Unwrapping the Gift of Literacy
We are very excited about all of the possibilities that the theme offers, and there are notes all over our virtual drawing board with some ideas. We are still in the brainstorming phase, and if you'd like to jump in, please send an email to Terry at thereadingtub [at] gmail [dot] com.
In our September 3, 2010 Tweet we asked how will you share your gift? Put another way: what does unwrapping the gift of literacy "look" like to you?
To bring some visuals to the process ... not to mention build on the spirit of the holiday season ... we are hosting a contest to create new buttons for the 2011 Share a Story blog tour. Entries can be submitted until 12 January 2011 to allow plenty of time for those creative juices to flow!
On 15 January 2011, the entries will be posted on the site and voting will begin. Voting will remain open for five days. For our first year, we had one button .... last year we had two, so this year it only seems logical to have three options for our hosts, participants, and guests.
Here are the Contest Guidelines:
1. Only buttons related to the theme Unwrapping the Gift of Literacy will be considered.
2. Buttons can be static or animated .jpg .gif or .png images, suitable for website use.
3. Entrants can submit no more than two entries. Each entry must be wholly distinct from each other. That is, they can't be two versions of the same idea.
4. Entrants must own or have approval to use any copyrighted content submitted. Proof of ownership/approval is required.
5. Entrants must have an active, online presence (e.g., website, blog, Facebook Page, etc.)
6. The deadline for entries is Noon (EST) 12 January 2011.
7. No images will be revealed until the voting opens on 15 January 2011.
8. The names of the creators will not be posted until the winners are announced.
The Three Winners will ...
1. Retain full rights to the image they have created.
2. Any/all use of the button on other blogs will include full credit, with link, to their social networking platforms.
3. Be interviewed about their winning button and have it posted on the Share a Story blog.
4. Have the unending admiration of those of
Last month, I mentioned that the
Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards would be starting soon. Well, nominations for the 2010 cycle opened on Friday, and will remain open until October 15, 2010.
For these 15 days, people who read children's and young adult books - moms and dads who read with their kids, librarians, teachers, teens themselves, grandparents ... I could go on and on. The point is, each person is nominating their favorites of the last year from traditional picture books (fiction and nonfiction) to easy readers and illustrated chapter books to graphic novels and young adult nonfiction.
These are the books the nominator loved as a reader and, in many cases, loved sharing with the young readers in their lives. And, because you can get the up-to-the-minute nominations, YOU get a ready-made list of tried-and-true, much-loved books for sharing. So whether you're looking for a specific format, genre or age group, Team Cybils makes it easy to find books that let you (drum roll) share a story and shape a future!
Here are the links to the nominations pages for each of the Cybils categories.
If you have a favorite, PLEASE nominate it. How else will we know about this book you've loved sharing? If you're looking for lists of past finalists and winners, you'll find just what you're looking for on the
Cybils blog.
By: Terry Doherty,
on 3/15/2010
Blog:
Share a Story - Shape a Future
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Actually all of us are winners, don't you think? I will do a wrap-up post here in a little bit, but I want to first say
THANK YOU!!
to everyone who hosted, wrote about, tweeted about, talked about, drew logos for, or sponsored a piece of our
Share a Story - Shape a Future blog tour. It was a wonderful week, and I hope that you found encouragement, inspiration, or reassurance in your own reading journey and in helping children with theirs.
Over at
There's a Book Danielle announced the winners of the
Itty-Bitty-Bookworm curriculum giveaways. Congratulations to the
Summit County Integrated Preschool in Newberry, which one years one and two of the curriculum. If you didn't know, Tara was so touched by each of the stories offered by the applicants that she expanded her giveaway and is giving
East Elementary and
Fleming Island Elementary a full year of the Bo Curriculum, also.
We had three other giveaways, to.
Reading is Fundamental (RIF) donated two full sets (50 books each) of its
Multicultural Book Collection. The RIF staff selected finalists from posts created in response to our Writing about Reading prompt series. Our winners are ...
Tess Alfonsin, the
Reading Countess, who is donating her book set to Morton Ranch Elementary. From Tess: "This school struggles to put books in the hands of their readers. It is a Title 1 school, and as such, money for books is at the low end of priorities for many families whose children attend the school. The dedicated staff and instructional leaders are inspirations to not only me, but to their student population. The school's phrase is: "a school worthy of your children." I think that says it all."
Eric Van Raepenbusch, at Happy Birthday Author, who is donating his book set to Cuyahoga Falls Public Library. From Eric: "This library has given my family so much over the past 4 years. The staff works so hard to provide a variety of programs for the residents of our city. I was recently talking to the head librarian and she is so proud of the efforts of her staff. It would be awesome for them to receive this donation!"
Because we had more books to giveaway than entries for the
2 Comments on Share a Story-Shape a Future: Our Winners ..., last added: 3/15/2010
Two weeks ago, I mentioned that
Sleeping Bear Press donated three (3!) copies each of its Bear family bedtime stories:
Say Daddy!
and
Goodnight Baby Bear
. Well, imagine my surprise when those books were followed up with five (5!) copies each of
R is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet
and
S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet.
