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Posts in the Literacy Category
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Proud to Be An American Reader
July 1st, 2008
Rachael Walker
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Guest Blogger Rachael Walker is the Outreach Consultant for Reading Rockets, a national multimedia initiative which aims to inform and inspire parents, teachers, childcare providers, and others who touch the life of a child by providing comprehensive, accessible information on how to teach kids to read and help those who struggle. Rachael began her career in literacy outreach at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), has also served as a consultant to the NEA’s Read Across America campaign, and was most recently the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Metro DC.Every Fourth of July I think about Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, and his often quoted words, “I cannot live without books.” That our own democracy has grown and flourished owes much to Mr. Jefferson and his Declaration, but also to the rise of the printed word.
Independence Day is a great time to share books with children. Reading Rockets has a Celebrate America list of recommended reading for children ages 0-9. Use this list to throw together a book-nic to go along with your Fourth of July barbeque and read about real and legendary American heroes and heroines, revisit classic American songs, and follow the adventures of travelers across the United States while you wait for the fireworks.
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Summertime: A Season for Readers of All Abilities
June 17th, 2008
Dale Brown
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Guest Blogger Dale Brown is the Manager of LD OnLine, a website designed to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. LD OnLine features expert advice on learning disabilities and ADHD and a library of research-based information on learning disabilities. Dale is also a well-known author in the learning disability world and her work includes Steps to Independence for People with Learning Disabilities and Job Hunting for the So-Called Handicapped as well as hundreds of articles. Like most writers, I love reading. I am blogging from the home of my niece and nephew, Jessica and Jason, who are fellow book lovers. Jessica told me that she goes to the library almost every day. I shared with her my childhood memory of going to the library and coming home with twelve books or more–and having a hard time carrying them all!
The summer is a great time to enjoy your children and expose them to reading. I thought I would share some ideas with you about encouraging reading this summer with some particular emphasis on supporting children who have a hard time in the classroom during the school year.
- Take the time to learn about learning disabilities. A good place to start is LD Basics and Questions + Answers. The more parents and teachers know, the more children succeed and grow. Read about dyslexia (reading problems), dysgraphia (writing problems), dyscalculia (math problems) and ADHD. Review the signs, the symptoms and how to help. (more…)
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Toni Morrison honored with PEN/Borders Literary Service Award
May 30th, 2008
Teresa P.
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Recently we had the pleasure of witnessing Toni Morrison accept the PEN/Borders Literary Service Award at the 2008 PEN Literary Gala. It was truly inspiring to see Ms. Morrison recognized for her tremendous efforts. We feel fortunate to have such wonderful partners that care deeply about the state of literacy in our country. In honor of her award and our heroes at Borders, First Book will donate 10,000 books this summer to children who need them most.
First Book is happy to report that in the three years that we have worked with Borders, over $2.7 million in new books have gone to children in need across the country, with thousands of community groups impacted by Borders generous support. Congratulations to Toni Morrison and all of our friends at Borders.
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Getting Into Learning When School Is Out
May 20th, 2008
Susannah Harris
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Guest Blogger Susannah Harris is the manager of AdLit.org, a national multimedia initiative offering resources to the parents and educators of struggling readers and writers in grades 4-12. Susannah has been a tutor herself for more than 16 years working with a range of organizations including The Higher Achievement Program and Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, She is the Volunteer Coordinator for The Community Club, a tutoring program serving middle and high schools students in Washington, D.C.Summer’s almost here, and with it come decisions about how kids should spend their out-of school time. The stakes are high–according to the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University 2/3 of the achievement gap between lower and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. For older students and their parents it’s even harder because the number of options increases–it’s difficult to choose between getting extra tutoring with difficult subjects, earning money for college, completing credits toward graduation, exploring a hobby, and–just as important–squeezing in some fun with friends.
Summer is the obvious time to think about out-of-school time learning and AdLit.org, a new website dedicated to helping young people in grades 4-12 become better readers and writers, has many resources on summer and afterschool learning that can help you find a good program to meet your student’s needs, locate a tutor for intensive help, and obtain low-cost literacy materials.
