Author Archives: Kristina

Round, Round, Get Around…I Get Around!

By Betty Trummel

Necessity is the mother of invention.  True here in Lusaka, Zambia, where individuals get around any way they can.  Most often it’s on foot with well-worn dirt pathways on the side of every roadway.  Women carrying baskets atop their heads, laden with fruit and peanuts, or balancing heavy containers of water on strong shoulders or their heads.  From the youngest Zambians, wrapped in brightly colored fabric slings draped on the shoulders of an older sibling or mama, to groups of young children in school uniforms…making their way back and forth to school each day…moving on foot is the predominant method of getting around.
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Bicycles are also an option, although that’s more limited.  It’s not uncommon to see two or even three people on a bike OR goods bought/sold piled high on the back of the bike and/or person riding it.

A noticeable change since my last visit four years ago is more vehicles on the roads.  Clearly there’s no emissions control, and every vehicle sputters and spews cloudy puffs of smoke into the air.  People crowd into buses and cars, onto the back of trucks, and are precariously perched on construction vehicles.  Whether sitting in plastic lawn chairs in the truck bed, dangling off the vehicle, it’s all very different than transportation back home.
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A funny experience today was getting fuel for the car.  Trying to convert Kwacha (Zambian currency) to dollars and liters to gallons at the same time proved to be challenging for us.  As we pulled away and Mal noted that the gas gauge had not moved much, we laughed as we realized that we probably bought three fourths of a gallon of fuel.  Oops!

No Summer Slide Here!

By Mal Keenan

photo(1)A to Z recently donated five boxes of children’s books to District 47’s Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee. The books were offered to families attending the last meeting of the school year in hopes to promote summer reading and boost at-home literacy.

photoAs a literacy coach, I am well aware of the “summer slide” that occurs when children do not read consistently throughout June, July, and August. By donating books for kids to take home, the hope is to maintain the reading skills these students have worked so hard on during the past nine months. And by getting books into their hands, we are continuing to meet our mission locally.

Studying Our Nation’s History Together

By Anastasia Gruper

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Did you know Rhode Island is spelled incorrectly in The Constitution? Neither did I until Cody pointed it out at The National Archive.  Did you know there is a typo engraved in the wall at the Lincoln Memorial?  Future reads Euture.  “Kilroy was here,” is etched in the World War II Memorial. And the haunches of the statues in the Korean Memorial depicts the eerie wartime feeling the artist clearly wanted to convey. Wandering through Washington DC with colleagues and eighth grade students is a reminder that learning is collaborative and best done together.

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Day two with the group brought more in depth conversations as we spent long periods of time at the National Cathedral and the Holocaust Museum. Analysis of photographs prior to and during World War II had us delve into our Nation’s past.  Models, literature, and artifacts brought discussions about how the treatment of our people. At the cathedral, stories told of stained glass windows brought history to life. Roman architecture was the main topic of discussion as we stood in awe of the high arches, high ceilings, and gargoyles.

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As we prepare for day three, Flag Day, we head to Arlington National Cemetery for the changing of the guard and for our students to participate in the wreath changing ceremony. We’re looking forward to our continued education, not only about our nation’s history, but about the concerns our children have for the future of our nation based on our history.

Move Over Smartphones

By Kalan Gott

Let me start by saying this is a tale of an old soul’s triumph over technology that often perplexes and frustrates her. Please smartphone users, tweeters, and updaters do not be offended.

It is no surprise to most who know me that I have what I proudly refer to as a stupid phone (no internet, a poor camera, slide out keyboard, and buttons-you can’t touch the screen). I usually make fun of myself when others are around because it is weird these days to not have a smartphone. In fact, many elementary students gawk at my low-tech device as if it was the old Zach Morris phone from Saved By the Bell. I am fine with the self-deprecating humor and being teased by others because I know I have a secret super power. This is the tale of how I used it on others.

My secret super power is sitting when I am alone. I don’t have access to the Internet, or Candy Crush, or the ability to peer into other’s lives on Facebook, so I sit. I often play a game to see how many people I can get to look up from their devices to smile or say hi in return. This particular day I was at training and it was lunchtime. I am also usually the only goof who still packs my lunch and brings it to these things, so I was sitting alone in an auditorium. Now, having practiced this many times I am getting good at using my alone time to fit in a few extra minutes of reading (especially important now that I have an 8 month old and reading in my house consists of either reading Good Night Moon for the hundredth time, or getting halfway through a page in my book and conking out from parental fatigue.) So there I sat alone in the auditorium of a middle school relishing the 45 minutes of reading I got to do. It was the dessert to my packed lunch. My super power came into play when people started to trickle back in. Instead of talking to me about Candy Crush or the latest Pin I got surprised comments like, “Were you here alone?” “What are you doing?” “Is that a book?!” All of those questions allowed me to bring up my book, engage in conversation, and passionately share the details of the extremely interesting murder mystery I am enjoying right now. In this age of the technologically isolating I got adults to talk, face to face, about a fiction book. Move over smartphones. Smart people are back.

P.S-In case you are interested, the book is called Gone Girl and it is by Gillian Flynn. It was recommended to me by two of my three sisters and it won’t surprise you to know that I didn’t realize they were making a movie out of it until I had that conversation in the auditorium and another adult told me about it.

Happy Reading!

