Hello reading friends! The March-in-Review  children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page, Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, and Rasco from RIF is now available at Rasco from RIF.  Over the month of March Jen Robinson, Terry Doherty, and I have collected content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; and suggestions for growing bookworms.

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21st Century Literacies

Read Write Zone – In July 2010, Australian author Sandy Fussell started a new blog that engages young readers and authors through blog-based interaction. Sandy is currently blogging with three schools in New South Wales.  We learned about Sandy and this really nifty project via Megan’s Kids’ Book Review blog (a cool source unto itself!).

There is an interesting article about eBooks at ReadWriteWeb. The question is whether (or not) there is a future for animated eBooks.  This point caught my attention: Reading [The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross] iPad book took some of that internal magic away from me, but arguably added enough magic of its own to compensate.

Creative Literacy for Kids

BookJam Digital Book Report Contest – Recorded Books K-12 is sponsoring a contest that offers educators/students a chance to win a portion of $20,000 in prizes by creating a digital book report. The Report, which blends core curriculum standards and 21st century skills, can be a song, performance, debate … whatever the kids can think up!

Literacy and Reading Tools for Parents

One of the resources I look forward to every quarter is Susan Stephenson’s Literacy Lava. This is a F-R-E-E online magazine created by parents for parents, and offers real-world, practical advice for filling your child’s world with literacy … and enriching yours, too. Literacy Lava 6 just hit the virtual newstand. You can also read some of the back issues here.

Book Lamp.org – On this website,  readers are connected to books through an analysis of writing styles, similar to the way that Pandora.com matches music lovers to new music. From the website: “Do you like Stephen King’s It, but thought it was too long? BookLamp allows you to find books with a similar level of tone, tense, perspective, action, description, and dialog – while at the same time allowing you to specify details like… half the length. It’s impervious to outside influences – like advertising – that impact socially driven recommendation systems, and isn’t reliant on a large user base to work. Take a look at the above video to see how we do it in detail.” (Thanks Book Chook!)

At Children’s Books and Reviews, Aaron Mead has a series about How to Choose Good Children’s Book. I just discovered the series at part 9 (Story Complexity and Character), but have since gone back to read it from the beginning.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Educators

teAchology – Found this via SLJ’s Extra Helping (17 August 2010). You’ll find 9,000 (!) printables on the site. Gail Junion-Metz offers a guided tour: “One of the first things you’ll want to check out are the “Classroom Labels.” Here you’ll find coordinating labels for common objects and all sorts of AV equipment, student supplies, and teacher label sets (which include labels for dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines). Next, take a look at the “Teacher Signs,” where you’ll find bunches of coordinated signs to label your library stacks, as well as signs for different holidays, celebrations, and classroom themes (like Civil War and space). You’ll also find signs for different places around your building, including the library, and monthly and seasonal signs. Finally, don’t miss the “Back to School” worksheets, some of which are subject-related and include coordinated nameplates and nametags you’ll use during the first couple of weeks of school.”

We knew book five was going to be a PURPLE cover and its release would be November 9.  This week we have learned the fifth book will be titled The Ugly Truth. But we don’t know what is ugly or what is true about the Diary of  A Wimpy Kid and author Jeff Kinney says that will remain a mystery until the November release of an initial printing of 5 million copies!  Kinney is currently working with producers on the second Wimpy Kid movie due in March 2011.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee celebrated its 50^th anniversary in mid-July with many commentaries written about the book, its contested place in history, its real meaning(s) and its elusive author.   I have made no secret of the fact it is a book with a special place in my life, one that is an integral part of “me.”

Josie Leavitt struck a chord when she posted on Shelf Talker a piece titled:  DON’T GOT NO BOOKS AT HOME.  It was a stark reminder of a truth those of us in the kidlit world work to alleviate daily;  the comments were also a reminder of the great work going on across this country and indeed around the world, a motivator for us all to “keep on keeping on”!   A posting by Gordon Campbell , President of the United Way of NYC, titled “Reading & the 3^rd Grade:  How to Keep Kids on the Right Track” received wide coverage after appearing in The Huffington Post the latter part of July;  it is always encouraging and motivating for me to see persons like Gordon writing forcefully about this issue.

