The AdLit home page as I write features a piece on “Background Knowledge and Reading Comprehension.” For young people to be truly literate, they need more than the ability to simply decode the words they see on a page or a screen. They need to know the basics of the things being discussed. On which continent of the world, for example, is Iraq or Bolivia? What’s the difference between a reptile and an amphibian? Which war came first, the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812? More middle and high school students than you think have no clue.

Most important, students can find all these facts through Google, but can they explain them in their own words? An awful lot of students in 2008 subscribe to a copy-and-paste-without-really-reading-anything mentality.

Even though librarians don’t teach young people the knowledge they need to succeed in school, it’s important for library folks to understand how kids and teens learn and what they need to know to become truly literate. The AdLit.org site is a good one to read and keep in your bag of resources – in other words, it helps you build up your background knowledge about how young people learn and what they need to know – and to pass along to parents and others working with middle and high schoolers.

I’ve mentioned them before, but remember WETA’s other two literacy sites: Reading Rockets for pre-readers and beginning readers, and Colorin Colorado to encourage literacy skills in Spanish-speaking families.

Somewhere shortly after the aforementioned quote, Wiley states the most significant caveat of the essay: “Of course it depends on what you’re (the publishing industry) selling.” Mind you that Wiley’s referenced association to refute the notion that African Americans do not read books in quantifiable numbers was Terry McMillan’s http://www.terrymcmillan.com/mcmillan.html mega-hit Waiting to Exhale, which sold in excess of 700,000 copies.

According to Philadelphia Weekly reporter Kia Gregory in 2004 African Americans read $257 million dollars worth of urban fiction, e.g. ghetto fiction, a type of modern day pulp fiction peopled with unsavory pimps, crack heads and prostitutes, and erstwhile conniving, intelligent hustlers, thugs, drug dealers, crooks and thieves. The urban literature genre has been such a financial boon for the slumping, post-internet publishing industry that high brow publishers such as Kennsington, Simon & Schuster and St. Martins have developed urban fiction imprints.

These actions in and of themselves, are letting self-proclaimed literary purists and erudite bibliophiles in on a little secret—namely that the publishing industry is interested in the bottom-line. The bottom-line and cold hard cash are the mantra of the publishing industry these days. Instead of the former imprisoned crooks, streetwise hustlers and self-publishing first time writers making all the money off of their personal experiences, the Industry took a wise and strategic, “If you can’t beat em’ join em’ approach.”

Writing in the July 15, 2006, Library Journal, David Wright pointedly proclaims in the first sentence: “One of the hottest literary phenomena of recent years has been the explosion of what has been variously termed hip-hop, street, or urban fiction.” Wright also goes on to say that librarians and libraries are also hesitant to purchase the books due to discomfort with the genre and the tendency for the popular books to be stolen from the shelves—not a particularly good thing if the library is not a fiscally robust one.

The genre, which at times is not considered a well written one, has advocates and critics on both sides of the debate. Atria books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) editor Malaika Adero, a self-professed proponent of the genre, admits “calling the books literature may be a bit of a stretch.” But this wildly popular literature is being purchased by a demographic that is supposed to be fearful of books; thus, it will be marketed and promoted as though it were written by James Michener, Toni Morrison or any other celebrated author.

Is it disingenuous for the publishing cabal to promote and give book deals to urban fiction authors with names like Jihad, Zane and Joy but barely whisper the names of icons such as Ishmael Reed and Charles Johnson? I do not have a definitive answer, however, some publishing industry spokesmen tend to mouth the Mafia hit man phrase quite frequently: “Its nothin’ personal its just business.”

Or consider the trend of commercial bookstore giants like Borders Books to carry rows of urban fiction titles in their African American section but not carry Z.Z. Packer, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman or Octavia Butler. Interestingly enough, I have often had a tough time locating at least three titles by James Baldwin at any of the large commercial bookstores. Unfortunately, for the culturally ignorant or unread browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble or Borders, the historically vast range of African American has been defined by what they see—namely urban fiction.

