PRINTS stands for Parents' Roles INteracting with Teacher Support. PRINTS is a family literacy program mainly for parents/guardians of preschool children.

Learning Through Training:
The PRINTS Family Literacy Program

The PRINTS Program was piloted in 1994-95 and has been operating ever since, having spread from Newfoundland- and Labrador to many other regions of the country and beyond. The Program has a strong theoretical base of 5 STEPS and 5 ROLES. The STEPS are: Books and Book Sharing, Talk/Oral Language, Play, Environmental Print, and Scribbling/Drawing/Writing. These reflect the life-space of a child. The ROLES are: Finding Opportunities, Engaging in the Activity, Giving Positive Feedback, Modelling, and Setting Guidelines. These define the responsibilities and tasks of parents/caregivers in providing successful literacy learning experiences for their young children.

There are two levels of PRINTS, one for parents/caregivers of children ages 0 to 2, and the second for parents/ caregivers of children ages 3 to 6. The five STEPS ensure that tile activities to which the child is exposed, provide a variety of life experiences. There are 37 activities for children ages 0 to 2, and 45 for children ages 3 to 6. Rather than viewing family literacy as reading only, the PRINTS Program encompasses many activities in addition to reading.

Facilitator Training

Implementing PRINTS is based on a solid facilitator training experience. A training workshop, ideally at least 5 hours long, is provided for prospective facilitators. The workshop includes information about the philosophy of the program, information on program materials and implementation, and hands-on experiences on how to best facilitate the program for parents.

In February, 2006, a PRINTS Train the Facilitator workshop was provided for a group of 6 youth in a Youth Skills Link Program in a rural town in eastern Newfoundland. The group consisted of one male and five females Three of the group were single parents.

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