The questions about poverty and its effects on children and their families is brought up to date across several facets of daily living with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s July release of The 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book. Ten key indicators are covered by the report which has interactive features to help you learn about a particular state, across states and national findings.  The ten factors are critical enough to our children’s well being I repeat them here as a reminder to all of us of their importance.

• Preventing Low Birthweight
• Reducing Infant Mortality
• Reducing the Child Death Rate
• Reducing the Teen Death Rate
• Reducing the Teen Birth Rate
• Reducing the High School Dropout Rate
• Reducing the Number of Disconnected Youth
• Increasing the Number of Children Whose Parents have Stable Employment
• Reducing the Child Poverty Rate
• Increasing the Percentage of Children Living in Two-Parent Families

We discuss often the plight of inner-city, our most urban children but often forget the status of a significant number of rural children, a fact discussed in alarming terms in a recent posting FOR CHILDREN FARMWORKERS, LIVES OF POVERTY AND DANGER.  I point this out in a literacy round up as these are children certainly needing more advocate voices for their education.

July found eye opening articles about the number of digital or “e-books” being sold in relation to paper books, the significant and ever growing rise in numbers for e-books.  I was reading an article about a project Permanence Matters Initiative when the following sentence jumped from the page as I realized it summarizes my own personal feelings about this issue of “p-books” and “e-books”:  While we realize that much of the publishing industry is moving their attention to e-books, we still believe there is an important place for print books in the future of publishing, and want people to recognize that e- and p- books are not an either/or proposition, but rather an “and.” Did you see Jeff Bezos’ interview where he predicts Kindle e-book sales will surpass paperback sales sometime in the next 9-12 months?  And he talks with the reporter interviewing him about interactive features within e-books.  This issue is also covered in a New York Times article “E-Books Fly Beyond Mere Text” by Julie Bosman.  I was recently introduced to a blog TeachPaperless; and while the entry I reference today – Hey Teachers:  This Is How I Learn – was posted in June, it has significance with its commentary in young students’ own words as to why “interactive” makes sense to them.  And The Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) issued a report in July “eBook Feasibility Study for Public Libraries” which has some interesting observations and recommendations sure to be debated within and without the library walls.

I must admit I was rather surprised to read recently that parents and educators in Russia were protesting and even holding hunger strikes over the lack of preschools in their country;  frankly, I don’t believe we have seen the concern in America reach that level.  Very interesting…I now want to know more about their preschool programming.

Congratulations to the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) on the excellent TIME cover article: The Case Against Summer Vacation.  As Ron Fairchild, CEO of NSLA, noted in his announcement email about the article “Editor-at-large David Von Drehle thoughtfully researched the issue, and reached out to experience some of the innovative solutions our field is creating to make summer learning interesting and engaging for young people.”  You can also listen to TIME managing editor, Richard Stengel, talk about the cover story.  I have been a bit concerned personally that some people commenting on the article simply read the title and have not carefully read the real attributes of effective programming;  I hope more people will study this article as it is a critical issue that cries out to our communities for action.  One positive step is for each community to send a delegation to the NSLA annual conference;  I can attest to the quality of programming and specific information presented that will lead an organization and/or community to action that is meaningful for the children in need.

Curious George and his friend The Man In The Yellow Hat are in the news!  The Library of Congress in partnership with The Advertising Council have launched a campaign to encourage parents to read to their children.   Thank you to both the LOC and the Ad Council for this valuable promotion!  And there is news out this weekend Illumination Entertainment is developing a new film version about the curious monkey and his yellow hat friend.

In the READING TUB Terry reminded us of her love for historical fiction and shared an excellent post of Trevor Cairney’s Making History Come Alive with Literature:  The Importance of Historical Fiction.  What a treat to “find” posts I have missed at their publication date!  Terry also shared information on COMIC BOOK LITERACY, an independent documentary film showcasing the use of comic books to promote literacy;  the trailer for the film has me ready to be in the viewing audience given my support of comic books for hooking many a student on reading!

A final playful note to ask about your vote:  Slinky and Etch A Sketch face off in new toy campaign.  Have you cast your ballot?

It promises to be another hot day, this last day of July.  I’m stretching out on the couch with books today, only wishing additionally for a reading nook like this one shown at WE HEART BOOKS, great spot for an aging back!

Happy Reading!
Carol

In our house, summer is both flying by and crawling along at a snail’s pace. We have tons to do and the weekend is here before you know it, but the list of fun things we want to do never seems to get any shorter.