Today the grandest celebratory recognition of African American literary achievement is the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards. These legacy awards are given each year by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation http://www.hurston-wright.org/. The 2006 winners in the fiction literature category were Clyde Ford (The Long Mile: The Shango Mysteries) http://www.clydeford.com/website/index.php, Nancy Rawles (My Jim: A Novel) http://www.nancyrawles.net/ and Denise Nicholas (Freshwater Road) http://www.nathanielturner.com/freshwaterroad.htm . But in all likelihood, their names are less-known in black America’s Hoods,’ than say Vickie Stringer http://www.triplecrownpublications.com/, Zane http://authors.aalbc.com/zane.htm, Omar Tyree http://www.omartyree.com/ or Teri Woods http://www.teriwoodspublishing.com/

I remember conducting a radio interview with the science fiction writer Octavia Butler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler twenty years ago, and asking her why the cover art for the hardback edition of Dawn, a book heavily populated by genetically African characters, had an Anglo-American character on the front. At the time I thought Ms. Butler had a great deal of autonomy over her works. She responded that she had no control over what went on the cover of the book. But compare this with the shiny urban fiction book covers that sport provocative, scantily clad, black men and women.

Literacy advocates and librarians point out that these books bring a love of reading to the masses. If he were alive the Indian library progenitor (considered to be the father of modern library science) S.R. Ranganathan would probably weigh in on the debate by quoting the third of his famous five laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_laws_of_library_science of library science: Every book its reader. Should academic libraries, or public libraries for that matter, include urban fiction in their holdings? Maybe they have their place if library professionals consider Ranganathan’s third law.

It is strictly a personal choice. I never thought graphic novels, e.g. flashy, colorful comic books, would be used in college classroom settings but they are now a part of the required reading list for courses at colleges across the United States, Japan and Europe. For many people there is no gray area when it comes to urban fiction; either you like it or hate it.

The aforementioned literary dichotomy is very much like the one between the Kenny G. Smooth Jazz fans and the traditional jazz adherents that love Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gilespie and Charlie Parker. I prefer the traditional variety myself but the wispy, paper- thin melodies of Smooth Jazz, did take the idiom out of the smoky clubs and into the mainstream where there is greater exposure and acceptance. Or look at the chaotic creativity that ensued when a younger generation of jazz men such as Dizzy Gillespie put their stamp on big band jazz, and developed the rambunctious style later known as Be-Bop.

Most evolutionary artistic trends are a part of humanity’s cultural DNA and will continually buck all efforts to remain stagnant. All performing and visual art forms—like businesses and the African American church—have a starting point from somewhere, were influenced by some external or internal force, and eventually die or transmute into something else.

Maybe the new literary icons will take a page from the book of Hip Hop rappers and MCs. These musical poets frequently pay homage to old school musicians and seemingly have no problems trotting the “Old Skool” artist out on the stage to perform with them. George Clinton http://www.georgeclinton.com/ has literally had his legacy, career and bank account renewed thanks to the efforts of Rappers that sample his music from the 1970s and 80s.

However, I believe there is the question of quality that we must look at, which tends to be pushed to the back whenever critics begin to contextualize and scrutinize the impact of American popular culture on all artistic and literary forms. There is good sounding, expertly played music and there is horrible sounding and poorly played music. The same goes for literature, although, the average person may not be as discerning or objective about what they are reading.

At the end of the day, maybe there is no need to compare Baldwin to Zane or Angelou to Woods. Each author and book has its own reader. However, chronological time will ultimately be the great judge and decide urban fiction’s fate in the literary cannon.

tracked boys' reading habits for five years ending in 2005 and found that schools failed to meet their "motivational needs." Teachers assigned novels about relationships, such as marriage, that appealed to girls but bored boys. His survey of academic research found boys more likely to read nonfiction, especially about sports and other activities they enjoy, as well as funny, edgy fiction. Boys' literary depth is an abiding concern in educational circles. Boys have persistently lagged behind girls in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, an influential federal test for gauging achievement. The gap widens by the time they reach 12th grade.

So to meet this challenge, publishers have started a genre that might be called "Gore for Guys", with titles such as "Vlad the Impaler", "Help! What's Eating My Flesh?" and "Sir Fartsalot". The article goes on to say that last year, U.S. publishers released 261 new works of juvenile fiction aimed at boys, more than twice the number put out in 2003, according to Bowker's Books in Print database. There were 20 nonfiction entries for boys, compared with just four in 2003.

