This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub. This week Jen Robinson and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; 21st century literacies; and grants, sponsorships & donations.

Events

“Everybody bunny needs a friend who is all ears.” Mrs. P! Just in time for Easter, Mrs. P. has a wonderful activity for you … bunny bookmarks! (PDF) What I love about them is that you don’t need to be Martha Stewart craft certified. Mrs. P. relies on the things most of us have at home: white paper, scissors, and a ruler; colored pens, pencils, markers, or paint ; and (if you’re a parent) pipe cleaners and googly eyes.  To find some great book choices to pair with your new bookmark, check out Jennifer’s spring book suggestions at 5 Minutes for Books; Pam’s Thursday Three at Booklights; and Becky’s alternatives to candy at Young Readers.

By week’s end it will be April, and you know what that means … National Poetry Month. Jen had a full list of events in last week’s roundup, but we couldn’t resist posting Greg’s new 2010 button for 30 Poets/30 Days. Go grab a button for your blog. Kudos to Greg for being the lead item in this week’s Big Fresh, the Choice Literacy newsletter.

Literacy Programs & Research

Last week the National Reading Panel announced its thoughts about The Nation’s Report Card, a biennial assessment of test scores, as evaluated by the National Association of Educational Progress.  In a nutshell, not much has changed for either 4th or 8th graders in the last year. Steven Paine, a governing board member explained: “What NAEP shows us over the past two decades is that in reading there have been only slight gains and no sustained trend of improvement.” Paine’s contrast with math (which has shown significant improvement in the last two test cycles) is  particularly interesting.

Learning math is largely confined to math classrooms, and the subject is taught with cohesive, sequential curricula reflecting standards adopted by national math groups and echoed in textbooks. Reading comprehension, by contrast, is acquired across all courses, with “no similar cohesion or emphasis” on a clear reading curriculum, he said. Also, students’ reading-comprehension skills can be deeply influenced by what they do outside school.[emphasis authors]

And, in another troubling study released this week, Brian Toporek reports at Education Week that “A recent study led a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor reveals troubling statistics for students who copy a large percentage of their homework from their peers, according to the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet blog.” For example: “students who copied more than 30 percent of their assignments were four times more likely to drop out of classes in the course of a two-semester sequence than their peers who completed homework legitimately.” A major cause of the copying is procrastination. [image credit: Mr. Stein's Cheating Cheaters stream on Flickr.]

Eric Robelen summarizes the findings of a recent gender analysis study in Boys Trail Girls in Reading for Education Week.  Unlike the inflammatory article Cathy Miller references in her blog post, Robelen pulls specific data from the Center on Education Policy study.  In some areas, gaps narrowed, but “based on changes in the average of test scores, the gaps between boys and girls in reading widened across all three grade levels [elementary, middle, and high school] as often as they narrowed.”

Before you get too down, though, head over Dakarai Aarons’ Education Week article about the rise in reading scores for big cities.  Aarons links to Beating the Odds, an NAEP study, and explains “urban students showed progress on both sets of data [math and reading], in some cases outstripping the performance of other students in their own states and nationwide.”

Cassandra Barnette, president of the American Association of School Librarians and a school librarian at the Fayetteville High School (Arkansas) adds a helpful hint on how to turn around reading scores: “Students who performed at or above proficient were more likely to read for fun … and who is the most logical person to help them read for fun? Librarians.” You can read Lauren Barack’s full article in this week’s SLJ’s Extra Helping, a free online resource of the School Library Journal.

Jim is still an hour behind (gotta read TeacherNinja to get the reference), but he sent us to a Wall Street Journal article about the Joy of Wasting Time. The story’s  main focus is on the (myth of ) multitasking, but as we think about kids and learning, there are some very valuable nuggets, like this one:  “[multi-taskers are] suckers for irrelevancy—everything distracts them … they seem to like to be flooded with information … It’s almost like they prefer to scan the environment for new information rather than ponder what they have.”

At the 2010 Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Scholastic CEO Dick Robinson “delivered a call-to-action to worldwide children’s book publishers, inviting them to join Scholastic in a campaign for global literacy for all children. ” More details are in this press release.