It seems that news about literacy and reading is in that same time warp. Given the number of items in my reader, that stereotypical perception that things are “slower” in the summer is a tall tale! Admittedly, I haven’t been particularly vigilant, but I’ve crossed enough trending topics and other discussions to know there is plenty going on. I know there are tons of great items awaiting me in my reader, but right now, even with my strict filters in place, the best I can do is follow up on the occasional Google Alert. So here goes …

Events

Unfortunately, one of the trending events for the summer has been library cuts and closings. Over at Book Browse you will find a great list of statistics on why libraries are important and why they are the most economically viable entity in a community. Once you get past the statistics, though, editor Davina Morgan-Witts includes a comment from Book Browse’s Facebook page. In a nutshell: people have been calling the library to tell the librarians they are a waste of taxpayers money. I wanted to apologize to the librarians in NJ on the behalf of these people. They OBVIOUSLY have too much time on their hands if they can muster that much vitriol to call the library. I would suggest they go to the library, borrow some books, and fill their days by reading books if they need something to do!

Can you believe it has been 10 years already? The Library of Congress has just announced the theme for its 10th Annual National Book Festival: A Decade of Words and Wonder. The President and First lady Michelle Obama will serve as Honorary Chairs for what is always an incredible celebration of books and reading. As always the “stars” that appear cover many audiences, from children to adult. Check out this short list from among the 70 authors now slated to appear: international best-selling author Ken Follett; Rae Armantrout, winnervof this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; National Book Award winner Julia Glass; Pat Mora, one of the nation’s most beloved writers for children; and Elizabeth Kostova, author of the worldwide sensations “The Historian” and “The Swan Thieves.” Mark your calendars for Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, to attend this FREE event that runs from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the National Mall.

Literacy Programs and Research

This via The Inside Story, The Reading Connection (TRC) newsletter: Kids, parents, staff and volunteers at Carpenter’s Shelter, Independence Place and Sullivan House began an expanded Read-Aloud program as soon as school ended for the summer. The summer program, called “We Are Readers,” includes tons of new books, projects and special guests, all chosen with the aim of increasing kids’ background knowledge, one of the essential ingredients for literacy.

I am guessing this has already been around the web a time or two, but my thanks to Susan Stephenson of the Book Chook for sending it to me. The video is filled with stats, but I particularly liked how the Buck team showed what happens when we change the odds and improve education. Combine this documentary project with the InfoWhelm and Information Fluency video and wow! The landscape of “educating kids” has changed significantly.

In the July edition of literacy tools and resources, I mentioned that one of my new favorite blogs is From the Mixed up Files… If you haven’t been over to visit, hurry, you’re missing a lot of great stuff. Sydney recently wrote a post where she shared what her dormant readers say they look for in a book. Check out Reluctant Readers Speak Up.

A great complement to Sydney’s article is this one from the National Literacy Trust (UK) blog. A Book of their Own offers research and more to explain why it is so important for kids to own their own books. This isn’t a surprise to most of us, as we have seen tidbits from the NLT’s study and the University of Nevada report (also mentioned in the article); still, every time I see this statement, it stops me in my tracks:

The report also found that young people who did not own their own books were nearly twice as likely to agree with negative statements about reading, for example “reading is more for girls than boys”, “reading is hard” and ”I only read when I have to.”

If you need further affirmation of the power of books, read Fiona Ingram’s personal story about adopting her 11-year old daughter. In an interview with A Word Please, Fiona talks about her daughter’s growth from scoring 17% on her English tests to now reaching 75% and complaining that she needs to do better to be a writer. You may recall that we interviewed Fiona, a South African author, about a year ago. It is great to hear the next chapter in her story. Some of you may already know this, but I found this Telegraph (UK) article about the links between gardening and “formal” learning fascinating. There were the obvious points about cross-program learning (science, ecology, life skills) and personal growth (self esteem), but the ripple effect on literacy and problem solving caught me by surprise.

Thorn & Oak Metaphysical is not a blog I would normally stop by, but there is an interesting essay about Invented Spelling. The discussion is not about “texting language,” but the problems of not helping kids learn to spell things correctly.

