The end of February children's literacy and reading news roundup is now available at Quietly. The children's literacy roundups are brought to you twice a month by Carol Rasco at Quietly, Terry Doherty at The Family Bookshelf, and me (Jen Robinson's Book Page). This time around, Carol shares a host of literacy and reading-related events, a few highlights from literacy and reading programs and research, and several links of interest to those seeking to grow bookworms.
Here are a few highlights from Carol's post:
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"And so we fully move into March and the wonderful, fifth year of Share-a-Story, Shape-a-Future sponsored by Terry…don’t miss a single day of looking at those critical first five years! And there are writing prompts again this year, check it out! (image by ©Elizabeth O. Dulemba. All Rights Reserved.)"
- "Homework or Not? That is the (Research) Question. And your thoughts?"
- "The following post by Trevor H. Cairney is hands down my favorite for the month, I wish I had an award to give you, Trevor! (and maybe I will think of one!): WHY OLDER CHILDREN SHOULD READ PICTURE BOOKS."
- "Your Brain on Books: 10 Things That Happen to Our Minds When We Read: It’s not just young children’s brains that can be affected positively. How long does it take a brain to adjust to an online reader? Check it out."
- And lots more. Click through to see the full roundup at Quietly.
And here are a couple of additional tidbits from me:
- The 90 Second Newbery Film Festival. This year's 90 Second Newbery film festival concluded with screenings in New York, Chicago, Tacoma, and Portland. Founder and organizer James Kennedy reports: "The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create movies that tell the entire story of a Newbery award-winning book in 90 seconds or less. We're now starting our third year! We've received hundreds of entries from all over the world, in a dizzying variety of styles -- from a shadow-puppet version of Grace Lin's 2010 Honor Book Where The Mountain Meets the Moon (view) to a full-scale musical of William Pene du Bois' 1948 Medal Winner The Twenty-One Balloons (view)." The deadline for videos for the 3rd Annual 90-Second Newbery is December 10, 2013.
- Proof of the benefits of reading to children. The Age reported yesterday on the results of a study that "has not only proven a causal effect between the frequency of reading to a child and his or her development, but have also for the first time measured the benefits... Reading to children six to seven days a week puts them almost a year ahead of those who are not being read to. It was also found that reading to small children has a positive effect on the development of numeracy skills." None of this is surprising, but it is very nice to see it quantified and publicized, isn't it?
I'll be back on March 15th with the mid-March roundup. I the meantime, Carol, Terry, and I will be sharing literacy links on Twitter @CHRasco, @ReadingTub, and @JensBookPage. Thanks for reading, and for caring about children's literacy.
This post © 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.
