Category Archives: Literacy

Freshened up for the New Year

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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.

The Gift of Books and Reading

By Betty Trummel

As I took a look at my tiny class Christmas tree last week, I saw the gift of books and reading for my 30 students. Each package under the tree contained a bright, shiny, new chapter book.

I thought about so many children around the world who don’t have new books or any books at all. In many places literacy is not the reality of everyday life.

The work we do as part of A to Z Literacy Movement is on a small scale, but it is mighty. I’m thinking back to our trip to Zambia this past June, and how exciting it was to see gently used and new books in the hands of the children and teachers at the Village of Hope and at Shine Zambia Reading Academy.

We’ve given the gift of books and reading to so many, just as I have in my 36 years of teaching. How can you help give the gift of literacy this holiday season?

A Year in Review

art table         Beatrice

DSC_0540         hands

Dear A to Z supporters,

“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.” Mother Theresa

Endless love endured this year for the A to Z Literacy Movement as creativity for fundraising increased.  Through Trivia Night, The Arlington Heights Scholastic Book Drive, Betty Trummel’s Open House, The Lundahl/Bernotas Walkathon, The Bernotas Dodgeball Tournament, The Savers Clutter Collection, The Alwood Elementary First Grade Lemonade Stand, The Louise White Elementary School CrAtoZy Sock Day, The AmazonSmile donation, The Christmas Drive at Good Shepherd Hospital, The Central High School Interact Club Spirit Week, The Central High School National Honor’s Society donation, Grants from the Crystal Lake Dawnbreaker Rotary Club, and donations from you, we were able to gather over $22,000.  This total far exceeded our expectations, which in turn, allowed us to achieve and exceed our goals.

Getting books into hands of impoverished children is our primary goal; with our funds, book drives and partnerships with other non-profit organizations we were able to send sixty six boxes of books: twelve boxes to the Zambia Rotary Club Nkwazi, twelve boxes to Accra, Ghana for an after school program, eighteen boxes of picture books and chapter books to School of Hope in Zambia, six boxes to the Jubliee Center in Zambia, and eighteen boxes of math textbooks to School of Hope in Zambia.

Our trip to Africa this year achieved our goal to professionally develop teachers.  We were able to spend quality time in two schools utilizing the expertise of four teachers: Shine Academy and All Kids Can Learn International.  In addition to providing professional development, we were also able to fund two teachers’ salaries and pay for approximately six months of school lunch at Shine Academy.  Furthermore, we were able to award a scholarship to Jonathan for his yearly tuition and a bicycle to cut his four hour walking commute to school in half.

We have also increased our local outreach to meet the needs of those in our own community.  We were able to donate one hundred string bags filled with picture books to Kiwanas; hundreds of books to the Immanual Lutheran Clinic; hundreds of books to School Distrcit 47 Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee; and hundreds of books and story time to Garden Quarter.

Because of you and your extraordinary love of giving, we were able to give to so many this year.  Thank you for all you have done to help us reach our goals. Without you and your love of giving, this would never have been possible.
Warmly,

A to Z Literacy Movement

Tweets Inspired by Donalyn Miller

By Mal Keenan

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On Monday, I had the awesome opportunity to spend the day learning with Donalyn Miller at Judson University. She shared her knowledge of reading with 200 teachers and had so many great things to say.

Throughout the day, I tweeted ideas that resonated with me and wanted to share them with you:

Reading fosters empathy.

We throw out the pedagogy when we can’t get the management to work.

Set small goals and check in daily with reluctant readers.

For many kids, graphic novels, comics, and series are the gate to lifelong reading.

How can we leverage read alouds to introduce new authors to our students?

The act of reading is not final until we can pass the book on or discuss it with others.

There’s not a lot of hope in the word “weakness”, so I use the word “goal”.

 

Storage Wars – Part 2

By Mal Keenan

green door storage

Last year, Pat wrote about her storage facility experience of receiving new books from a donor who previously sold children’s educational materials for a living. The donor had accumulated boxes of science and social studies trade books along with multiple boxes of small guided reading books. The storage space needed to be cleaned out and we were thrilled to receive the assortment of books. Total score for A to Z.

This past weekend, Wendy and I traveled to another storage facility (which is another story for a different day – Americans and their storage units) to collect eighteen boxes of books from another donor who levels books for a living. Levels books for a living? Right, so publishers send copies of books to Monica and then she determines the grade and guided reading level. Once leveled, the books sit patiently in a storage unit. After a few years of waiting and not needing to be referenced again, the books are free to go. As we loaded them up, I was all smiles. A to Z scored again. Our little nonprofit is making a difference and people like Monica who levels books for a living are willing to help us help others.

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.

 

 

Summer Reading

By Pat Kelly

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The 2014 Zambia A to Z team has been talking books in addition to reading books and preaching the value of literacy. Our bus and plane trips, daily walk or drive to the schools we have served and two dozen evenings together have given us lovely hours of discussion. Like giraffes to the Acacia tree we keep coming back to what we’ ve been reading, have read and want to read. We have scratched lists on electronic tablets and scraps of paper, discovering that many of our favorites were read by others in the quartet.
We’ d like to share with you some of our ” hot picks”:

“The End of Your Life Book Club” by Will Schwalbe
“Grayson” by Lynn Cox
“The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown
“The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein
“The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant
“Being Henry David” by Cal Armistead
“Sarah’ s Key” by Tatiana de Rosnay
” Annie Freeman’ s Fabulous Traveling Funeral” by Kris Radish
” Left to Tell” by Immaculee Ilibagiza
“The Hiding Place” by Corrie ten Boom

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!