Unwrapping Literacy

At eHow.com, Michelle Matthews has a nice article with some Literacy Games. “If you ask almost any kid, they will tell you that they don’t like homework. Studying isn’t fun. Games, on the other hand, are awesome.” Several of her suggestions I knew about (Boggle Junior, road trips), but I loved the idea of Deal-a-Word. (via eHealthJunction.com)

How cool is this? Don’t worry, you don’t have to understand Japanese to love this Bullet Train Library. It seems only appropriate to start and end with the library this week!

As Jen Robinson is currently on hiatus and enjoying her life as Mom, Carol Rasco has joined me as a contributor to the Roundups. Each month, she does a wrap-up of the interesting literacy-related events, activities, and suggestions that have crossed her scope. Her position as President of Reading is Fundamental helps to broaden our sources of information and our outreach, as well. And for that, Jen and I are VERY grateful. Here’s Carol …

It is the final day in May and it is Memorial Day which is a day of reflection for me and for thinking about my father and his colleagues who served their country with such pride and instilled in us as children a pride of country and of service.  Thank you to all Veterans for your service which allows me to live in this country of many freedoms.

It is also a day of reflecting on what I learned this month that will influence my thinking, will challenge my thinking, will inspire me as I work to further advance RIF’s mission, a love of literacy and reading among all children.

LIBRARIES: As an ongoing and needed focus on the negative plight of many libraries of all types around the country which I discussed in the April review, the latest AL DIRECT outlines continuing developments.  I call particular attention to “Frontline Advocacy Is Everybody’s Job” in which ALA “President Camila Alire explains on video the urgency of frontline advocacy, which involves learning to articulate the message both inside and outside the library.”  Most notably, her concept of “frontline advocacy” as discussed contains lessons for all of us in promoting the value of libraries and other significant literacy causes.

NATIONAL LAB DAY and the relationship of science and literacy instruction: With the May 12 observance of National Lab Day there seemed to be a heightened awareness regarding the importance of sound reading skills to the success of students in STEM content (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).  Corporations like Hewlett-Packard issued statements showing support and educational websites throughout the month published materials about “content area”.

While the information shared further on this topic may appear to be only for classroom teachers or school administrators, I believe it speaks to all of us in the literacy field and is worth studying.

Dr. Catherine Snow, the Harvard Graduate School of Education Shattuck Professor of Education, has written and spoken extensively on this topic of reading in content areas;  three articles sharing information from Dr. Snow and highlighted in various e-newsletters and blogs this month:
-Rx for struggling readers
-In Schools, a Way to Keep Language From Getting in the Way of Science, part 1, part 2

There were also articles found throughout the month referring to the importance of elementary teachers integrating science with math and literacy instruction as well as the scientific process coming naturally to very young children.

Education Daily shared information about The Creative Coalition’s partnership with National Lab Day to put into action the belief of many in the two organizations regarding the importance of the integration of arts and STEM curricula.  The article in ED Daily quotes Don Pemberton, director of the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning which is one sponsor of the STEAM Learning Network of which Pemberton is the Project Executive Director.  And what is “STEAM” you ask?  Adding the “A” for Arts to “STEM.”

Also during May the Literacy Toolbox posted about using informational text to motivate reluctant readers.  There are some excellent ideas for using children’s magazines (great gifts for kids you know!), trade books, picture books.

BOOKS:  Paper or E-Book? The second area I found dominating the discussions in May among those devoted to children’s literacy is the topic that will be debated for years to come…must we give up the book as we best know it today?  The New York Times alone during May had several pieces, editorial, news reporting and musings; among them Further Thoughts of a Novice E-Reader; In Ink on a Flyleaf, Forever Yours; At Book Expo, Anxiety Amid the Chatter, Digital Wizardry in Children’s Literature.  I was seeing on twitter items like that in Stephen’s Lighthouse where he showed an e-book that can be rolled up and put in your pocket? And from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center Report: iLearn: A Content Analysis of the iTunes App Store’s Education Section is this fact:  60% of iTunes education apps target preschool age students.  Finally, the National Literacy Trust (with which RIF has a relationship) in the United Kingdom reports a study finding in the UK that “nine out of 10 school pupils own their own mobile phone, compared to less than three-quarters who have their own books at home.”  All of this is serious food for thought, is it not?

BRIEFLY
The Condition of Education report is released annually by Congressional mandate through the U. S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.  The 2010 Condition of Education report was released in May and features a special section reviewing high-poverty schools which are defined as more than 75 percent of students eligible for subsidized meals.  This special report reveals among other findings:   In 2007-08, about 20 percent of all public elementary schools and 9 percent of public secondary schools were considered high-poverty schools, compared with 15 percent and 5 percent respectively in 1999-2000.