This trend is a positive devlopment. It's disturbing to learn that boys begin to lag girls in reading ability around the age of ten, and the gap continues to widen into adulthood. Anything that generates interest in a subject usually leads a young person to become absorbed (even obsessed) with that topic. So if a movie about Dracula sparks an interest in all things ghoulish then that may well lead to greater consumption of the printed word.

Another site serves the needs of boys searching for books that would interest them. Called GuysRead, it was created by children's author Jon Scieszka as a web-based literacy program to get boys interested in reading. It could be a great social networking site for teens to post and share reviews of books they like, but at this point it appears to contain a list of books that kids might find interesting, with a link to Amazon if you want to buy the book. (A random check of a few of the books listed resulted in further links to third party sellers, as Amazon did not seem to stock them. And while the books cited in the WSJ article were all available on Amazon, none were offered in the Kindle format. Maybe they're too graphics intensive to present well as an e-book.)

This would be taking battery plates and making nanoparticles in place of them held in positions just as they are now but using a specialized permeable skin to hold them in solution. Could make any of the existing designs and technology for batteries we currently have, more efficient because of the increased surface area.

Gold nanoparticles give off heat according to some things I've read but how could that increase battery capacity or heat homes or fuel cars? Carbon nanoparticles have interesting properties but how viable are they in production?

My other favorite idea from the brainstorming possibilities for fuel alternatives is to make more direct and even amplified changes from input power to mechanical power. It seems that would be helpful.

Written by Cricket Diane C Phillips, 2008

Cricket House Studios, USA - "Creating the Tangible from the Impossible every day."

[slideshare id=31186&doc=literacy-learning-in-the-21st-century-14085&w=425]

futureofthebook have just published a research report read:write on 'digital possibilities for literature'. I quote Fuel4Arts: "This publication commissioned by the Arts Council England seeks understanding on how literature responds to mass digitisation. "How can the Web...support new writing, build lasting...communities...& take advantage of unparalleled access to a global conversation to further the aims of literature?"

Meanwhile Jill Walker at jilltxt  posted about Mark Merino's  on Elit 2.0 (a guide to literary works on social software)  at Writer Response Theory which is a table matching up works of electronic literature to popular web 2.0 tools. with the suggestion of "using these creative works of fiction and poetry to enrich a course where students learn about social technologies and web 2.0".

So some want to further literature through digital networked practices, others want to further digital practices through literature. I am just quoting everybody here, because I have not had time to look at it all in more detail, but I hope to be able to do that soon.

KERRY OBRIEN: What, so Kevin Rudd does talk to you? Have you come in from the cold because Labor in opposition didn't seem to know how to treat you, did they?
PAUL KEATING: The great pity for the post-me Labor Party is they gave -- as this book today, the cause of our interview says -- they gifted to Howard and Costello a two per cent inflation rate, a four per cent growth rate, a three per cent productivity rate, which they said thank you and stuck in their pockets. So now the Labor Party has come round to reality. You now have to deal with real things.
KERRY OBRIEN: How do you critique the first eight months of the Rudd Government?
PAUL KEATING: Um, solid. Solid but cautious. I think if there's any problem the Government has it is that. When I say a problem I don't any it's a problem necessarily but it is to not have an over arching narrative in place. You know, I always talked about the internationalisation of the economy, the opening of the product financial and labour markets, the flexibility of the kind we have with all of our financial institutions, the exchange rate, wages. All of the Cabinet understood that, the message was always the same. We call that the narrative...

KERRY OBRIEN: Kevin Rudd has been painted as micro manager. Now whatever you and Bob Hawke were accused of as prime ministers I don't think micro manager was one of them. Can a Prime Minister afford to engage in the small detail in running Government? In the end do you have to invest trust and significant autonomy in your ministerial colleagues?
PAUL KEATING: Absolutely. You can't micro manage a thing like the Commonwealth...

Not entirely nonsense, that.

Pretty close to nonsense is Miranda Devine today psychoanalysing Liberal Party leaders (or leadership aspirants) in terms of sibling rivalry. It isn't the worst thing she has ever written, and is quite innocuous comparatively speaking, I suppose.  I should add I was #3 in our family...

Everyone's favourite topic has surfaced again as the annual Great HSC Sacrifice of Youth approaches: The futile 13 years: lid lifted on HSC. Anna Patty starts with a suitably sensationalist hook after that shock horror headine:

MOST students can complete 13 years of school without having to demonstrate basic literacy and numeracy skills, says a leading educational assessment expert.