Guest contributor Dana B offers a personal story and a nice way to help you engage teens with books and still be a parent. In her 5 Minutes for Books post, Dana shares how she guided her pre-teens through books that were too violent or had mature content beyond their age. “Here is the key to my ability to say I don’t forbid, I discuss: I work to know my teenagers. I know their beliefs and opinions, and I trust that they have developed a filter of discernment that will only strengthen as they grow.”

21st Century Literacies

Kristen McLean has a great article at Pixie Stix Kids Pix about using books to help prepare kids for the digital future.  For example: “adults need to get better at understanding and encouraging active engagement with media. In general we tend to lack understanding of exactly how sophisticated a learning tool a great children’s book can be. Asking questions about the story, looking for details in the illustrations, anticipating what might happen next–-these kinds of activities create great analytical skills and an empowered reader.”

At the ALSC blog Teresa Walls has so perfectly put together a description of the Web Site of the Month is I Was Wondering… A curious look at Women’s Adventures in Science, that I’m not even going to try to parse it. “The site, along with the books, is a project of the National Academy of Sciences. There are 10 biographies of contemporary scientists: a robot designer, a forensic anthropologist, a planetary astronomer, a physicist, a climate scientist, a planetary geologist, a sociologist, a neuropsychologist, a biomechanist, and a wildlife biologist. Not only does it offer games, a time line, and a teacher’s guide, but there is also an Ask It! section, an online community where you can ask questions, answer questions, and vote for questions to be answered by an expert.”

Wrapping Up …

Tricia Stohr-Hunt his hosting the final March 2010 Nonfiction Monday round-up at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Kate Coombs will have the first Poetry Friday of April at The Book Aunt.

Beginning in April, Jen and I are moving the Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundup to a bi-weekly format. We want to keep the content fresh and valuable, and believe that a few tweaks will help us do that. Jen will continue to have her Literacy ‘Lights at Booklights, highlighting parent-related content, as well as her Afternoon Visits. Likewise, if I see something fun, I will post a Daily Blurb. Both Jen and I will continue to post items to the News Between the Roundup widget and are still exploring the best way to get daily feeds of that information to the Book(re)Marks blog, our archive for children’s literacy and reading news, in ways that make sense for visitors.

Thanks for your interest in children’s literacy!

There is a new (to me) book site called Worm to Worm, which is akin to Goodreads and Shelfari, but IMHO has a simpler interface, which may make it attractive to young readers and book lovers.

Thanks to an eMail from Chronicle Books, I learned about Readeo, “a cool new service that combines children’s books with video chat to create a shared reading experience. So a grandpa and his grandchild can both log in (with Mommy’s help) and read the same book at the same time online in real time.” Each person has an account (free) and there is a free book each month you can share. Together. See each other. At the same time. How cool is that? It seems so Jetsons to me.

This isn’t 21st Century Literacy, but … for those looking for bargains on books AND the chance to support children’s literacy, check out Thrift Recycling Management. “Thrift Recycling Management Inc. (TRM), the largest on-line seller of used books in the world, was established in 2004. With operations throughout the United States, TRM carries an inventory of nearly two million books for sale online at all times and uses a portion of the proceeds to support children’s literacy programs in the U.S. and abroad.” Two million books have been donated to Reading Tree, a Boston-based nonprofit; and in partnership with  The Omprakash Foundation and Hands Across the Water, seven million books have been donated to establish community libraries.  TRM just recently purchased Discover Books, which describes itself as  “the largest recycler of used books in British Columbia and one of the largest in North America.” (via a TRM press release)

And have you seen Storyline Online? This free site, created by the Screen Actor’s Guild, features videos of famous people reading children’s books.  Mike Falick recently posted a list of some of the available titles.  How about: A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon, read by Sean Astin; or Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinellim read by Hector Elizondo. Fun stuff! (Via Nisha T’s March 26th Odds and Bookends column at FirstBook.

Creative Literacy for Kids

Listen Along Storybook is a new program offered by Sterling Publishers. Visitors can download audiobooks of select Sterling picture books. From the website: “It will delight children and bring backlist titles back into the spotlight … Every book in the program will have a sticker directing readers to the website, www.listenalongstorybook.com, where they can get the free downloads or listen to them as streaming audio.” My thanks to Through the Looking Glass Reviews for the link.