May is National Foster Care Month, a month that annually points out to our nation the job we are not doing in providing properly for foster children and in particular the lack of quality preparation for these children to leave the system when they turn 18.  A new study released this month outlines problems faced by these young people.  Over the years the difficulties in many areas faced by young people “aging out” of the system often point back to lack of basic education skills, chief among them literacy.  RIF is currently studying how we might assist foster families and the children for whom they care; do you know of foster care programs carrying out special work in the literacy area?  If so, I hope you will share it with me.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation in May released a 2010 KIDS COUNT special report, “Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters,” which makes the case that reading proficiently by grade three is a fundamental benchmark in developmental success and overall childhood well-being.

LOOKING AHEAD
Just in time for June 14 Flag Day preparation, the Smithsonian’s Share Your Story Project encourages people to share their stories and photos linked to the American flag. The mosaic alone is worth a look. Many lesson plans for different grade levels are also provided in the section How to Use This Resource in Your Classroom.

DON’T FORGET! With school out in some parts of the country and about to dismiss in others: National Summer Learning Day June 21.

IN CLOSING
Last month I featured The Book Bike as a way of distributing books and the Penguincubator as a historical note; same pattern here in closing for May.

Book distribution: The Weapon of Mass Instruction via Book Patrol

And from friends who know I like to see how books are used in unique ways:  An 18th century traveling commode, you must read about it.

Happy Reading, have a great June!
Carol

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!

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!

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!

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

The third annual Connor’s Courageous Kids Book Fair will be held on February 27 – March 2, 2010 at the Bethlehem Church in Randolph, New Jersey. Connor’s House donates books and reading materials to children with life-shortening illnesses. From the website: “If you can’t come in person you can still participate through the [Scholastic] One For Books program. Every dollar raised through the One For Books program goes directly towards purchasing books for children with life-shortening illnesses. In addition, for every dollar raised through this program Scholastic Books will donate a book to a national children’s literacy program.” Learn more at ConnorsHouse.org. Thanks to Danielle at the Adventures of Two Little Monkeys for the details.

Everybody Wins! reports: “Former Atlanta Falcons defensive back “Big Play” Ray Buchanan, will challenge 250 students at Centennial Place Elementary School to improve reading skills at an event on Thursday, Jan., 28, at 1:30 p.m. The event is in conjunction January being National Mentoring Month.” You can find more details here.

Speaking of Everybody Wins!, they’ve submitted an idea to Change.org’s Ideas for Change in America program. Rich Greif explained to us in email: “The 10 most popular ideas will be presented at an event in Washington, DC to relevant members of the Obama Administration, and Change.org will mobilize its community to support a series of grassroots campaigns to turn each idea into reality. We submitted the idea for a national “Read to Kids” campaign that could engage national and local literacy organizations, schools, teachers, parents, authors, publishers and nearly every sector of business and society that understands that our nation’s future depends on our children’s literacy skills.” To vote for the national “Read to Kids” campaign go here.

It’s well-known that Terry and I are both suckers for inventive programs to promote literacy. So, clearly, are the folks at PaperTigers. In a recent post, Corinne said: “To celebrate National Storytelling Week in the United Kingdom, The Donkey Sanctuary,  will be opening its doors to local groups and schools for storytelling sessions in the company of the donkeys!” How fun is that!

The Book Chook also has a post in honor of the UK’s National Storytelling Week. She says: “I think storytelling is a great way to develop literacy skills, but it’s not something we think of immediately when we think of literacy… When kids listen to stories, they are developing their imagination by creating mind pictures of characters, settings and scenes. The repetition of a story strengthens the neural pathways, enabling them to internalise language, and master its nuances. This all has a kind of cumulative effect, so that the more kids listen to stories, the more they want to hear them, and the more they want to tell their own.” She concludes with suggestions for ways to celebrate storytelling this week, wherever you live.

According to Rachel Bailey at Paste Magazine, “Twitter has teamed up with non-profit Room to Read to promote education and literacy worldwide. And what better way to do it than by selling wine? For $20 a pop, plus shipping and handling, you can have a bottle of Fledgling Wine 2009 Pinot Noir or Chardonnay from California delivered right to your door.”

