As we close United We Serve’s Education Week, I challenge you to be among the RIF volunteers helping children Read for Change in the coming year. Let me share with you a valuable resource as you look for a RIF program near you.
The RIF Locator Map helps potential volunteers find RIF program sites in their area and provides contact links to RIF coordinators. You simply fill out the template provided and a RIF coordinator should contact you soon about any potential volunteer opportunities. You can also find state-by-state information about RIF programs and view short videos about select RIF programs and events. Matching willing volunteers to RIF programs has never been easier. Should you have questions or hit a snag of some kind in locating a program, please contact RIF at our toll-free number 877.RIF.READ or contactus@rif.org.
Keep reading with children and logging your minutes at Read for Change: remember, 3 million minutes by September 11 – the children need us!
At the end of a lonnnngggg week, I often “pump” myself to get through a Friday by re-reading favorite children’s books at the start of the day. This week has been long with many “balls in the air.” This morning I grabbed from the display shelf as I walked into my office JAZZ by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers. Oh, I like this book, this smooth book!
And this morning thanks to a “tweet” from Mitali Perkins I learned about a new site with on-line resources for sharing Coretta Scott King award books with children; I looked up JAZZ which is an Honor Book for illustration. I was able to listen to a one and a half minute talk by Christopher Myers about his method for illustrating this book; it is fascinating how he compared his process to a musician taking a well known song and improvising to make another song on the original “skeleton”. And that is what he did in his illustrations for JAZZ…look at them: he first did a skeleton or the black coloring you see and it was on clear acetate. He then did a full color drawing and put the black painting over the color piece and had a complete picture. You’ll now “see” these illustrations in a whole new way.
Walter Dean Myers’ poems read like the memories I have of watching and listening to my musician uncle and his friends when they were having practice sessions at my grandmother’s house….STRIDE and TWENTY-FINGERJACK from JAZZ particularly bring back the beat, the feel of those sessions. What fun it was to sneak into those sessions!
Drop your blues,
and throw away that frown
‘Cause twenty-finger Jack
has just come back to town
Have a great weekend, happy reading!
Carol
More on Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers and JAZZ!
I was delighted Natasha of Maw Books Blog invited me to be a guest blogger for her today. Check out the posting to learn more about what awaits you on RIF’s website for parents and caregivers to enjoy with children!
It is day 4 of United We Serve’s Education Week; so far this week I have highlighted for you RIF’s 2009 Volunteers of the Year. Today I call your attention to one of the many organizations that provides groups of volunteers to support RIF Programs.
Since 2004, Macy’s Partners in Time program has provided volunteers for numerous RIF events where they assist in the distribution of books, read to children and share with families the importance of early reading with young children. FESTIBA (Festival of International Books and Arts) in South Texas was one of the events where it would not have been possible without the support of Macy’s Partners in Time volunteers!
And here you can see Macy’s employees from Lakewood, California volunteering at a RIF distribution in nearby Long Beach.
RIF applauds Partners in Time and all volunteers who are united in serving the children and families across the country. Thank you!
Happy Reading all summer long, visit Read for Change and log minutes now!
POEMS TO DREAM TOGETHER by Francisco X. Alarcón and illustrated by Paula Barragán is a book of bilingual poetry which “celebrates the connections children share with their families, communities, and all living things” as described in the introduction by Alarcón. Our tour guide for the collection of poems is a young boy, and we travel through his bright universe observing neighbors helping neighbors, families celebrating one another and learning about their heritage, children playing, stargazing around the campfire and storytelling. But above all, this collection is about dreaming—the imaginary dreams, the dreams of parents for their children, the dreams of children about the present and then what the future might hold for each one of them.
With thanks to the Colorín Colorado website, we learn “Francisco X. Alarcón is an award-winning poet who writes for both children and adults. Born in Los Angeles, California, he considers himself ‘bi-national,’ having spent time as a child in both Mexico and the United States. He expressed this in a poem: ‘I carry my roots with me all the time/Rolled up I use them as my pillow.’ Alarcón’s poetry was inspired by songs he heard from his grandmother.” Indeed, the poems do have a lyrical quality, and when recited in Spanish, the beauty of the rhythm is even more evident. Alarcón currently directs the Spanish for Native Speakers Program at the University of California, Davis.
The illustrations are vibrant and yet do not detract in any manner from the “dream” quality; instead the illustrations promote the lyrical flow and accentuate the rhythm of the poetry. In addition to illustration, Barragán’s artistic work includes painting, printmaking and carpet design;she is exhibited in the United States and South America and now resides in Quito, Ecuador.
Three poems in particular spoke to me:
QUESTIONS real questions have no answers just more questions
DAY DREAMING daydreaming- another way of brainstorming And in closing the collection Alarcón writes: DREAMING TOGETHER a dream we dream alone
reality we dream together
Happy Reading! Carol Wednesday Window, features books and/or information which illustrate the “Windows” portion of the paper “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.”