DogEared Blog on National Geographic Kids – Trust me, adults will love this too! The bloggers are readers ages 6 to 13, and they’re reading a wide variety in subjects of their personal interest. I love that they talk about non-book interests (like their Nintendo DS) … bookworms are wordly people. Hey, do I hear a new tag line? (via Twitter @jamiesbarefoot and @FirstBook)

Literacy and Reading Tools for Parents

There is no denying the power of Twitter. When @gameclassroom started following me, I checked it out. Game Classroom offers creative homework help for kids in Kindergarten through sixth grade. “We scoured the web for the best and most trustworthy educational games with the single goal of providing students, parents and teachers with the best interactive homework help the web has to offer!”

I may have mentioned the On the Lap blog before, but I just got re-acquainted with it and met Mary Beth, a new contributor, via a Google Alert. This is a blog about sharing a love of reading, because as the tag line says “Children are mad readers on the lap of a parent.” I just went back to a post last November about Echo Reading … good stuff!

Thanks to Twitter, I found Touchoo, which describes itself as “a publishing house for quality interactive book apps for toddlers and children. Our aim is to combine the beauty in traditional children’s books with the intuitiveness and flexibility of touch screen technology.” I like that the kids have to be part of the story. Since toddlers and preschoolers are the kids most likely to be with us waiting in line … and are most in need of “entertainment” during those moments, this may be a way to sneak in some interactive reading.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Educators

We can always count on Franki Sibberson when it comes to 21st Century Literacies and tools for educators. So it was no surprise to see that she had the link to the new iPod Touch Classroom Wiki. (via Twitter @Franki22 and @clifmims)

Thanks for your interest in reading resources and toys, I mean tools.

This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at Jen Robinson’s Book Page. This week Terry Doherty and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; 21st century literacies; and grants, sponsorships & donations.

Events

Terry and I skipped the roundups the past couple of weeks because we were busy with the Share a Story – Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour. In case you missed it, Terry has just put up a post at Share a Story that includes links to all of the posts from around the literacy blogosphere in one convenient location. Many thanks to everyone who participated!!

How fun is this? The Wavepaint Gallery, Ipswich MA is hosting “The Illustrator Show,” a display of works by children’s book illustrators Jarrett Krosoczka, Ed Emberley, Jamie Harper, Andy J Smith, Mary Jane Begin, Pat Lowery Collins, and Julia Purinton. The exhibit includes original illustrations will be presented beside their printed books. The exhibit runs from March 1 to April 23. There is an illustration lecture/reception on April 17, 2010, from 4 to 7 pm). The Gallery Della-Piana in Wenham will have their own exhibit of children’s book illustration at that same time, so grab the kids and have a fun afternoon traveling up or down route 1A admiring art for children’s literature.

Lois Lowry reports that Scottish Football clubs are promoting literacy and reading among children, via the SPL Reading Stars programme. The idea of the program is to use the football players “as positive role models to capture the imagination of families”.

April is going to be a VERY busy month. Here are a few highlights.

All month long there will be poetry and poetry celebrations galore for National Poetry Month.  Like these (with thanks to the Kidlitosphere Yahoo Group for the links):

• Gregory K. will once again host 30 Poets/30 Days with previously unpublished poems by favorite children’s authors.
• Tricia Stohr-Hunt will interview 30 children’s poets. The Poetry Makers list is stellar!
• Lee Wind will share GLBTQ Teen Poetry.
• Jone MacCulloch will offer Thirty Days, Thirty Students, Thirty Poems. Original poems by students. Request yours now.
• Mary Lee Hahn will have daily poems about teaching each day in April.
• Jama Rattigan will share Poetry and Food items all month long.
• Irene Latham will give away a favorite poetry anthology each poetry Friday during April.
• Sylvia Vardell will review a book of poetry each day in April.
• Several bloggers will also be challenging themselves to write an original poem every day. More details to follow.