Literacy Programs & Research

Riley Carney has a lovely guest post at The Pirate’s Bounty about why she cares about literacy, and what she’s doing about it.  Here’s a snippet: “I created my nonprofit for literacy, Breaking the Chain, when I was fourteen, after learning that 120 million children around the world do not have access to basic education. Children are particularly vulnerable to poverty and exploitation. Only through education do they have the chance to make their lives better.” She goes on to describe several accomplishments of Breaking the Chain, as well as a great new program. It’s well worth a look. [Logo from Breaking the Chain website)

Good Magazine recently ran an interesting feature story by Michael Salmonowicz positing that poor literacy is the common root of attendance, behavior, and drop-out rate problems in schools. The author notes: "As I noted in my recent article on school turnaround in the Phi Delta Kappan, our research team at the University of Virginia learned that of the problematic conditions present in 19 struggling Virginia elementary and middle schools, low reading achievement was the only one found in every school." Link via Everybody Wins!

Speaking of problems in schools, we were dismayed to see a School Library Journal article this week about how the Dearborn school system is eliminating the positions of 13 school librarians, leaving parent volunteers to fill in the gaps. Many other people were dismayed, too (you can see many comments here). We'd also recommend that you read Camille's response at The Book Moot. She says (strongly, citing research on this topic) that eliminating school librarians is going to harm test scores in Dearborn. It's real food for thought.

As reported by Tricia from The Miss Rumphius Effect, a recent study found that "First- and second-graders whose teachers were anxious about mathematics were more likely to believe that boys are hard-wired for math and that girls are better at reading... What's more, the girls who bought into that notion scored significantly lower on math tests than their peers who didn't." Sigh!

Teacherninja (aka Jim) has a detailed post about reasons that schools should avoid Accelerated Reader (AR) programs, referencing an article by Mark Pennington. Jim offers a point by point list of "ammunition" for people looking to resist AR programs.

The Palm Springs Desert Sun reports that "A new literacy program at the President Gerald R. Ford Boys & Girls Club of La Quinta hopes to boost the literacy rates in the Coachella Valley one computer game at a time. The Waterford Program began Monday thanks to a donation by the Waterford Institute, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use technology to supplement student learning."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a nice feature story by Kalen Ponche about a program by which senior citizens tutor young readers, and show them that reading is enjoyable. "The Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring program pairs adults, typically over age 50, with elementary school students who need extra help."

21st Century Literacies

We ran across a post this week (with thanks to Doret from TheHappyNappyBookseller) in which a librarian speaks out in favor of 21st Century Literacies, while faced with a couple of teachers determined to tie students to print resources. Both teachers are requiring students to cut out print articles from newspapers and magazines, and forbidding them to look at online resources. Edi from Crazy Quilts says: "I want to react in some way to these assignments that ignore the vast resources on the Internet that would not only include a plethera of articles, but would allow students to collect,share, discuss and research these articles in a much more contemporary fashion. RSS feeds could be collected on Newser, PageFlakes or Google Reader. Reader’ comments would expand the original story.  There are so many ways students could be engaged in technologies which are so much more meaningful to them and to the 21st century work space!!"

On a brighter note, Sarah has a positive report about e-Readers in the classroom, at The Reading Zone.  She says: "I had been waiting for an e-reader to pop up in my classroom this year. I was a little worried that if/when it happened, it would cause a disruption. But after students got an explanation, they settled right back into their own books. It was awesome!"

Grants and Donations

At the close of her post about That Magic Age, Rebecca explained that she is working with Women In Need "doing storytelling/ narrative-building in their shelters with children 5-8. If you live in the New York area and would like to get involved please stop by their website. They are a truly wonderful organization doing great things in the city." Do also read Faraway Places, her post at Nurturing Narratives about spending the afternoon reading with the children in the shelter. "When we expose children to books we not only enhance their literacy skills but we also cultivate their own abilities to dream beyond themselves. I was amazed during that class that two picture books [How I Learned Geography and Where the Wild Things Are]  had the power to transport these children outside their circumstances and into another reality, a different way to live.”

According to a recent news release from Albany State: “The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently announced that Albany State University is one of 269 community organizations and institutions of higher education nationwide to receive grants to host Big Read celebrations between September, 2009 and June, 2010. The 2009-2010 Big Read grant recipients represent 44 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and these municipalities collectively will receive grants totaling $3,742,765.”

