Jen Robinson's Book Page: Children's Literacy Round-Up: October 7

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Children's Literacy Round-Up: October 7

October 07, 2006

Here are the children's literacy-related stories that caught my eye this week.

I got a kick out of this article about the Groves (Texas) Public Library's recently revived early literacy program: the Bookworms Early Literacy program. "This Monday will feature books by Doreen Cronin, author of Diary of a Worm and Inch by Inch by Leo Leonni. The children will then construct a worm as their craft." Isn't that cute? Little bookworms reading books about worms?
James Earl Jones read to children in Providence on October 3rd, as part of an event to celebrate a new Verizon literacy grant. He also talked with the children about the importance of reading.
There's a program in Niagara Falls (New York) under which elementary school counselor Linda Blake visits the homes of kids who are having problems reading. She gives the kids books, reads with them, and gets their parents to sign a pledge to read with their children for 20 minutes a day. "Also, students fill out work sheets as they complete books, qualifying them to receive more free books. In the program, students build up their own personal libraries. The students are flourishing. The school has tracked the academic performance of students in the program and found significant improvement." Read more here.
Another interesting program is Lovejoy's Libros, started by Utah teacher Barbara Lovejoy. By using donated books, the program sells books to families for twenty-five cents each, with special emphasis on Spanish-language books. The idea behind the program is for kids, especially minorities, to have more books in their homes. Read more here, in the Deseret News.
At Hernando Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida, the theme of a recent literacy night was "All Aboard the H.E.S. Literacy Train". "There were 10 "stations" doing 20-minute sessions, which ended with a train whistle. Parents had tickets to the classrooms to help them keep track of where they'd been and to give them a chance to win one of two baskets of treats as door prizes." It sounds like an excellent effort to make literacy fun. Read more in this St. Petersburg Times article.

I think that it's great that there are so many programs out there, large and small, that focus on getting books into kids hands, and on giving kids the opportunity to love reading.

Posted at 04:30 PM in Literacy, Love of Books | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Here are the children's literacy-related stories that caught my eye this week.

I got a kick out of this article about the Groves (Texas) Public Library's recently revived early literacy program: the Bookworms Early Literacy program. "This Monday will feature books by Doreen Cronin, author of Diary of a Worm and Inch by Inch by Leo Leonni. The children will then construct a worm as their craft." Isn't that cute? Little bookworms reading books about worms?
James Earl Jones read to children in Providence on October 3rd, as part of an event to celebrate a new Verizon literacy grant. He also talked with the children about the importance of reading.
There's a program in Niagara Falls (New York) under which elementary school counselor Linda Blake visits the homes of kids who are having problems reading. She gives the kids books, reads with them, and gets their parents to sign a pledge to read with their children for 20 minutes a day. "Also, students fill out work sheets as they complete books, qualifying them to receive more free books. In the program, students build up their own personal libraries. The students are flourishing. The school has tracked the academic performance of students in the program and found significant improvement." Read more here.
Another interesting program is Lovejoy's Libros, started by Utah teacher Barbara Lovejoy. By using donated books, the program sells books to families for twenty-five cents each, with special emphasis on Spanish-language books. The idea behind the program is for kids, especially minorities, to have more books in their homes. Read more here, in the Deseret News.
At Hernando Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida, the theme of a recent literacy night was "All Aboard the H.E.S. Literacy Train". "There were 10 "stations" doing 20-minute sessions, which ended with a train whistle. Parents had tickets to the classrooms to help them keep track of where they'd been and to give them a chance to win one of two baskets of treats as door prizes." It sounds like an excellent effort to make literacy fun. Read more in this St. Petersburg Times article.

I think that it's great that there are so many programs out there, large and small, that focus on getting books into kids hands, and on giving kids the opportunity to love reading.