By: Julie Carson – Founder of Woods Creek Cares
We don’t always know the whole story… but we are called to obey and pray. That is where this story begins…
On Sunday, May 3rd a group of us from Woods Creek Cares met with Mal & Betty from A to Z Literacy Movement. A group of 15 total families who decided to sponsor a family and assist a school in Africa came together to share love across the world. As we watched the videos and ate African inspired snacks, colored bookmarks and picked out books for the Zulu family, an ordinary Sunday afternoon became the beginning of an opportunity to open our eyes to the world and experience God’s transforming love and power.
So here we are— a group of families in the Chicago suburbs ready to share love, excited to see how the connections God brought together will serve Him across the globe. We are eager to connect with the Zulu family and hear how God is working in their lives, and wondering how this will impact our own children’s hearts as we pray for them and share our lives together.
An exciting new story, all for God’s Glory!
{Woods Creek Cares is a parent-initiated organization from Woods Creek Elementary in Crystal Lake that serves the community through service projects and lifts up the school, staff and students up in prayer. To find out more about their events and meetings, e-mail woodscreekcares@gmail.com or find them on Facebook under “Woods Creek Cares”}.
Category Archives: A to Z Abroad
6 Boxes of Books made it to the Dominican Republic
Sometimes, when you ask, you receive. Cristy learned that when she contacted us a few months ago:
Hi, my name is Cristy Kinahan, Sandy Kinahan’s daughter. My mom told me about your organization recently and that you might be able to send books to the school I am currently teaching at in the Dominican Republic. Of course I would need to talk with our school directors but please let me know if there is anything I need to or can do in order to make this a possibility. I teach at Saint David School in the city of Santiago. It is a bilingual school for students from three years old through high school. I teach American curriculum to first and second graders. This year has definitely been a blast and an amazing experience. Though I have learned so much, it also has made me grateful for the ample amount of resources that were available to me growing up in District 47. Because the school has split curriculum between Dominican and American, our English resources are limited. Any donation would be helpful, these students are energetic to learn the language and better their lives. I have seen your organizations website and love the incredible things you are doing in Zambia to help those students in need. I hope that extending your good wills to the Dominican Republic is a possibility as well.
After a few weeks of back and forth, the A to Z team decided to send a shipment of books. Here’s the response:
Mal,
The books arrived yesterday!!!! We are so excited! It was also my director’s birthday and “Dia del Libro” so it was perfect! Wow, we cannot thank you enough, these books are amazing and I cannot believe how many there are and in such great condition! My director and I presented the books to the school today and they are on display in our tiny library. Though they cannot be checked out until all are stamped and registered, classes are invited to visit and see all of your amazing donations. I took my first graders today and they had a blast! We let them explore different picture books and then did a couple read alouds, they were amazed and so excited! I also had a few sixth graders take a peek and they found some interesting texts as well. Our school is so incredibly grateful for your efforts and generosity, we cannot express it enough. I have attached a few pictures I took today of my students. We will update you further on our excitement and joy but I just wanted to send you a quick message to let you know that we received the six packages!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Cristy
My Librarian is a Camel
By Betty Trummel
Recently I shared excerpts from “My Librarian is a Camel” with my class as part of our literacy instruction at Husmann Elementary School. What a wonderful reminder of how people around the world, especially in small corners and remote places, value books and reading. It certainly makes me reflect on the mission of A to Z Literacy Movement…to get books into the hands of impoverished children. Whether it’s by boat, camel, donkey cart, or elephant, the fact that people are creative in how books are brought to children puts a smile on many faces world-wide.
The author of the book, Margriet Ruurs, stated: “From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, I discovered people who are passionate about books and who understand the importance of libraries in our lives.”
So true, Margriet, and right now I’m thinking of the library we helped create at Shine Zambia Reading Academy located in the compounds just outside of Lusaka, Zambia. I can just imagine the students there enjoying the books we’ve shipped to them and the games we’ve brought to the school while on our teaching trips.
Smiles, lots of happy children, learning every day. Happy to be a part of this wonderful organization…A to Z Literacy.
A New School Year!
By Betty Trummel
We got word from our Lusaka Rotary Club contact, Masautso, that he was able to meet with some of the students A to Z is sponsoring and help them arrange their school fees for the new year. Being in the southern hemisphere means that a new school year begins in January or February.
As I think about the start of my school year back in August here in Illinois, I’m thinking of kids with new shoes, maybe some new clothes, school supplies, and the excitement of a well-decorated elementary classroom filled with books and bulletin boards and lots and lots of resources. That is not the reality for many children around the world.
The students we sponsor are given the gift of a year of schooling, at what we would consider a relatively small price. Leftover funds can be used for basic school supplies or school uniform. Children we sponsor show great excitement and gratitude for being given this chance to continue learning.
Jimmy, the student my husband and I chose to sponsor, is 17 years old and is entering the 10th grade. He would like to complete his secondary schooling and attend a university. He’s interested in possibly following a path to medicine in the future. He’s a quiet young man, and very serious about his schoolwork and exams.
When our A to Z Literacy Movement team worked at Shine Zambia Reading Academy last June, Jimmy and other former Shine students came by each day to meet with us. They are eager for us to keep teaching them, and they took great pride in sharing their notebooks and work with our team. I am happy that my family can assist Jimmy with school fees, basic supplies, and uniforms.
In Jimmy’s words: “I want to say thanks for everything that you have done for us/me, cause you have taught me a lot of things and I believe you are still going to teach me more. I have seen a huge thing in you guys…just to come and help us, for there are few people who do this that you are doing. I have seen a lot of passion in you and you have a caring and loving heart. What you are doing shows a lot of kindness.”