April 30 marks El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros (Children’s Day/Book Day). But we love children and books all the time, and so does Pat Mora, author and Día founder.  Pat is hosting a month-long Díapalooza featuring daily posts with Día ideas, visuals, resources, facts, testimonials and more at the Bookjoy blog.

On April 8, 2010, Education Week is sponsoring a free webinar: Online Learning in a Hybrid World. For those of us on the East Coast (like Terry) whose kids were home (what seems like) half the winter, the idea of online learning is particularly appealing. From EdWeek: “As online learning gains traction within brick-and-mortar schools, a hybrid model of face-to-face and Internet-based coursework is emerging as the most popular form of e-instruction. But it takes more than computer access to create a successful hybrid-learning program. Join our expert guests for a discussion of how administrators can incorporate online courses into their students’ school days, and how in-person instructors can help make the online-learning experience work better for students.”

National Library Week is April 11-17, 2010. Over the next few weeks we expect to start seeing more about events to celebrate libraries and librarians. Shelli Johannes-Wells is getting a head start and has announced that she’s hosting The Blogosphere Loves Libraries at Market My Words. And, although it’s not directly Library Week related, Dawn Morris shares a heartfelt plea on behalf of school and public libraries at Moms Inspire Learning.

Literacy Programs & Research

In a recent School Library Journal Extra Helping, Debra Lau Whelan pulls together data from several recent studies that suggest kids who will fall behind in school can be identified at nine months.  A report by the U.K.’s Millennium Cohort Study of nearly 15,000 children was first announced in the Guardian. Whelan’s article includes additional reports, including results from the Sutton Trust charity, which looked at economic factors, and the London University Institute of Education.

The Ithaca Journal recently ran a guest article by Katrina Morse, assistant director of the Family Reading Partnership, a community coalition dedicated to promoting family reading. In the article, Morse offers tips for “transforming your house into a Book Home”. For example, “Take photos of your child enjoying a book and put that picture on the refrigerator, in a photo album or in a picture frame.” Thanks to Jenny Schwartzberg for the link. [Image is of Jen reading as a child]

Margo Dill highlights an interesting literacy organization called Milk + Bookies at Read These Books and Use Them. From the Milk + Bookies website: “Milk + Bookies is a non-profit organization that teaches young children how great it feels to give back while celebrating the love of a good book.” Margo adds: “When people hold Milk + Bookies events, children are given an opportunity to select, purchase, and inscribe a book for someone less fortunate. The events also have storytime, activities, and you guessed it–milk and cookies.” Sounds neat!

Ian Newbold at the Tidy Books Blog has a post in response to a couple of recent studies on whether or not boys need more encouragement to read than girls do.  Ian notes: “The overriding positive seen from the study is that of the children studied, boys, in general, read just as much as girls, yet the perceived negative found was that they do not read books that are as challenging.”

Terry found (via @keithschoch from Teach with Picture Books) an interesting post by Kris Zorigian at LEARN NC blogs about the relationship between learning problems and behavior problems. Kris concludes (after a careful examination of the facts) that “Research has shown that learning problems and behavior problems often coexist. This issue has serious implications for classroom teachers, who need to be aware that students with one of these diagnoses are typically more susceptible to the other.”

Terry ran across a lovely essay by Peter Brunn at the Developmental Studies Center on the importance of chapter books in children’s literacy. Peter describes reading aloud Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with his daughter, and the way that stopping with the outcome unknown had her thinking about the book and formulating theories between readings. He talks about the benefits of “lingering over books together” (and finding time to do so). Great stuff!

Another excellent essay on kids and reading came to us via @cliforg (the Children’s Literacy Foundation). Carlton Stowers shares (with humor and passion) grief that he’s received over the years in response to first his son’s, and now his grandchildren’s, reading habits. Carlton says: “It is my firm and unfaltering belief that the valuable habit of reading doesn’t begin with the Great Works. Remember back when you couldn’t get enough of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, and when the name Tom Sawyer was more familiar than that of Tom Wolfe? What I’m saying is we’ve all got to start somewhere.” He specifically defends S.E. Hinton, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and R.L. Stine.