Sifting through all the options for summer learning can be overwhelming, but whether you’re in the market for an out-of-school enrichment program or a tutoring program to help a student catch up, you should know that quality varies widely. The Center for Summer Learning created a checklist to help parents and guardians identify high-quality programs. Take heed program managers–does your program measure up?
If you know a child who is really struggling with academics, you may want to consider one-on-one tutoring. Here are some ideas for getting the most from a tutor and keeping the costs down. (more…)
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Just what are the kids reading these days?
May 14th, 2008
Katie B.
Leave a Comment »Unless you happen to have young children at home or work for an organization like First Book, it might have been quite some time since you’ve been tuned into the most popular books for young children.
One of my colleagues recently sent me a Washington Post article highlighting a new study tracking the most read books by American children at each grade level.
Although you might think that new books, such as the Harry Potter novels, would dominate the list, the majority of the list is anchored by classic titles – everything from Green Eggs and Ham and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, to Bridge to Terabithia and To Kill a Mockingbird.
It’s encouraging to know that so many of the best stories that were read to me as a child are still perennial favorites.
Be sure to take a look at the entire list with the top five favorite books for each grade level and let us know if any of your childhood favorites made the list!
The full report, “What Kids are Reading: The Book-Reading Habits of Students in American Schools,” compiled by Renaissance Learning can be downloaded from their Web site.
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Introducing Reading Rockets and Blasting Off Into Summer Reading
May 13th, 2008
Rachael Walker
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Guest Blogger Rachael Walker is the Outreach Consultant for Reading Rockets, a national multimedia initiative which aims to inform and inspire parents, teachers, childcare providers, and others who touch the life of a child by providing comprehensive, accessible information on how to teach kids to read and help those who struggle. Rachael began her career in literacy outreach at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), has also served as a consultant to the NEA’s Read Across America campaign, and was most recently the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Metro DC.
Teaching reading is a hugely complicated task. Kind of like rocket science! So what better way to support the efforts of parents and educators to launch young readers than to have a multimedia initiative called Reading Rockets which looks at how young children (preschool through grade 3) learn to read, why so many kids struggle, and what can be done to help.
The Reading Rockets project is comprised of PBS television programs (available on the web, videotape, and DVD), the websites ReadingRockets.org and ColorinColorado.org, and professional development opportunities. Reading Rockets reaches out to local communities through more than 40 national partners, including First Book.
There’s also the folks at WETA (the flagship public television station in our nation’s capital), who along with a group of expert advisors, make the Reading Rockets project fly. Our mission is to provide the best resources on how to prepare and teach children to read – and inspire a joy for reading. We are excited to share some of those resources and the latest and greatest in children’s literacy with you on this blog!
Every month, you’ll hear from me or my colleague, Reading Rockets manager Tina Chovanec. You’ll also get to regularly hear from one of the Reading Rockets sister projects: LDOnline.org, the world’s leading website on learning disabilities and ADHD; AdLit.org, which focuses on helping students from fourth through 12th grades to read and write better; and ColorinColorado.org, a comprehensive bilingual website for Spanish-speaking families and teachers of English language learners.
Right now we’ve all got summer reading on our minds. If you’re looking to help families get ready for summer and to launch kids to fun, enriching summertime experiences, Reading Rockets, AdLit.org and LDOnline have put together “virtual beach bags” of activity ideas and materials to download and distribute.
This summer I’m looking forward to catching up on some of the recently published books for children and teens, like Rick Riordan’s latest Percy Jackson adventure, The Battle of the Labyrinth. And I can’t wait to find out what happens with Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks when they are back on Gardam Street.
What’s on your summer reading list?
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Take the Cheerios Book Donation Challenge!