Transformation Baby Steps

By Kalan Gott

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The Hungry Caterpillar is a well know children’s book documenting the days of eating precede a caterpillar’s transformation into a butterfly. Not only is it a cool book because of the pictures (and that tiny hole in the food on each page that shows you where the caterpillar ate), but because I’ve decided it is a metaphor for a child’s relationship with reading. Just so you all know, I didn’t ask Eric Carle about this metaphor.  I’ve just decided it is a thing from watching my 8 month old daughter begin her relationship with books. Like the caterpillar, she is hungry. Yes, of course, for actual foods. But also for books, letters, language, and the delicious cardboard they are printed on. Even though she is just knawing at the pages right now (literally so hungry for knowledge that she is eating the pages of the books), she is already starting to play with turning the pages, looking at the pictures, and laughing at the onomatopoeia. I am excited to see her blossom (not into a butterfly- that would be too Kafkaesque) into a reader who engages with the words and stories of fabulous writers. For now it is baby steps, but one day…

Looking Back While Looking Forward

By Ann Yanchura

Confucius tells us to “study the past if you would define the future;” this is continual thread in the fabric of A to Z Literacy, and one of the many reasons why I’m honored to be a part of this organization. At this time two years ago, I was planning my lessons, collecting school supplies from my generous school colleagues at both Hannah Beardsley Middle and Indian Prairie Elementary Schools, and packing up for my first trip to Zambia.

Looking forward: View through our windshield on our way to Shine Reading Academy

Looking forward: View through our windshield on our way to Shine Reading Academy

By looking back while looking forward, I have learned a few lessons from all that planning: Continue to look to the future of our world by investing in the education of our young. Never underestimate the power of teachers. Always have a Plan B in both life and lesson plans. Time spent learning is never wasted. Be open to whatever and whomever comes your way because there is always something more for you to learn.

Looking back: Just one of the many beautiful memories of lessons learned

Looking back: Just one of the many beautiful memories of lessons learned

Note that in the first paragraph, I called the 2012 mission my “first” trip to Zambia; once you go, you will want to return over and over, and I’m looking forward to that. It’s no secret that I am both excited and jealous to follow the adventures of this year’s mission team of Mal, Pat, Betty, and Becky. I will always look back on the memories shared with our 2012 team made up of Mal, Stasia, Kalan, Mariann, and me as some of the best of my life. And to paraphrase both General Douglas MacArthur and the Terminator, I WILL RETURN to that magical and wonderful place in the future for more life lessons. No doubt about it.

Giving Back at Garden Quarter

By Koriann Lance

As we get close to summer, I always tell my kids to start building a summer reading list. I take them to the library to listen to one last book talk in hopes of them finding some good reads – okay, and I may be selfishly looking for some as well! But whatever the reason, it benefits all!

Reading-1080x320Some kids don’t get to the library too often though. Some kids don’t have a great interest in reading. Then what?

Though I don’t have an answer to solve it all, I do know that Garden Quarter Resource Center in McHenry created their own library for the local kids. This center gives kids access to a variety of books so that they can stay engaged throughout the summer.

02_117155230609576870329021975001000As part of A to Z’s local outreach, teachers will be visiting Garden Quarter every Tuesday from 3-3:30 to read with the kids. Teachers will help in picking out those perfect, just right books that will keep the kids reading and asking for more!

Whether I am reading to myself or reading to kids, I can’t think of a better way to give back!

Follow us as we Skype to Zambia!

By Koriann Lance

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Though I am not physically traveling with the crew to Zambia, I am excited to be a part of the experience in another way – through Skype!

I decided that I wanted to be able to meet and talk with some of the students who want to pursue a higher education, but perhaps don’t have the financial means to do so. In chatting with them through skype, I want to learn as much as I can about these students in hopes that I can find donors who will want to give them the financial means to make their dreams become reality.

What a blessing it would be to give the gift of an education – a luxury to many of us here in the states. Tune in as the summer progresses to hear about these students! Perhaps you can be the one to help them…….

Our Middle School Students Really Stepped Up!

By Jen Campisi

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Bringing literacy to those in need isn’t just a cause that adults rally behind!  This year, our National Junior Honors Society members here at Bernotas Middle School stepped up for this extremely worthy cause as well.  Our members chose A to Z Literacy because of its ongoing mission to supply not just books, but continuing education for Zambia’s teachers, as well as funding a much needed lunch program.  As an organization we realize that these things that are so readily available to us, are a much needed resource for the teachers and students we hope to reach in Zambia.  Our membership organized a walk-a-thon fundraiser, collected pledges and walked for this valuable cause.  Through our efforts, we were proud to be able to donate over $3,000 to A to Z Literacy.  Our membership looks forward to the opportunity to do this again next school year!

National Junior Honor Society’s Walkathon for A to Z Was Awesome!

By Emma Gruper, 8th Grade Student at Bernotas Middle School

On Wednesday, May 28th, 2014, I had the privilege to be a part of the A to Z walk-a-thon at Lundahl Middle School.

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Emma (green headband) walks toward her volunteer post.

At this event, National Junior Honor Society members raised money for this event, and walked to support the project for nearly two hours!

2014-05-28 04.20.50While other students walked, I was chosen to help with money, spread sheets, and t-shirt hand out.Trying to keep up with these teachers, was close to impossible! These ladies were like bees in a hive; buzzing from here to there, making the Walk-a-Thon the best it could be.

2014-05-28 04.34.43Thanks to all who participated and who made this fundraiser the best it could be.