This week’s edition of Teacher Magazine (Education Week), includes a reprint of an Associated Press article about the effect of video games on boys and their schoolwork.  Because it’s an AP article – and they are such sticklers about reprints and distributions – we’ll just point you to the article.

At Literacy, Families and Learning, Trevor Cairney has a great post about one of our favorite things: reading aloud (specifically about listening to children read aloud). He admits that there are disadvantages (it takes longer), but he also shares the joys. His tip on how to help your children become great readers boils down to three things: pause, prompt, and PRAISE.

21st Century Literacies

Sometimes news shows up where you least expect it. At The Gold Mine, a blog for website owners, Lindsay Gower draws on National March into Literacy Month to explain how reading improves your writing.

Keith Schoch at Teaching That Sticks recommends PBS Activity Packs as a resource for teachers.  He explains that an activity pack is “a stand-alone app that you can easily install to your site which provides both links and activities for reading and language arts, social studies, science and technology, health and fitness, and the arts.” (via @keithschoch from Teach with Picture Books)

In talking about Designing Space for Children and Teens in Libraries and Public Places (American Libraries magazine), Sandra Feinberg and James R. Keller describe how library experience affects a person’s perspective of the library.  “How parents and caregivers act within the library setting often influences how children feel and how often they will come to the library. How children feel when they use the library will affect their attitude and behavior not only when they are children but also when they become parents.” Substitute the word “reading” for library … and is it any different?

At Literacy Launchpad, Amy shares a couple of ideas for using audio recordings to enhance the power of storybooks. Planning for a long car trip, she noted: “The problem with that is I get car sick when I read while in motion (this happens to me on planes sometimes too), even while reading simple picture books. I came up with an idea though. What if I record myself reading the books ahead of time? Then I could play them back in the car for Isaac and not have to actually read while moving.” This is one tip that I’m likely to find useful myself in the future.

In her Video Sunday post at A Fuse #8 Production, Betsy Bird includes a host of videos, one of which is Eric Carle talking about Bill Martin, Jr. and how their partnership started 30 years ago! The video itself is wonderful, but this is what caught Terry’s ear “He told me that he couldn’t read until he was 20 years old. A teacher discovered that he could not read and said ‘Bill, you cannot read’. And Bill said ‘You’re right. I cannot read.’ This man, through rhythm, taught Bill Martin how to read.”

Thanks to @believekids for the link to 18 Resources for English Language Learners to Learn via Blogs (Teacher Reboot Camp blog). In the post, Shelly Terrell describes the value that comes from interacting with blogs. She links to videos and also has a list of  ESL-centric blogs that students of various ages will find valuable.

Grants and Donations

According to a recent news release, on April 15th “Operation Teen Book Drop will deliver 10,000 new books to teens on Native Reservations and Tribal Lands, an event that coincides with Support Teen Literature Day. In addition, more than 100 top young adult authors will leave their books in public places for young readers to discover, and members of the public can buy books online and have them shipped to tribal libraries. Publishers donated the books, valued at more than $175,000.” Operation TBD was founded by our friends at Readergirlz and is co-hosted by Guys Lit Wire and YALSA.

Wrapping Up …

Terry may have some last-minute literacy and reading links at The Reading Tub. I’ll also have some additional literacy links for parents today at Booklights. And, for some new resources, do check out Terry’s March roundup of tools for reading and literacy at the Reading Tub. There are lots of great new resources.

Today’s Nonfiction Monday round-up is at Books Together. Thanks for your interest in children’s literacy!

Franki and Mary Lee at A Year of Reading are my go-to gals for everything 21st Century Literacy. I have been enjoying Franki’s series on using video tools with students. If you’re not sold on the value for literacy, then listen to this: “I think if you walk in and see what kids are doing, it looks like it is just a fun thing. But in reality, I think creating video can be a key to becoming critical readers and viewers. As I continue to reflect on documents that help us think about how literacy is changing and growing as the tools change and grow, I am trying to figure out ways to get this into our kids’ days.” Click here to read the full post and check out how some of those tools are working. You can also learn a lot from their recaps of the 2010 Dublin  Literacy Conference, which has been going on … wait for it … yep! 21 years.

