NCFL Literacy Now

Video Clip: In the Studio w/ Mark Teague
Come along on a virtual field trip to illustrator Mark Teague’s studio. From 100 scopenotes.

Reader-in-Chief: Read-Aloud Tips from President Obama

Getting Ready for El día de los niños/El día de los libros
The First Book blog offers a summary of  “El día de los niños” events across the country.

The Greens
iLearn Technology has links to 10 short videos about taking care of our planet in honor of Earth Day.

High school financial literacy classes can count as math credit
In this Flint, Michigan, high school, students get math credits while learning about credit scores. From The Flint Journal.

The ABC’s of improving literacy
“Wanted: New Brunswickers with ‘willing hearts’ who will help build a better province by making sure all kids can read.” From The Daily Gleaner.

Eden Prairie readers drink in realities
Greg Mortenson, who recently spoke at NCFL’s Annual Conference, was the inspiration for the Eden Prairie Library panel discussion on education in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Main topic? Improving education in rural areas of these countries. From the Eden Prairie News.

Video: NYC iSchool- a model for 21st century learning

International nursery rhymes
To celebrate National Poetry Month, enjoy this site with nursery rhymes from around the world.

Kentucky kids are hooked on reading
First Book donated 50,000 books to Kentuckians in honor of the “What Book Got You Hooked?” campaign, and NCFL was there to celebrate! Read about the event on the First Book Blog.

Audio: Who needs a manual to write real good?
Yesterday marked “the 50th anniversary of William Strunk and E.B. White’s Elements of Style, the grammar manual used by millions of students, including commentator Marc Acito.” From NPR.

Media specialists important to education
“’Worlds Connect @ your library’ is the theme of School Library Media Month. During April schools across Oshkosh and the United States will celebrate libraries and reading. It is a time to remind the public about the contributions school libraries, school library media specialists and library assistants make to their schools everyday.” From the Northwestern.com.

The Corner Book Club
Thanks to Angela Maiers for this link to The Corner Book Club. Here’s more about the club: “the Corner is an interactive way for 8th-12th grade students to learn and talk about reading materials that are relevant to their life. Each month our educational team chooses a book of the month that conveys messages of tolerance, compassion and non-violent expressions of achieving social justice. Book club members are encouraged to blog* about the selected material, discuss the title with one another, recommend other books they like and submit questions for the celebrity artist of the month interview.”

Live Science
Live Science was recently voted one of the most popular education blogs by Post Rank. Don’t miss this site! Top articles this week include “Great Golfers’ Brains Have More Gray Matter” and “The Top 10 Mad Scientists.”

Coolest Bookshelf Ever (and 10 more that rule)

Since 2005, Better World Books has been a committed partner in our mission to build a more literate nation on so many levels; they have dedicated their funding, time, talent and energy to family literacy.

Recently, Better World Books was nominated for the BusinessWeek Social Enterprise Award. This prestigious award recognizes U.S. companies that are tackling social problems in new and innovative ways at home and abroad. We cannot think of a better company that fits this description than Better World Books! Its progressive and socially-conscious business practices are so well-received that CNN’s “Your Bottom Line” recently featured Better World Books as a company that “makes the world a better place, one book at a time.”

We encourage you to vote now! Polls close on April 26, 2009 and winners will be announced on May 2, 2009. Voting takes only a few seconds. Just click here to cast your vote.

Be sure to share this information with the parents in your programs or others in your own family!

Parents play a very important part in their children’s learning from the moment children are born. Because everything is new to an infant, every waking hour brings opportunities to learn new things. Young children acquire knowledge through all of their senses - sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.

Infants and toddlers pay special attention to their parents’ voices. The talk that occurs during typical routines, such as diapering, bathing and feeding is important for teaching children important things about language - and building the foundation for later reading.

During those frequent “talks” with parents, children learn:
* How important they are to the people who love them.
* How language works - one person talks and the other person listens and then responds. That’s the “dance” of conversation.
* The rhythm and rhyme of language. This is especially seen and experienced in nursery rhymes and songs.
* About their family - the names of people and things in their immediate world.
* The sounds of language which are important for learning to read.

The Art of Storytelling
Larry Ferlazzo has an informative summary of “The Art of Storytelling,” an interactive site from the Delaware Art Museum.

Thinkfinity: National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month. Visit Thinkfinity.org for poetry podcasts, videos, activities and lesson plans.

Teacher training: what’s the best way?
“Johanna Klinsky remembers her teacher training ruefully. She loved the theory she learned, but her only classroom experience was 10 weeks of student teaching, which did nothing to prepare her for the chaos she would encounter as a teacher in an inner-city Chicago school.” From the Christian Science Monitor.

Schools Receive $600K Literacy Grant
Memphis, Tennessee, was one of the cities recently awarded a Toyota Family Literacy Program grant. Read this story and watch the video for highlights of the press event announcing the award. From My Fox Memphis.

Don’t forget to take the short Literacy Now survey for a chance to win a $50 BetterWorld.com gift card!  Click here to get started.

Today is Literacy Now’s blogaversary! It’s hard to believe that this time one year ago we were just venturing out into the blogosphere.

Thanks to everyone who is a subscriber, has written a guest post, or left a comment.

And to make next year even better, let us know what you would like to see on Literacy Now. More videos? Book reviews? Take this quick survey and let us know! For those who complete the survey, your name will be entered into a drawing for a $50 BetterWorld.com gift card.

Here’s to another great year!

Can’t see the survey below?  Click here to get started.

Alferd Williams, the son of sharecroppers, promised his mother that one day he would learn to read. And at age 68, he asked first-grade teacher Alesia Hamilton to help him achieve his dream.

The two were honored last Wednesday at Edison Elementary School in St. Joseph, Missouri, as part of the first anniversary of the Toys for Tots Literacy Program, a year-round initiative that provides our nation’s least fortunate children with books and other educational materials.

Alferd, now 71 and a third-grader at Edison Elementary School, received the first-ever “Alferd Williams Literacy Award.”

“I don’t have a mother living and I don’t have a father living, so it’s up to me how long I go to school and how well I learn,” Mr. Williams told all 340 Edison Elementary School students gathered in the school gym Wednesday morning. “And that’s going to be the rest of my life.”

UPS, a long time NCFL and family literacy supporter, The UPS Store and Sharon Darling, NCFL President and Founder, were on hand for the celebration. “Forever and ever, it’s going to be an award named in his honor,” said Sharon Darling, president and founder of the national Center for Family Literacy. “What we have to realize as a nation is there are 34 million adults in this country at the level Alferd was when he came into this school, and we really must do more to help them. Alferd will be a great spokesperson.”

Congratulations again to Alferd! And to help NCFL and The UPS Store create more success stories, check out the post from last Tuesday about the Toys for Tots Literacy Program.

Photos courtesy of Sue Pfannmuller.