Day three of United We Serve/Education Week: RIF introduces you today to another 2009 RIF Volunteer of the Year: Barbara Sovereign, a retired teacher and reading specialist from Monterey, California. Barbara has been a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society, a professional honor society of women educators, since 1983. She became a volunteer reader for its local Reading Is Fundamental program in 1998. And in 1999 she became the co-coordinator of the local RIF program. Barbara coordinates the distribution of 5,700 books each year, and says she knows the books are important to the kids judging by the excitement generated when the students learn they get to keep the books!
Barbara not only enjoys her time reading with kids, but also loves hearing from the many volunteers she recruits to read for her RIF programs. She likes to quote a local RIF volunteer who says, “There are few better ways to start your day than being the central object of a group hug by 20 first graders!”
Happy Reading all summer long, visit Read for Change and log minutes now!
Yes, Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney is due on the bookshelves in October…but to help you prepare for the debut, there is a cross country ice cream truck tour promoting the “Dog Days of Summer Reading.” The tour starts next week and runs through August; it will be stopping at 40 libraries! You can learn more at the Kid’s official website and Twitter with the Kid @DiaryWimpyKid. I am excited and watching for the ice cream truck!
UPDATE on first Wimpy book: Check out FUSE 8 on film news!
Hello! It is Day Two of Education Week for President Obama’s United We Serve initiative. As noted yesterday, RIF has implemented Read for Change as one response to this initiative, and I again invited you to log your minutes reading with children!
We are also featuring our 2009 RIF Volunteers of the Year during this special week; yesterday I introduced you to Jalonda. Today meet Elrene “Elke” Davis. Elke has spent the past 37 years as library media specialist, classroom teacher and family literacy coordinator in Estill County, Ky. She has served as an advocate and volunteer for literacy on committees, been an Appalachian storyteller, served as a guest reader, and shown up as a costumed character with props.
In 1996, Elke became the RIF coordinator for the Estill County Board of Education. Her book distributions are highly anticipated events where children preschool to 8th grade have the opportunity to choose their own free book three times a year and experience the excitement of various reading activities.
This week I proudly introduce you to three more RIF ambassadors; these three have all used special guests in their RIF distributions. Read on!
Denise Duncan, RIF’s ambassador for Indiana, is the Brooklyn (Ind.) Elementary School librarian and RIF coordinator, now in her second year as both. In January 2009 Denise kicked off the new year with several activities, including a very special treat called Booktime with Ronald McDonald, who came to the school with his McLibrary, talked to the students about how to care for books, and how much fun reading is. He told a story in which the students participated by helping out with the sound effects. It was a special, special day at Brooklyn Elementary!
Booktime with Ronald McDonald at Brooklyn Elementary School.
Natasha Jamerson serves as the ambassdor for Colorado. She is the Title I Management/Parent Involvement Specialist for Harrison School District Two in Colorado Springs, and the RIF coordinator for the district. Natasha has shared that for a “Reading Will Take You to the Summit” distribution, students had the amazing opportunity to listen to mountaineers from the Colorado Mountain Club. These volunteers shared with the students how reading helped take them literally around the world to reach many summits. Reading trail books, trip reports, and maps prepared them in the art of mountaineering. The students also enjoyed the demonstration of how various mountaineering gear and tools are used. Natasha says “This was a very captivating activity for our students.”
Kansas ambassador Darla Thornburg is the RIF coordinator for Community Elementary in Coffeyville; she is also a full-time teacher at a local community college and calls upon various student organizations to assist with RIF distributions. This year the Red Raven volleyball team served as the special guests at one distribution while other athletic teams, cheerleaders, the theater department and the Native American campus group have assisted at other distributions. Darla reports the arrival of the college students is not only a great boost for the elementary students but “it has been surprising to me how much the college students find joy in this reading adventure. The awestruck young students surprisingly humble the college students who did not realize what an influence he or she had upon these young students. I have been thanked over and over by not only the college sponsor but the college students for the opportunity to be involved with RIF.” Enjoy the video of the Red Ravens’ visit to the school!
The Big Day is here, the release of the first two Lunch Lady books about which I wrote in June! Be among the first to grab a copy of each and enjoy. Also, start thinking about perhaps looking at your school’s Lunch Ladies a bit differently when the school begins this year!
Take a moment and check out this interview with the author Jarrett J. Krosoczka at “Seven Important Things to Do Before Breakfast”. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Become a fan of the Lunch Lady on Facebook!
The RIF Locator Map helps potential volunteers find RIF program sites in their area and provides contact links to RIF coordinators. You simply fill out the template provided and a RIF coordinator should contact you soon about any potential volunteer opportunities. You can also find state-by-state information about RIF programs and view short videos about select RIF programs and events. Matching willing volunteers to RIF programs has never been easier. Should you have questions or hit a snag of some kind in locating a program, please contact RIF at our toll-free number 877.RIF.READ or contactus@rif.org.