Creative Literacy for Kids

Thanks to Educationtipster Kathy Stempke for introducing us to Guardian Angel Kids, a new interactive eZine for kids.  ”Children will the love the mascot, an adorable angel gecko named GAK. Stories, games, puzzles, activities, videos and more to entertain and delight your youngsters. This is a site you and your children will want to return to again and again.”

The Book Chook does it again! I’d say that February was a Book Chook techno month, but that’s true all year long! First, Susan introduced us to StoryJumper, which she describes as “another exciting webspace where children can write stories for an authentic audience.” The emphasis is mine – I like the idea that the kids can share their creativity or collaborate with “co-writers.” In a post about Word Clouds, she introduced us to The other site is ABCYa, a free website with educational games for elementary-aged students. “ABCya! educational games are free and are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way for children to learn.” (emphasis creators) The games were created or approved by certified teachers.

Rather than repeat all of Kathy Stemke’s hard work … I’m going to send you to Educationtipster and her collection of interactive websites for kids. That is one awesome list.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Parents

Carryout Text – This one is good for ANYONE! It is a FREE text-to-audio converter.  The  potential is limitless … newspaper and magazine articles, books, oh my! (via LarryFerlazzo)

Fruitphonics.com – I found this on at the Scad blog in a post about Mennell Media’s efforts to build interactive online educational tools.  ”The aim of the site is to provide all of the basic 44 phonemes and 20 or more more additional ‘blends’ together with the 100+ highest frequency words in the English language.” The videos can be used to help kids with letter sounds and pronunciation.  This could be particularly valuable for complementing work with speech therapists and ELL educators.

The Kidlitosphere Yahoo! group doesn’t get many props, but man it is filled with some of the coolest people. One of the new members who just introduced herself is Elizabeth, who goes by the moniker TinyReader and has a blog of the same name. She created the blog to share the ways her roles as mom and teacher overlap. “A new mom brings what she knows about literacy research and teaching to the world of mommies and daddies.” Do check it out. You’ll love her theme posts, like this one with songs of love and peace.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Educators

In the course of clicking through a Google Alert about a literacy study, I found Mendeley Research Networks, which describes itself as “like iTunes(r) for research papers.” It is a FREE research management tool that you can use for organizing, collaborating, and sharing research. You can add additional work to your “library” from anywhere.

Kim Cofino teaches a technology class that helps sixth graders that emphasizes independent learning through project-based activities. She’s laid out the entire class in a post at Always Learning. In addiion to offering the basics of using computer programs, Kim also engages the kids in “digital citizenship” and understanding the ethics of 21st Century literacies. (via the 20 February 2010 edition of The Big Fresh, the Choice Literacy newsletter).

In case you missed it, Abby the Librarian and Kelly Jenson (Stacked Books) have launched AudioSynced, a monthly MEME to talk about audio books. So, what are you listening to? They wanna know!

This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, the Reading Tub blog. This week Jen Robinson and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; 21st century literacies; and grants, sponsorships & donations.

Next Monday, Share a Story-Shape a Future 2010 (aka Share a Story 2010, #sas2010 on Twitter) takes center stage. Jen and I are both heavily involved in the event, so we are taking a 2-week hiatus from the round-up.

Events

Well, we’re getting closer! The National “Read to Kids” campaign finished second in the education category in Change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition. The Final Round opens today (March 1)  and ends Friday, March 11th at 5pm ET. The top 10 rated ideas (out of 60 finalists) will be presented to members of the Obama Administration and media at an event in DC. If you choose, you can help keep the focus on literacy by voting on this Everybody Wins!  Initiative. The voting link is the same as the first round http://www.change.org/ideas/view/launch_a_national_read_to_kids_campaign.

Each year, we celebrate  Theodor Geisel’s (Dr. Seuss’) birthday with Read Across America day. The National Education Association launched this event on March 2, 1998, now it a national event. From the NEA website: “Read Across America partners  Reading Rockets,Seussville, Read,Write, Think.org, and a to z teachers offer a terrific collection of resources. Think Read Across America is only for elementary students? Think again, adlit.org offers ideas and plans for high school and middle school.”

