss what you’ve read.

How can you make reading fun?

Time spent together reading is fun. Here are a few ways to keep the fun in reading:
Encourage your child to make predictions about what will happen next.
Talk about the book and ask questions:
                What do you think the book is about?
                What is your favourite part? Why?
                Who is your favourite character or person in the book?
Link the story you are reading to your child’s world.  Ask: “Do you remember when we went to the farm/store/etc.?”
Re-read a favourite book many times.
Read books based on movies. It’s fun to watch the movie after reading the book.
Use different voices for the characters in the book.
If your child is able to do so, take turns reading, sounding out and repeating difficult words.
Read as a family. Let each child and adult pick the story or novel in turn. Read a chapter after dinner each night instead of watching television.

How can you make your home “reading friendly”?

Place a reading light in your child’s room.
Build a library corner for your child.
Subscribe to magazines that would interest your child.
Introduce your child to a book series.

Cramahe Township staff will have a place to sit down and eat lunch, thanks to a motion passed at Cramahe Council on January 24.

Currently, staff has access to a kitchen area on the second floor of the town hall, but it is not inviting.

A report submitted to council by Deputy Clerk Candice Doiron stated that the current room is dreary and cold and does not have adequate seating. Staff  members generally prepare their food in the second floor room and return to their desks to eat.

In her written report she pointed to the importance of high morale among staff and the need to make them feel valued. Giving them uninterrupted time away from their desks will allow them to return to work refreshed and be more productive.

Ms. Doiron suggested that they use the office area currently shared by the Community Policing Committee and the OPP.

The OPP have no issues with the idea. Deputy Mayor Jim Williams checked to see how often they use the room during the lunch hour and reported that it had been used this way only once in the past two months.

He has spoken to Clair Bretton, Chair of Community Policing. They see the use of the room as viable but have not had a meeting with the committee to discuss it.

The police force does not keep sensitive material on site.

The Colborne Public School gym was "jammed" full of families in their jammies on January 25 for the launch of Family Literacy Week. Principal Pamela Buttery was ecstatic at the turnout for the event. The children in kindergarten to grade three were invited to bring their families to the late afternoon jammy session - and they did. Moms, dads, brothers and sisters, even grandparents found their way to the school, packing the gym as they learned new ways to develop literacy with their kids.

To keep the 150 plus people sustained, the school council provided pizza and salads.

The Wednesday jammy party was the opening volley as the school celebrates the Great Literacy Race promoted by the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. In the month-long event elementary students will enjoy a variety of literacy activities with their families. The more they do together, the more kilometers kids travel to win great prizes with their class team.

There’s something for everyone, including game playing, drawing, acting, rhyming, reading and writing too. The Great Literacy Race sends the message that learning is fun while supporting those all-important, life-long literacy skills.

For more photos from Wednesday night go to the photo gallery.

George Court is now an actual road in Cramahe Township.

Council passed the bylaw naming the road in the Johnston subdivision. The resolution was a mere formality, as council and the Johnston family had already held discussions and agreed to the name which honours George Johnston, founder of the family business.

Summer may seem like its a long way away, but Cramahe Council is already thinking about Canada Day.

Cramahe Township will continue its two-year Canada Day tradition and give away free hot dogs on the Thursday night preceding July 1. Last year sizeable crowds enjoyed the dogs and cake before settling in for the Music in the Square performance in Victoria Square.

After some discussion, Cramahe Council agreed on Jan. 24 to run a movie the same night. Councillor Clinton Breau encouraged the idea, feeling that the 300 people who play and watch soccer on Thursday night would slide over for the outdoor movie and popcorn.

Councillor Pat Westrope was less enthused, thinking that it might be too much for one evening to have the Music in the Square and the movie.

Councillor Breau wants to avoid running any events on the same weekend as the Cobourg Waterfront Festival. He sees the music crowd and the soccer group as a captive, already downtown.

The movie, yet to be determined, is expected to cost the twp. about $2,000.  

The Mayor's Task Force on Facility Usage in Cramahe was not presented to Cramahe Council on January 24 as planned.

Instead, the task force will meet once more to continue discussions, following feedback it has received on its draft document.

Purdy Road and Little Lake Road no longer lie in a Community Safety Zone. Cramahe Council voted on January 24 to remove the designation which was established to protect the children using South Cramahe Public School.

South Cramahe closed in June, 2010, making the 40 km/hr zone redundant. The Highway Traffic Act of Ontario allows municipalities to set the speed limits, so council made the move. The new bylaw rescinds one passed in 2008. It covers Little Lake Road to the south and east of the former school and 300 metres of Purdy Road to the west.

The roads adjoining the former school now have an 80 km/hr limit. Following a comment made by resident Ken Awender, Cramahe township's Director of Operations will authorize a "stop ahead" sign to the west of the intersection, warning drivers of the impending stop.

There are currently four roads within the township which continue to have speed restrictions covered by the bylaw. Lake Road as it passes Little Lake is posted 40 km/hr. County Rd. 2 from 100 metres west of Colton Rd. is set at 60km/hr. Purdy Rd. as it passes through the industrial park to Durham St. is a 50 zone. And Orchard Rd. from the Alnwick/Haldimand boundary to Percy St. is a 60 km/hr area.

A memorial service will be held at Eden United Church at 2 p.m. on Thursday, January 26 for Terence (Terry) Shortt.

Terry passed away on January 20 after a two-year battle with cancer. He leaves behind his wife, Penny, five children and 12 grandchildren.

A visitation will be held at the church from noon to  2 p.m..

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Also available are the monthly reports for this area for September,

 October, and November.