Wrapping Up …

Today’s Nonfiction Monday round-up is at Wild About Nature. I also have some additional links for parents about children’s literacy and raising readers in my latest Literacy ‘Lights from the Kidlitosphere post at Booklights. Next week’s children’s literacy and reading news roundup will be at The Reading Tub. Thanks for your interest in children’s literacy!

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

Some teachers in Australia have threatened to boycott school literacy and numeracy tests, if the Federal government doesn’t take action to prevent the test results from being used to publicly rank schools. More details are available in this Newcastle Herald article by Alison Branley.

According to NovaNewsNow, “The Community Policing Office of the Queens County RCMP Detachment is proud to announce that they are hosting the annual WOW Reading Challenge for Literacy charity hockey game between the RCMP All-Star Bisons hockey team and the Bridgewater Nauss Tim-Br Mart Lumberjacks Junior “A” Hockey Club”. We love creative literacy fundraisers like this one, especially when they tie in with sports.

In her latest Muse Briefs post at Rasco from RIF, Carol Rasco says: “Start getting ready now for Clifford’s 2010 BE BIG In Your Community Contest sponsored by Scholastic and partners;  grand prize is a $25,000 community grant and there are additional prizes!  The contest begins February 1, but you can read the rules now and start your planning”

Literacy Programs & Research

In The Huffington Post, Susan Ohanian airs concerns from reading advocate Stephen Krashen about new literacy-related legislation pending in congress. The article says that the new legislation puts “an emphasis on the “direct instruction” of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text structure” and that “Not only is this approach to children’s literacy development not supported by scientific research, it runs contrary to good practice.”  I especially liked this bit: “If Congress really wanted to help schools develop strong readers, they’d provide funds to strengthen the libraries instead of money for buying skill drill worksheets and standardized tests.” Indeed!

At Literacy, families, and learning, Trevor Cairney has an interesting post about literature as “relational glue”. He says: “Reading involves social relationships among people – teachers and students, groups of students, parents and children, and between an author and his or her readers. The stories that books communicate teach us new things about our world and language and help to build common ground between people.” He goes on to list some concrete suggestions to follow “for reading and writing to assume this important place in the lives of families and classrooms”.

MyPlains.com recently published a feature about helping kids with their reading comprehension. “”You know the constant, ‘I want to challenge my child’”, says Jill Isbell Rhodes, a Reading Recovery teacher with the Long Beach Unified School District. “‘I want to motivate them through challenging material’. But often, for the children that are starting to struggle with literacy that challenge becomes an obstacle.”… “To sit down and enjoy a book because it’s easy, that’s the best thing a parent can help a child do – is find books that are easy,” says Rhodes.”

In the process of discovering an article about increasing children’s literacy skills with talking books (links to PDF) Terry discovered LiteracyBridge.org, with the goal of “[making] knowledge accessible to people living in extreme poverty. Our tool towards the goal is the Talking Book. The article, which describes a project in West Ghana, and the website fascinating, enlightening, heartbreaking, yet incredibly encouraging.

A new study published  in the January 2010 issue of Health & Place finds children who live in neighborhoods with higher rates of poverty show reduced scores on standardized tests seven years later – regardless of the child’s place of residence in Grade 7. University of British Columbia researcher Jennifer Lloyd (UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) program) led the study. It is the first of its kind to compare the relative effects of neighborhood poverty at early childhood and early adolescence.  (via PhysOrg.com)

PW Children’s Bookshelf reports, in an article by John A. Sellers, that a “report on media usage released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found some relatively good news for book publishers, amid findings that generally determined that eight- to 18-year-olds are consuming more digital media than ever. According to the report, called Generation M, total media usage by that age group rose to seven hours and 38 minutes per day in 2009, up from six hours and 21 minutes in the 2004 study.” Link via Katie B’s Odds and Bookends column at First Book.

The Governor of Indiana recently announced a plan to end social promotion for third graders. However, the state’s Legislative Services Agency has said that the plan will cost up to $49 million, and must be tabled because of budget concerns. You can find more details in this Chicago Tribune article by Deanna Martin.

Sadie Jo Smokey reports in the Arizona Republic about a new literacy program centered on children living in apartment communities in central and north Phoenix. The program encourages adults to engage young children in reading.

