Kids receiving free Redskins activity books before the game.
Hello! My name is Lisa Estrin and I am the Resource Allocation Coordinator for Unit 1 at RIF. I wanted to share some pictures from the exciting Redskins Read activity book distribution held on Sunday, December 21 prior to the Washington Redskins vs. Philadelphia Eagles game at FedEx Field! The freezing temperature didn’t stop this group of RIF staff and volunteers from spreading the joy of reading on Sunday afternoon! We welcomed fans by passing out thousands of Redskins Read activity books to children and parents before the game. Even young Eagles fans were excited to take home a free book filled with fun Redskins activities!
Redskins Read is the literacy initiative of the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation. This season, 350,000 free activity books were distributed throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The activity book features a variety of curriculum-based activities that use football and the Washington Redskins to teach language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and physical education. Reading is Fundamental is one of the recipients of the Redskins Read activity books.
Redskins fans not only left the game with a fun activity book, but with a great win against the Eagles! Thank you to Jordana Taylor and Doreen Morrisey from the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation for coordinating and including RIF in this great event!
(From left to right.) Jeff Galginaitis, Henry Dunbar, and Matt Wolf holding a Festivus Pole. Henry and Matt displaying the "Feats of Strength" Festivus ritual.
Hi!
Do you know what today is? If not, then allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy Festivus—the holiday for the rest of us!
Festivus is a non-denominational holiday celebrated around the world, founded on the core principles of fellowship, physical strength, opposition to commercialization, and eating. Festivus was created in 1966 (coincidentally, the same year RIF was formed) by Dan O’Keefe author of Festivus: A Holiday for the Rest of Us and was made popular by the now classic episode of Seinfeld titled “The Strike“, which first aired on December 18, 1997. Since then, Festivus has been celebrated by a growing number of observers (as depicted in “The Strike“) by participating in such Festivus rituals as:
The Festivus Pole—An undecorated aluminum pole meant to symbolize strength and opposition to the commercialization of highly decorated Christmas trees.
Festivus Dinner—A celebratory meal which can consist of spaghetti and meatloaf, usually held before the “Feats of Strength” ritual.
The Airing of Grievances—At the beginning of Festivus Dinner, participants express all of their differences with one another from the previous year.
The Feats of Strength—After Festivus Dinner, the head of the household is allowed to challenge one dinner guest to a wrestling match, the outcome of which marks the end of Festivus.
Festivus grows in popularity with each passing year—a Google search for the term “Festivus” yielded over 1 million links, and on Facebook, a search yielded over 500 results! So, if you’re looking for a new way to celebrate this holiday season, please consider Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us!
Motion, treats, fun…I love making gingerbread houses and people, but the sense of motion is what drew me to this cover more than anything. Don’t miss the children in action along the borders!
My name is Rachel Hutt and I am the Manager of Special Projects here at RIF.
Sunday night, December 21, marks the beginning of the Jewish festival of Chanukah (or Hanukkah). Like many Jewish holidays, Chanukah commemorates a story from Jewish history. On Chanukah we remember back to the second century BCE when King Antiochus IV forbade the practice of Judaism in the Syrian empire. A small group of Jews, led by the high priest Mattathias and his sons, staged a revolt and succeeded in reclaiming the Holy Temple, which had been desecrated by the Syrian army. They found only one day’s worth of oil to light the temple menorah (candelabra), which was supposed to burn constantly. But, as the story goes, the oil miraculously lasted for eight days, the amount of time needed to prepare more oil. Because of this, Chanukah is often referred to as the Festival of Lights, and it is celebrated today in people’s homes by lighting candles on a menorah for eight consecutive nights.
One of the things I love about Chanukah and other Jewish holidays is that there always seems to be something new to discover and learn from these stories. Kind of like a favorite picture book or novel—the characters and plot may stay the same, but we love it for different reasons when we’re 5, 25, or 65.
Each year on Chanukah, we commemorate the same story of Antiochus, Mattathias, and the miracle of the oil, but each year we may hear the story just a little differently from the year before. Whether it’s because of something in our personal lives or what’s going on in the world around us, the Chanukah story always has new insights to share. This year, as I celebrate this Festival of Lights, I will be celebrating our freedom to choose—to choose the beliefs we hold, the books we read, the way we vote, and how we celebrate.