The chief executive officer for the Australian Council for Educational Research, Geoff Masters, says minimum standards of reading, writing and maths should be met by all students before they are awarded an HSC or equivalent qualification.

In his address to the council's annual research conference in Brisbane next week, Professor Masters will raise concerns about Australia's failure to ensure all students have reached basic standards when they finish school...

There is, Anna, a great difference between "demonstrating" something in accordance with some universal bureaucratic benchmark and actually being able to do that something. It strikes me as sheer hyperbole, and quite misleading, to suggest the most -- what: 90%? 51%? -- students get through to the end of high school without "basic literacy and numeracy skills." In fact these days the poor mites are tested and measured to death through their thirteen years of schooling, much more so than my cohort was fifty years ago. We just had an Intermediate in Year 9, mostly internal and none of it "objective" or "standardised", and a Leaving in Year 11. (I speak of course of NSW there.) No basic skills tests in Year 3, Year 6, Year 7, Year 8 and Year 10 in our day.

The article goes on to quote OECD figures showing "13 per cent of Australians aged 15 were below the standard at which students were considered to be at risk of not having the basic skills." Let's just take that at face value for the moment: I think you will agree that 13% is by no definition "most students." Whether that figure is disgusting, or simply a reflection of what might be expected in the real world, and what it actually means, I have gone into before. Check the literacy tag in the side bar, and for a systematic discussion see an essay from 1998: Literacy on Ninglun's Specials. Honestly, there's not much new under the sun in this area; take it from one who has been around the education business for over four decades, whose familiarity with the issues through family connection and reading goes back more than a century.

It may be that Geoff Masters has something reasonable to say, but that seems to have been filtered somewhat in the Herald story.

Finally, I should mention that one of my favourite books on English Studies is the mock-critical collection The Pooh Perplex by Frederick Crews.

The essays:

• Paradoxical Persona: The Hierarchy of Heroism in Winnie-the-Pooh (Harvey C. Windrow)
• A Bourgeois Writer's Proletarian Fables (Martin Tempralis)
• The Theory and Practice of Bardic Verse: Notations on the Hums of Pooh (P.R. Honeycomb)
• Poisoned Paradise: The Underside of Pooh (Myron Masterson)
• O Felix Culpa! The Sacramental Meaning of Winnie-the-Pooh (C.J.L. Culpepper, D.Litt,, Oxon)
• Winnie and the Cultural Stream (Murphy A. Sweat)
• A la recherche du Pooh perdu (Woodbine Meadowlark)
• A Complete Analsis of Winnie-the-Pooh (Duns C. Penwiper)
• Another Book to Cross Off Your List (Simon Lacerous)
• The Style of Pooh: Sources, Analogues, and Influences (Benjamin Thumb)
• A.A. Milne's Honey-Balloon-Pit-Gun-Tail-Bathtubcomplex (Karl Anschauung, M.D.)
• Prolegomena to Any Future Study of Winnie-the-Pooh (Smedley Force)

As Danny Yee says in the review from which I took that summary, The Pooh Perplex is very old (1964 -- just in time to delight me during my Honours English year at Sydney University) but has had a 2001 sequel Postmodern Pooh. I couldn't help thinking of Crews when I read Darwin to the Rescue: A group of scholars thinks evolutionary science can reinvigorate literary studies via A&L Daily about a week ago.

In the face of any looming apocalypse, imagined or not, prophets abound. For the literary academy, which has been imagining its own demise for almost as long as it has been around, prophets seem always to look to science, with its soothing specificity and concreteness. As the modern discipline of literary criticism was forming in the early 20th century, scholars concentrated their efforts on philology, a study that was thought to be more systematic than pure literary analysis. When the New Critics made their debut in the 1920s and 30s, their goal was to give a quasi-scientific rigor to literary theory: to lay out in detail the formal attributes of a "good poem" and provide guidance as to how exactly one discovered them. Later the Canadian critic Northrop Frye, in his 1957 Anatomy of Criticism, famously queried: "What if criticism is a science as well as an art?" And some of the poststructuralist thought that began to filter into America from France in the 1960s took as its bedrock linguistic and psychoanalytic theory.