The folks at MrsP.com are celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a reading idea of her own. Mrs.P.com has worked with iTunes and is offering FREE downloads of the Grand Prize winnersr of  their first annual, kids’ writing contest! In honor of this we created a fun You-Tube video to acknowledge the “Be a Famous Writer” winners.  From an Email: “The titles are bundled together and can be found at the iTunes Kids TV Store under “Mrs. P Presents”. Select “Pretty Princess and Funky Frog/Spattered Mud and Crushed Petals.” They will be available March 2, 2010 on iTunes and March 15th at MrsP.com (where everything is always free). When they are posted at the MrsP.com website, they will be by her chair under a “blue ribbon.”

The Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers blog recently posted about a fun book-related event. “In honor of 30th anniversary of their BILLY bookcase Ikea constructed an outdoor library, consisting of 30 bookcases, on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. The BILLY is the best selling bookcase in history with over 40 million sold and 3 million a year still being produced. The one day event allowed beach goers to swap books or to buy them with the proceeds going to The Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation“. Click through to see photos. Thanks to Jenny Schwartzberg for the link.

As part of the National Read Across America celebration, many schools are planning book and storytelling events as part of “Love to Read week.” As Heidi Eischeid (Fon Du Lac,MI) points out, “to be successful readers and students, children must be frequently exposed to a variety of literature both at home and at school because those experiences help them become well-rounded students.”

March is here and April isn’t too far behind. So now would be a good time to check out the materials available for National Bookmobile Day, April 14, 2010. You’ll find everything from a fact sheet to bookmark and sticker ideas on the American Library Association (ALA) website. You can become a National Bookmobile Day fan on Facebook.

Literacy Programs & Research

Nancie Atwell’s article The Case for Literature (Education Week online, 8 February 2010), is a must-read for those interested in how the national “core curriculum” is coming along. It is filled with some fascinating data, and this conclusion “The irony—and tragedy—is that book reading, which profits a reader, an author, and a democratic society, is also the single activity that consistently relates to proficiency in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.” Definitely worth clicking through to read. If you are an Education Week subscriber, you can also view an article that distills 30 years of studies on early literacy.

Continuing last week’s theme of the struggles of libraries to find books, The Denver Post has a perspective piece by Carol Eron Rizzoli about how schools are finding new ways to bring books to students. The article highlights a brand-new teacher disappointed to learn that her Detroit elementary school had no library, and what she did about the situation. Link via @RascoFromRIF. See also a lament about library cutbacks from The Book Chook.

School library cutbacks are clearly a global issue … In this week’s SLJ Extra Helping, the headline reads “British Government Says School Libraries Not Mandatory.”  The issue is not the value of the services media centers provide, but the need to ensure they are staffed with qualified staff. The government, for its part, does not support dictating that local money must be spent on specific library-related things (staff, books, etc.). Alan Gibbons has created Campaign for the Book, with a petition to PM Gordon Brown signed by more than 5,700 people. Gibbons says that while he agrees that “there has to be the freedom to make local decisions,” the government can set out specific principles and guidance and insist on minimum standards. “If this is not done with sufficient rigor, government is in danger of abdicating its responsibilities.”

Anna Batchelder, a Curriki international consultant, is doing comparative research about teacher use of attitudes toward technology in the classroom. One of the themes that continually arises in her research is the parent-teacher partnership. She talks more about the questions raised in her post at Curriki, and also links to “Parents as Partners” a class sponsored by Open University.

Along a similar line, author Gary Brannigan has openly published Chapter 5 (Evaluation) on his blog, Learning and Reading Disabilities. The chapter comes from Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds, a book he co-authored with Howard Margolis. The text does a great job of outlining the kinds of questions parents might consider asking, which is helpful not only to parents, but also to help teachers prepare an effective conference. (via @GaryBrannigan)

In a report for BBC News, Sarah Travers looks at the question “withe one child in every five leaves primary school here with poor standards of literacy and numeracy, could modern family lifestyles be partly to blame?” She also talks about Booktrust, a nonprofit that gives out free books and encourages families to read together. As soon as the video goes up, we’ll link it.