As noted in an entry I made last week, RIF is always interested in discussing the question of what motivates children to choose particular books. How do we motivate children to expand their horizons without turning them off particular genres? What is the secret to lighting a fire of inquiry about books? Yesterday the Washington Post had a thought provoking article regarding the current debate around Newbery Medal winning books. I noticed again how the concept of choice kept coming up in the young people’s comments.
During the recent weeks of debate on the Newbery Medal winners on blogs and through e-mails I have reflected on the meaning of that medal shown on the front of books and how I gravitated to those books as a young reader and how 35 years ago my 6th grade students also found real meaning attached to that medal. Has the medal lost its luster or has it always been a beacon for only certain readers? RIF is in a unique position to explore this question and will launch a survey in January online for our volunteer coordinators across the country as well as a survey for our RIF kids.
I am interested in Kristi Jemtegaard’s cited project in Arlington, Va., and I look forward to visiting with her. I believe she has hit upon a key premise in noting the Newbery selection process is of benefit because of the focus it puts on children’s literature, that “it makes us think harder about what we do” in this field.
Choice, motivation, engaging children in the world of books, lighting that fire of desire for more books, as well as introducing the many types of books awaiting children’s minds…how do we do it ALL?
(From left to right.) Sisters: Becki, Carol, and Martha.
This weekend I was visiting a home where they were putting up the Christmas tree, a fresh cedar tree, while in the kitchen popcorn was popping. Those two smells together brought such a wave of childhood memories to me. My grandfather loved taking his three granddaughters to the woods outside our small hometown in southern Arkansas where we selected the tree for our grandparents’ home. For part of the tree’s decorations, my grandmother taught us how to string popcorn and in later years we added cranberries to those ropes. The picture above shows my sisters and me in the midst of the stringing.
Then years later my children had as a favorite book The Sweet Smell of Christmas with scratch-and-sniff pages of gingerbread boys, candy canes, and more. Today in a meeting where this book was on my conference table, staff members around the age of my children—now late 20s to mid-30s—were saying, “I had THAT book as a child!” Picking a tree, making decorations, special books, strong and pleasant scents…all are part of my December holiday memories!
The title itself reminded me of similar things my sisters and I would say as we wished so hard for a particular toy or doll…it was ALL we would ever want! The far away look in this little girl’s face tells me there is a real story of depth awaiting the reader.
(From left to right.) Carol as an angel. Carol's daughter, Mary-Margaret as an angel.
Many families will be attending holiday programs to see their children perform in the coming days…pageants, musicals, funny as well as serious plays. I remember well the thrill of being an angel at my elementary school in the first grade, and then watching my daughter as an angel many years later.
Last year I discovered the book Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Reading that book I could tell Kate DiCamillo has either had children in pageants or interviewed enough participants and parents to fully understand the preparation, the nervousness, and the great joy of a job well done! I had a good time sharing this book last year with people who had been affiliated with my daughter’s angel experience. I hope you will have a chance to read it, as well as share with me a book that evokes some aspect of the holidays where the author captures your experiences and memories so well!
(From left to right) Henry Crawford holding 5 raffle prizes. RIF staff attending holiday luncheon. Matt Puckett with certificate for winning photo.
RIF staff enjoyed a great and festive holiday luncheon near our office at Rosemary’s Thyme Bistro this week. A big announcement at the party was the successful employee giving drive which had 100% participation. There were raffle prizes, door prizes, and prizes for the photo contest held during the first D.C. school book distribution this school year.
Over the last week there has been a wonderful media buzz about 9-year-old Alec Greven from Castle Rock, Colo., who has written a book How to Talk to Girls.
As I watched Alec and heard his story, a significant word related to the genesis of his project—a word grounded in a core principle of Reading Is Fundamental—has jumped out: choice. The project which lead to the book began when he was given a writing assignment to be done on a topic of his choice. Alec’s story is a great example of where children can often take an assignment given a choice. At times those choices are wide open, as appears to be the case in Alec’s story. At other times choices are given among a range of topics.
At RIF where we are interested in the motivational aspect of reading we find giving children a choice of books is a key factor many individuals remember most about RIF next to ownership. Choosing a book to own from an array of titles that are age- and reading-level appropriate is highly motivating as documented through 42 years of RIF’s history.
What is your take on the issue of choice in motivating children to read and to write?