Freshened up for the New Year
With 2015 almost here, A to Z Literacy Movement is excited to share our updated website, www.atozliteracy.org, with you. A huge thank you goes out to Stephanie Brown, one of the A to Z’s founders, for helping us to create a more friendly and informative site for folks to visit. The new site looks fantastic, and we think you will definitely enjoy clicking around to see some new pictures in the photo gallery, find ways to donate time, and read about who we help in Zambia as well as here in McHenry County.
As always, we will continue to publish the A to Z blog for you to enjoy, but look forward to sharing current events on the home page more consistently and hope supporters share the site with friends and family.
Math Textbooks are Making Their Way to Zambia
By Pat Kelly
The load of a half ton of math textbooks I was transporting made my SUV handle a lot differently. I was light in the front end and needed to allow more time for braking. On top of that, it was rush hour on the expressway and a rush job to get the books back to Crystal Lake, address the boxes and get them to the post office pronto.
Flashback to Zambia, June of this year.
When visiting the School of Hope, our friend and headmistress of the school Kathleen told us they needed math textbooks. To make it easier for us, there was a shipping container leaving Delaware in August which would bring a multitude of goods to the village and school. If we could locate and gather math books and send them to Delaware versus Zambia, that would be much kinder to A to Z Literacy’s checkbook.
Well, as luck would have it, we asked and Follett School Solutions delivered. Jean B., a friend of A to Z, knows a guy, who put us onto a gal, who through Follett was able to donate about a half ton of math textbooks.
Time was of the essence though, and within a couple days, the heavy boxes of books needed to be picked up from Woodridge, IL, labeled and shipped at the Crystal Lake Post Office. The container was leaving in a week and we gambled on shipping the goods media mail- a slower, more economical method. During a nail biting week, we waited for email confirmation the books had arrived on time. After urging our friends on the receiving end to check the post office and around the church premises (the location of the container), the books turned up at the eleventh hour! Whew!
Now they are en route to Zambia, waiting to deliver their knowledge to eager youngsters. Was it ever worth the hustle.
“Zambia, Zambia, what do you see?” A story comes full circle…
By Betty Trummel
A couple of nights ago I finished writing the book I had started with the children at Shine Zambia Reading Academy. As I pressed “order” to send the book to Apple for printing, I felt that strong connection with my African friends once again. Smiling faces, fingers curled into small, pretend binoculars around their eyes, it took me back to June when I stood in their classrooms reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Using my photographs of African animals (and thanks to a good friend who had amazing lion photos), and the pattern of words in this book, a new book has been written. I can’t wait to get copies of the book, and send them to Shine. The teaching will have come full circle…reading and listening, brainstorming ideas, writing, publishing, and sharing.
It is my hope that students at Shine Zambia Reading Academy will be motivated by this book to write their own stories. Being a part of A to Z Literacy Movement has motivated me to keep writing down my stories and sharing them with students around the world. Everyone has stories to share. What’s your story?
Recent Email
By Mal Keenan
I love reading how happy folks are when the boxes of books finally arrive. These messages reinforce the work we are doing and motivate me to continue the mission of A to Z Literacy Movement.
Here’s one that arrived today:
Dear Mal,
I hope you’re having a great year. I just wanted to write and say THANK YOU!!!!!!!! The books arrived in Ghana and they are AMAZING!!!! They actually arrived a few weeks ago and I had grand and glorious ideas of taking pictures and sending them to you, but since that has been delayed, just wanted at least to say thank you and let you know they arrived safely.
Just a quick update on our end, the library bookshelves were just installed, so I’ve got a team ready to come and organize them and get them ready to go. We’re just about ready to re-open this library. Super exciting!!
Thanks so much for your support. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Receiving emails from recipients of A to Z book shipments never gets old.
3-2-1
By Mal Keenan
One reading activity I love to use in the classroom is 3-2-1. This quick formative assessment for determining importance works well as an exit slip in whole group and small group instruction.
Students are asked to write down three important facts/ideas, two key words, and one memorable sentence directly from the text.
3-2-1 was new to the students at School of Hope in Zambia. The 8th graders did a fantastic job reading a short article about Nelson Mandela and then a few pairs were brave enough to present to the rest of the class.
Zambia, Zambia, What do you see?
by Betty Trummel
Using patterns of words, phrases, or themes in a story can be a powerful teaching tool. I capitalized on the repetitive pattern of a favorite book for young children to make a connection to my Zambian students at Shine Zambia Reading Academy.
“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle introduces a series of animals…bear, bird, horse, cat, dog, sheep, goldfish…and ends with the teacher and children looking at the animals. Once I read through the book, the children easily picked up the word pattern and were able to read the book with me the second time around. They were ready to go!
Next, after reading several books about African animals and using my African animal finger puppets to give information about Zambian native species, we created a list on the board. For many of these children this information is new, as they have little to no opportunity to see these animals in real life. Without many opportunities to leave the compounds of Lusaka in which they live, it is unlikely that they will ever witness these animals in a natural habitat.
Using the list we had generated, we used the exact same format to create a new story: “Zambia, Zambia, What Do You See?” This time the students added an elephant, zebra, wildebeest, lion, impala, crocodile, rhino, hippo, etc. “looking at me.”
Once I get back home, I’ll self-publish this new story and send it back to the students at Shine. Since we are encouraging the teachers and students to do more writing as part of their literacy program, this demonstrates how fun and easy it is to create our own stories, sometimes with a familiar pattern or format. What fun it was to read and create with these early readers at Shine.
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