21st Century Literacies

At the Huffington Post, Ed Hamilton has an article you’ll love for its title: Revenge of the Literate: How Books Will Outlast TV. Hamilton goes beyond the “internet more popular than TV” argument to talk about how kids read differently than we did. “Though I was a reader as a teen, it was always a solitary pursuit. The idea of getting a group of my friends together to hang out in the bookstore would have struck me as wildly improbable, to say the least.” (via @FionaRobyn)

This year’s Teen Tech Week (March 7 to 13), a national event sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), focuses not on teaching teens how to use computers, laptops, and cell phones, but how to use them SAFELY. Students between the ages of 11 and 14 increase their media exposure to 11 hours and 53 minutes a day, versus 7 hours and 51 minutes for 8- to 10-year olds, according to YALSA. Lots of teens (64%) are creating online content, and 47 percent are posting images in shared spaces. “Understanding what that can mean later in their lives is key, especially as colleges occasionally do Google searches on their applicants, and employers can check out a party on Facebook.” Public and school libraries will hold workshops, online discussions, and other activities to bring more attention to teens and their digital knowledge. (via Laura Barack for SLJ’s Extra Helping)

Grants and Donations

The winner of the first Better World Books Readers’ Choice Literacy Grant is an innovative  program that uses therapy dogs to help improve kids reading, the Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA) R.E.A.D. program. “The reading-challenged kids in the program often suffer from low self-esteem and view reading as a chore. But dogs don’t judge, so reading to them removes inhibitions and helps a child focus. It makes reading fun and creates a positive, memorable experience that stays with kids for a long time.” (via @BetterWorldBooks and @circlereader)

As we mentioned early last month, Target sponsored a Facebook campaign to help five charities would receive a portion of a $1 million donation to fund educational program. After more than 26,000 votes, the United Through Reading(r) Military Program garnered 22% of the vote and will receive $220,000. United Through Reading will use the money to help deployed parents stay connected with their families by creating DVDs of themselves reading a book.  The United Way, which works with literacy nonprofit First Book in 75 communities, “won” a grant of $90,000.  The United Way will use the money to help children enter school ready to learn, read proficiently by 4th grade, and graduate on time. There is a nice summary of the event and the winners on the First Book blog.

Our thanks to Jenny S for pointing us to the Capstone Publishers Press Release about a donation of  more than 3,400 bilingual books to Doctors for Orphans, a nonprofit that delivers aid to orphaned children in Latin America. The organization offers health, education, and literacy services.

Hope does, indeed, spring eternal for the New Hope Library in Northumberland, Ontario, Canada. An anonymous donor came forward to donate $500 and has challenged nine other library supporters (individuals, companies, neighborhoods, families) to match that donation. They’re calling it the Library Lovers Challenge, and it has energized the community. One library lover has donated $1,000! Read more in the Northumberland News (online).

This is our kind of event. In Boston (Jen’s old stomping ground), The Commonwealth Hotel hosted an event for ReadBoston, a nonprofit that promotes reading in the Boston area. About 65 kids ages 3 to 9 wore their pajamas for an evening of singing and reading with ReadBoston storytellers. The hotel matched the $10 suggested donation from each family. All proceeds were donated to ReadBoston’s Storymobile Program. The mission of ReadBoston is to ensure that every child in Boston can read at grade level by the end of the third grade. Programs reach children, from birth through age 8, in school, after school, during summer vacation and before they’re old enough to attend school. Boston is one of the first cities in the U.S. to launch a citywide endeavor to help children learn to read. (via Wickedlocal.com)

Wrapping Up …

The February Carnival of Children’s Literature is now available at Whispers of Dawn, author Sally Apokedak’s blog. My word, she has raised the bar quite high!

Today’s Nonfiction Monday round-up is at Simply Science. Shirley Smith Duke has the event already started with a review of Life-Size Zoo, a finalist for  the 2009-2010 Cybils (Nonfiction picture book category). Last week, Jone  Rush MacCullough hosted the Poetry Friday Roundup at Check it Out! This week, Danika is hosting at Teaching Books.   Thanks for your interest in children’s literacy!