But very few pro-science activists suggested that literary scholars should actually work the way scientists do, using such methods as accumulating data and forming and testing hypotheses. Even Frye argued that, while the critic should understand the natural sciences, "he need waste no time in emulating their methods. I understand there is a Ph.D. thesis somewhere which displays a list of Hardy's novels in the order of the percentages of gloom they contain, but one does not feel that that sort of procedure should be encouraged."

Over the last decade or so, however, a cadre of literary scholars has begun to encourage exactly that sort of procedure, and recently they have become very loud about it. The most prominent (at least in the nonacademic media) are the Literary Darwinists, whose work emphasizes the discovery of the evolutionary patterns of behavior within literary texts — the Iliad in terms of dominance and aggression, or Jane Austen in terms of mating rituals — and sets itself firmly against 30 years of what they see as anti-scientific literary theories like poststructuralism and Marxism...

Pseudoscientific and faux Darwinism, I would have thought. Now of course it may be interesting to read Jane Austen looking for mating rituals, if you want to... Or to read King Lear looking for the impact of toilet training. But why would you want to? Don't get me wrong: I am all in favour or a variety of critical approaches, but I really do think English Studies doesn't stand to gain much from this latest outbreak of academic empire building -- and I suspect that is what it really is.

The first is the importance of digital literacy. I completely agree with Howard that this is something schools need to start to foster. This thought initially occurred to me three years ago when my son was in fourth grade and studying cursive. I thought, why cursive? Aren’t typing skills more important in this day in age? It is an example of an education system that hasn’t yet fully embraced the digital information era. Another example is the recent New York Times article. Entitled Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? the piece highlights the debate between education traditionalists who believe internet reading is not real reading and progressives who see internet reading as a catalyst for greater creativity and engagement not possible with “old school” recreational reading. In support of the traditionalists, the article cites a National Endowment for the Arts study indicating a slump in national reading test scores is tied to a lower number of teenagers who say they read for fun. However the story goes on to highlight a teenage girl who reads stories on the web that are 45 pages long. She prefers these stories over print novels because they enable her to add to the story and create her own plot twists. She is also a prolific writer, posting her own stories online. Based on this, one could argue that online reading is actually richer than reading a novel because of the opportunity to interact and create.

The second idea from Monday is that it is good to think of any online idea as part of a continuum. The example is the link between LETS and fragmentation. Specialized currency may be a great idea for a particularly community as a way to incent membership, foster greater connection, etc. But since most people do not just participate in just one online community the chances of a group becoming alienated enough to lead to significant fragmentation is probably pretty slim.

I have uploaded here my draft essay on Superheroes for Literacy, which I am going to submit for publication.

jones_superheroes_for_literacy_draft

Non Profits Fight For Children's Literacy In Ethiopia

A crippled economy and scarce resources have left Ethiopia with one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. Volunteers in the U.S. have united to offer their time and effort to help remedy the situation. [5:05]

A study contacted by the University of Western Sydney and New South Wales Education Department found that a regular learning routine starting from home promotes long term academic success.

The study examined the study habits of three groups of Year 3 students - Chinese, Anglo and Pacific Island student. Dr Megan Watkins (Senior Lecturer, Literacy and Pedagogy, UWS) challenges the myth that Chinese students perform better at school because of a cultural disposition to study. Instead the Chinese students' academic success were attributed to  more disciplined approach to academic studies fostered from home.

See "Routine makes a good student" (The Australian Higher Education) for the full article.

(1913) Regina Burns 2008-08-05 18:04:00.0
Get of a Rods Dick your a douchebag

            Gone are the days when a youngster could leave high school and support a family by going to work in a factory.  Today, the ability to read critically is a basic economic necessity—a survival skill.  An unwritten rule of modern American economics is “read well or starve.”  Ours is a knowledge economy, one that stresses the finding and disseminating of information rather than the manufacturing of goods.  High-level reading is now an entry-level skill. 

NBC Rehema Ellis reports in WhatWorks, NBC series on how common problems are getting solved, of a Chicago School that has taken the step to increase children's reading and literacy by having them read aloud to canines.   CHECK OUT THE VIDEO!!! 

Our program, Tutoring with Taylor, where a child signs up for a 15 minute time slot to read to the therapy dog Taylor, has been a success since its beginning.  For more information about Tutoring with Taylor, please contact Judy: 861-7703/7786.