In the Charleston Gazette, Davin White describes a new literacy program started by a former West Virginia University student. “Jason Parsons wants to make a difference in the Southern West Virginia region where he grew up. He hopes the effort he and other young adults make to improve child literacy pays off, and their example encourages others to give back to West Virginia.” Parsons has started a program that encourages high school kids to donate their old children’s books, which are in turn redistributed to “elementary schools, public libraries, after-school programs and directly to families”.

21st Century Literacies

Here’s one to follow … in Education is Priceless, Anna Batchelder pulls together links about NalandaU (Chennai, India), “a free online university that aggregates video and course content from universities such as MIT, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley and the Indian Institute of Technology.” Fascinating stuff.

At A Year of Reading, Franki Sibberson reviews a new book: The Socially Networked Classroom by William Kist. She explains that Kist: “is realistic in his understanding of the challenges we face as teachers trying to implement social networking. So, he takes time to share ideas no matter what kinds of blocks and constraints you have in your school/district. He gets to the bigger picture of 21st Century skills so that there is an in for everyone.”

On a related topic, we found some literacy on Ms. Heshka’s Grade I H Class blog. Ms. Heshka, a first grade teacher, uses the blog to convey class events, but in a recent post, she also “sent home” some tips for reading with developing readers! “The home reading program we started is going VERY well! Thank you soooo much for doing the nightly reading. I can not believe how much their reading has improved since September. Way to go grade ones!!!”

Via Critique de Mr. Chomp Chomp we learned of a BBC News story about how texting helps children to be better spellers. Sean Coughlan reports that “Children who regularly use the abbreviated language of text messages are actually improving their ability to spell correctly, research suggests… These latest findings of an ongoing study at the University of Coventry contradict any expectation that prolonged exposure to texting will erode a child’s ability to spell.”

At Literacy Toolbox, Dawn Little shares mini-reviews of literacy-related games for the iPhone that her children enjoy.

Although their existence obviously began earlier, the acceptance of comic books and graphic novels as “real reading” seems to us to be a 21st Century phenomenon. The Culpeper, VA Star-Exponent has a nice little column by Laini Bostian defending the presence of comic books in libraries.

Grants and Donations

Schools and nonprofit organizations across the country received more than 109,000 free children’s books through the Verizon Foundation’s recent Season’s Readings campaign. Season’s Readings began in 2001 as a Verizon employees’ campaign to advance the cause of children’s literacy. Since then, more than 2 million children’s books have been donated to children across the country. (via V-Newswire.com, a Verizon Wireless press release site)

Via email news release, we learned that the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is once again inviting public schools and libraries to submit proposals for mini-grants.  “The deadline for submission of proposals for the $500 Minigrant award is September 15, 2010.  Proposals are read directly after the September deadline and announcements will be mailed out in mid November.  Applications are available exclusively online at the Foundation’s website“.

According to WALBNews.com, “A program that promotes literacy is back up and running in Thomasville. It teaches children to enjoy reading by providing them with free books, but it was suspended because the demand was greater than the supply of books. Twenty thousand dollars. That’s how much the Archbold Hospital Auxiliary donated to Thomasville’s Literacy Committee to continue the Ferst Foundation Project. The Foundation supplies every Thomasville child under the age of five with a free book each month, delivered right to their doorstep.”

According to CNN Money, “RCN Corporation, a leading provider of all-digital television, high capacity data and voice services, has partnered with Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy campaign to donate more than 1,000 new books to a local school. RCN will use their Smart Cars and vans to deliver the books to Brooklyn Collegiate.”

Another news release reports that Barnes & Noble “announced today that it collected and donated more than 1.1 million books for children in need all over the country during its 2009 Holiday Book Drive, thanks to the generous support of customers and its enthusiastic booksellers. In addition, Barnes & Noble donated another 150,000 books to students in the New Orleans School District through Reader to Reader, Inc., a non-profit organization that distributes books to schools and libraries in need, and 50,000 to Toys for Tots”.

Better World Books reports that “The winner of the first 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.”

Wrapping Up …

Terry may have some last-minute literacy and reading links at The Reading Tub. At Booklights today, I have the seventh installment in my Tips for Growing Bookworms series. This one is about pointing out when you’re learning useful information by reading (recipes, maps, instruction manuals, etc.). Today’s Nonfiction Monday round-up is at Playing by the Book. Thanks for your interest in children’s literacy!