April 29th, 2008
John Lithgow
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Guest blogger John Lithgow is an award-winning actor, author and entertainer. His extraordinary talents have earned him two Tony Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, two SAG Awards, The American Comedy Award, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. John is also a two-time Academy Award nominee.I am delighted to be joining Cheerios and First Book to present this year’s Cheerios® Book Donation Challenge. It is such a thrill to see my friends from Marsupial Sue, Micawber and I’m a Manatee doing their part to help get new books to children in need.
The Challenge gives you the chance to determine where Cheerios will donate 100,000 new books to children across the country. For every question you answer correctly, you can vote for the state that you’d like to receive new books for children in need. The top 5 vote-getting states will each receive 20,000 new books for local children! What could be more fun than that?
Take a look in the cereal aisle at a store near you for the special-edition Cheerios boxes featuring my friends from Marsupial Sue, Micawber, and I’m a Manatee! On the back of the cereal box you will find trivia questions that will keep everyone at the table thinking through breakfast. (In I’m a Manatee, what IS kept spick and span-atee?)
And be sure to visit the Cheerios Book Donation Challenge to cast your votes from now until Sunday, June 15th!
Before I go, I’d like to tip my hat to First Book and Cheerios for the terrific work they are doing to ensure that all kids have the chance to grow up with new books in their lives. As an author, and as a father, I can think of no greater gift to share with a child.
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The Library of Congress and Thomas Jefferson’s ‘First Books!’
April 14th, 2008
Jen W.
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A special bonus for book lovers who live in the Washington D.C. area is that it just so happens to be home to the incredible Library of Congress. So in celebration of the start of National Library Week, we thought it would only be appropriate to spotlight “America’s Library!”The Library, which just launched a new hands-on approach to interacting with their expansive collections through “The Library of Congress Experience,” has also worked tirelessly over the past decade to reassemble Thomas Jefferson’s original book collection that served as the foundation for the Library itself. The entire collection of over 6,000 volumes went on display April 12th at the Library, and although the books remain behind glass for protection, bibliophiles can take advantage of touch-screen technology to thumb through them electronically.
To find out more about Thomas Jefferson’s collection and “why he couldn’t live without books,” check out this great feature article from the Washington Post.
Happy National Library Week! And here’s to all the librarians who continue to change lives across the globe – we salute you!
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News From the North
March 28th, 2008
Katie B.
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First Book announces the expansion of its efforts to serve kids in need throughout North America. This spring, First Book/Le Premier Livre launches in Canada, taking our mission of providing children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books internationally.Eva Solujan, a tenured entrepreneur with experience in cause marketing and business development and a passion for children’s literacy and books, leads our new office. As Executive Director, Eva focuses on raising funds, building community alliances and distributing new books to programs serving children in need across all provinces.
Want to get involved? First Book/Le Premier Livre is looking for partners — from volunteering and outreach to fundraising and networking, you can be a part of First Book/Le Premier Livre, at this exciting time. Contact us to learn how you can help to make our work in Canada a success!
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Take action to support RIF and children’s literacy
March 6th, 2008
Katie B.
Leave a Comment »Reading is Fundamental (RIF), a national nonprofit literacy organization and a good friend of First Book, needs your help. The President’s proposed fiscal year 2009 budget eliminates the RIF Book Distribution Program. Unless Congress reinstates funding for this program, RIF will be unable to distribute 16 million books annually to the nation’s youngest and most at-risk children.
While RIF is hard at work demonstrating to Congress the importance of reinstating their program’s funding, they need the help of all of us who believe in the power of books in the lives of children. We urge all of the First Book community to reach out to their members of Congress to request the reinstatement of RIF funding. Your voice, as a constituent, is the most important resource we have to make sure that Congress protects this critical program.
Please act now and help RIF build support for reinstating the funding by sending an e-mail to your members of Congress. Ask them to support the reinstatement of RIF’s funding in the coming budget process.
We hope you will share this message with family, friends and colleagues who could also contact members of Congress. Thank you for your support as First Book and RIF work to bring new books and resources to the kids who need them most!