For resources on literacy, please feel free to visit our Parent/Teacher Collection in the Children's Department.  Also, take a look into our Homework Help Tuesday After-school Homework Help Program that will begin August 19 for students in grades 1-5.  For more information contact: Christina Dominique 868-7703/7732  and dominiquec@mycitylibrary.org.

Until we meet again...

~Remember, Reading is Awesome

1.  Take the Area Occupational Wages pamphlet or from the Department of Labor online sources (by state) and use is to target potential customers making over $20 - $25 per hour.

2.  Using this target audience, introduce products and services directly to them online through the websites, brochures, magazines, distributors and retailers already in place to reach them.

3.  Customize products and services specifically to these niche audiences. Coffee cups having sayings, emblems and ideas suited to them are more likely to interest them, etc.

4.  Find a target audience in person / on site by finding announcements of events in the area that are drawing them to participate. Using this venue, introduce the business / product / service using this opportunity. T-shirts can be sold appropriate to the audience, so can books and specialties.

5.  Tailor whatever the product or service to the specific target audience or use the basis of common ground to interest them. While discussing meetings, coffee will be served and every one there is missing someone or something else.

6.  Facilitate cooperation, analysis and brainstorming among participants involved in a common event, association or vocation / hobby / business. This helps create networks of consumers that provide a database of possible sales.

7.  Go where money runs like rivers flowing into an event, mall, highly trafficked sports or entertainment venue, trade show or similar to approach participants with availability of some specific need during the show or that will make their life better after the show.

8.  Use a theme of commonality, such as an interest - like, camping, love of animals, pets, hobbies, types of cars or activities to customize products and services. Then, target these audiences through events, publications and websites where they are involved or through stores that already attract them.

9.  Provide a service needed by everyone at least once a year or better yet, once a month. This is the basis of sales for more items in the marketplace than anything else. People do want funnel cakes when at a craft festival and they will pay for something their children can do while there.

10. Create a convenience that doesn’t exist currently but is much needed. Anything that can save time for a reasonable cost will make people’s lives more organized and do-able. To target this audience, find stress free topics and stress reduction topics and contribute there.

11. Offices and industries are a captive audience with continuing needs, some of which are being served and some which are useful and not being served. This is a good target through online high readership, interactive forums and office product websites where goods are being sold already.

12. The most creative, personable character that touches the common thread of experience with most people can be the basis for entire lines of products, opportunities and uses. However, until this character has an association with people seeing it, getting to know it and kindling a response to it - the character has little value. Target any common-theme areas for application and audience.

13. Style creates sales, money and opportunities. To target a style to a specific audience, find the places where products are already being introduced to these audiences and either use them or by-pass them using off-shoot branches of these arenas. A tv show or sitcom can introduce a product.

14. How to tell everyone at once about a product, service or business? Use television broadcast / cable opportunities through existing shows and audiences, including news, new product shows, talk shows, sitcoms and reality shows. Then, know it has to be in front of those audiences more than once in order to work and be backed up by web access to it and a strong web presence along other avenues to be credible.

Written by Cricket Diane C “Sparky” Phillips, 08-09-08, USA
Cricket House Studios 2008

The Fremont Rotary International presented Luis Kong, Write to Read’s program director, with a generous donation of $1,200 for the purchase of family literacy books for learners in the adult literacy program. Rotary International’s 2008-09 theme of Making Dreams Real is an effort to reduce infant mortality rates worldwide. Kong spoke at their recent luncheon about the importance of adult and family literacy, and the role the library plays in providing these important services to the community. Lena Zee, president of the Fremont Rotarians, presented Dr. Kong with a Certificate of Appreciation

Who can forget Wonderful Wednesdays' Ms. Natalie.  Ms. Natalie has been a major part of the Children's Department in the West Palm Beach Public Library. 

Her dedication to literacy and children is unwavering.  As an AmeriCorps representative,  Ms. Natalie volunteered her time to be a part of the literacy initiative  of the library.  This summer Ms. Natalie averaged between 75-100 people during her story-times!!!!!  Wonderful Wednesdays was not only a success, but an occasion that children enjoyed, looked forward to, and raved about. 

