Event celebrates children's literacy

The Bloomington Center for Global Children had its first “Let’s Celebrate Literacy” event Saturday, featuring activities for children and families to emphasize reading at an early age.

Sierra Roussos, the center’s director and co-founder, said she was looking for a way to celebrate Week of the Young Child in order to benefit the community in general.

Week of the Young Child is an annual event by the National Association for the Education of Young Children that recognizes the needs of early childhood. This year it ran from April 6 to 12.

“Literacy in preschool really comes in different ways, especially talking to your children,” Roussos said. “That’s what this event is about.”

Roussos said reading to children, using an enriched vocabulary and providing synonyms for words a child uses helps them develop stronger literacy skills as they mature.

The Bloomington Center for Global Children opened last year after Roussos and her husband Daniel expanded Bryan Park Preschool for Global Children in 2009.

The idea for a global children’s program in Bloomington grew from the Roussos family wanting to provide more for their younger son while they lived in New York City.

With that experience, they became more interested in the earlier years of childhood development.

The center also includes programming in other languages.

“I grew up in France, and felt unfortunate as an American at the lack of multilingual options,” Roussos said.

The center provides full Spanish immersion for its students, who range in age from six weeks to 6 years old.

Merideth Lulich said her 4-year-old son enjoys coming to the center, adding she likes that her child is learning Spanish.

“I can see at home what he’s learning,” she said.

The Center for Global Children is licensed for 76 children, which Roussos said will be a number they maintain to promote a family-like atmosphere for the children.

The center emphasizes diversity tolerance as one of its main goals.

“We teach tolerance and appreciation for the similarities and differences of others. We emphasize the virtues of respect, collaboration, self-regulation, communication and happiness,” the center’s website says.

Roussos said this was the first Week of the Young Child event in Bloomington.

The event featured a reading by Chris Shaw, a Bloomington attorney who wrote and published a children’s book last year about Bloomington titled “The Fish on the Dome.”

Shaw, who has lived in Bloomington for 10 years, said he wrote the book for his son.

“This place is great for kids,” Shaw said.

Information about how parents can help their children during early development was distributed by United Way.

The “Let’s Celebrate Literacy” event included yoga for families, which Roussos said ties in with the center’s goals for teaching children to be in touch with their emotions.

The center also has a garden for the children to learn how to grow and eat organic food.

Lulich said her child enjoys being at the center.

“He hates leaving the house, and he hates leaving here,” she said. “He definitely has fun here, which is important for his age.”