Now, Wonderful Wednesdays with Ms. Natalie has come to an end as she prepares herself to continue her dedication in her home town.  She will graduate from AmeriCorps this August and move into an exciting career.  From all of the sister Librarians at the West Palm Beach Public Library.....THANK YOU and we will MISS YOU!!!

If you are interested in the list of materials Natalie read for her story time, please send me an email: dominiquec@mycitylibrary.org and I will be sure to get them to you.

Until we meet again...

~Remember, Reading is Awesome

Back to literacy. It really does open up whole new worlds. 26 little characters arranged on a page or screen can inform you, educate you, make you laugh and cry, or inspire you to write something of your own. 

Make the most of this great gift. If you want to assemble office furniture, read the directions. If you want to be wealthy, read Think and Grow Rich. If you want to be like Jesus, read the Gospels. If you want to learn how to win friends and influence people, I think there's a book for that, too. Just read.

When you know how to read, books have an amazing way of shaping your mind, and your mind has an amazing way of shaping your reality. You choose the books, you choose your destiny. A book a month is a solid start. Map it out, make the time, reap the benefits.

Foundation Stage

• Listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, songs and other music, rhymes and poems and make up their own stories, songs, rhymes and poems
• Sustain attentive listening, responding to what they have heard by relevant comments, questions or actions
• Extend their vocabulary, exploring meanings and sounds of new words

Year One

• Listen with sustained concentration, building new stores of words in different contexts
• Listen to and follow instructions accurately, asking for help and clarification if necessary
• Listen to tapes or video and express views about how a story or information has been presented

Year Two

• Listen to others in class, ask relevant questions and follow instructions
• Listen to talk by an adult, remember some specific points and identify what they have learned
• Respond to presentations by describing characters, repeating some highlights and commenting constructively

Year Three

• Follow up others' points and show whether they agree or disagree in whole-class discussion
• Identify the presentational features used to communicate the main points in a broadcast
• Identify key sections of an informative broadcast, noting how the language used signals changes or transitions in focus

Year Four

• Listen to a speaker, make notes on the talk and use notes to develop a role-play
• Compare the different contributions of music, words and images in short extracts from TV programmes
• Identify how talk varies with age, familiarity, gender and purpose

Year Five

• Identify different question types and evaluate their impact on the audience
• Identify some aspects of talk that vary between formal and informal occasions
• Analyse the use of persuasive language

Year Six

• Make notes when listening for a sustained period and discuss how note-taking varies depending on context and purpose
• Analyse and evaluate how speakers present points effectively through use of language and gesture
• Listen for language variation in formal and informal contexts
• Identify the ways spoken language varies according to differences in the context and purpose of its use

Speaking - Foundation stage

• Enjoy listening to and using spoken and written language and readily turn to it in play and learning
• Use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events
• Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
• Speak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener
• Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words

Speaking - Year One

• Tell stories and describe incidents from their own experience in an audible voice
• Retell stories, ordering events using story language
• Interpret a text by reading aloud with some variety in pace and emphasis
• Experiment with and build new stores of words to communicate in different contexts

Speaking - Year Two

• Speak with clarity and use appropriate intonation when reading and reciting texts
• Tell real and imagined stories using the conventions of familiar story language
• Explain ideas and processes using imaginative and adventurous vocabulary and non-verbal gestures to support communication

Speaking - Year Three

• Choose and prepare poems or stories for performance, identifying appropriate expression, tone, volume and use of voices and other sounds
• Explain process or present information, ensuring that items are clearly sequenced, relevant details are included and accounts are ended effectively
• Sustain conversation, explain or give reasons for their views or choices
• Develop and use specific vocabulary in different contexts

Speaking - Year Four

• Offer reasons and evidence for their views, considering alternative opinions
• Respond appropriately to the contributions of others in the light of differing viewpoints
• Tell stories effectively and convey detailed information coherently for listeners
• Use and reflect on some ground rules for sustaining talk and interactions

Speaking - Year Five

• Tell a story using notes designed to cue techniques, such as repetition, recap and humour
• Present a spoken argument, sequencing points logically, defending views with evidence and making use of persuasive language
• Use and explore different question types and different ways words are used, including in formal and informal contexts

Speaking - Year Six

• Use a range of oral techniques to present persuasive arguments and engaging narratives
• Participate in whole-class debate using the conventions and language of debate, including standard English
• Use the techniques of dialogic talk to explore ideas, topics or issues