We are celebrating
Reading for the Next Generation at Jen Robinson's Book Page today, so it only seems fitting to have bedtime, rhyming and story books as our last giveaway. Three winners will receive a full set of the four picture books, which offer fiction and nonfiction content! The set is for you and your family to enjoy.
- Say Daddy by Michael Shoulders (Ill. Teri Weidner)
- Goodnight Baby Bear by Michael Shoulders (Ill. Teri Weidner)
- R is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet by Judy Young (Ill Victor Huhasz)
- S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet by Esther Hershenhorn (Ill. Zachary Pullen)
Two other winners will receive a set of the R is for Rhyme and S is for Story to be donated to their local library.
1 Comments on It's Never Too Late to Read: Bedtime Books Giveaway, last added: 3/12/2010
The Reading is Fundamental (RIF) staff has selected its first three nominees for the
RIF Multicultural Books Giveaway. They read and discussed the ten (!) posts and selected these three as the first half of our ballot. From Carol Rasco, President and CEO of RIF ...
"We were conferring on some other things late tonight, and this was the fun part of the emails going back and forth."
Without further ado, the three finalists from the Monday/Tuesday Writing about Reading prompts are
- Tess Alfonsin, who shared her personal journey to reading success in My Cornerstone Book at the Reading Countess.
- Eric Van Raepenbusch, who told us about the books he wants to read with his daughter; his Dad, who was his reading influence; and the reading rituals at his house at the Happy Birthday Author blog.
- Tif at Tif Talks Books, who also answered all three questions and shared stories about her reading inspiration, the books she wants to read with her kids, and a favorite night-time ritual.
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Congratulations to our finalists. Tif, Eric, and Tess - Could you please add a comment here with the name and some information about the school/public library you'd like to have the books sent to? If you want to add a "why," you're welcome to do that, too!
Good morning, I'm glad you've stopped by. Writing about Reading is a new, daily activity for
Share a Story ~ Shape a Future. As you'll see over the week, our questions are broader than just "reading," but this title is pretty catchy, so I'm going to stick with it. [image credit: Share a Story Logo created by author/illustrator
Elizabeth Dulemba.]
We hope you'll grab your favorite beverage, mull over the questions, and pick one to write about. You're always welcome to write about the topic of the day, but we thought we would add some other questions in hopes that by offering more things to talk about, we can expand the discussions and inspire more people to share their reading experiences and ideas.
So here we go ... our first three writing prompts for Share a Story 2010.
- What is the book from your childhood you can't wait to share with a child and why?
- Who is the person who influenced you most as a reader?
- Do you have any special reading-time rituals for reading aloud with kids?
Just to recap: Our goal with the questions is to reach new places for sharing our reading and literacy experiences and ideas, and we'd love to include your voice, too. Here's how it works ...
1. Select the question(s) that resonates with you.
2. Find an old post or write a new one that answers the question. [Be sure to grab a Share a Story button from the sidebar to include in your new post!]
3. Come back here and link your post either via the inLinkz box or as a comment.
4. (optional) Tweet about your post and include the #SAS2010 hashtag.
If you are interested in the RIF Multicultural Books Collection giveaway, you'll want to
read this post on how that giveaway is connected to Writing about Reading activities.
We'll be adding links for the questions all week, so there's no rush to have an answer the same day a question is posted ... unless you are entering a book giveaway contest.
InLinkz updates for Monday, 8 March 2010:
- Jen Robinson adds her thoughts for all three questions at Jen Robinson's Book Page.
- Eric Van Raepenbusch talks about reading at his house at the Happy Birthday Author blog.
- Kirsten Cutler tells us why her dad influenced her the most as a reader at the 4IQREAD blog.
- Roberta Gibson tells us about her favorite book and why it has probably resonated with her more than her son (so far) at Wrapped in Foil.
- Tess Alfonsin shares her personal journey to reading success in My Cornerstone Book at
Well, we've turned the calendar to 2010, which means we are starting to gear up for
Share a Story-Shape a Future 2010: It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader. Time to start the Countdown and whittling away at the To-Do lists! When we get to February, we'll start talking about individual contributors and I'll tell you about some of the giveaways. [see image credit below.]
- A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
- Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)
For those of you who have asked ... No, it is not too late to sign on to write a post on one of the topics. Our goal is to help you along the journey of becoming a reader by filling the week with practical, fun ideas for sharing books and encouraging reading. As you may recall from last year, each day has a broad theme, and contributors add posts on topics related to it. Here are the themes.
Monday, 8 March: The Many Faces of ReadingHosts: Brian and Steven at
Book DadsBrian, Steven and their guests will be talking about how we each play a role in helping children learn to read. This is the topic that embodies all of the elements of our theme: It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader. Tuesday, 9 March: Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way Host: Susan Stephenson at
The Book ChookSusan is putting together a group of contributors to share creative literacy ideas. She will be drawing on all of the elements of literacy in the 21st Century: writing, art, computers, music.Wednesday, 10 March: Just the Facts: The Nonfiction Book Hook Host: Sarah Mulhern at
The Reading ZoneThere is lots of interest in promoting nonfiction as a "hook" for engaging readers. Sarah and her guests will talk about writing nonfiction for kids, as well as how to use it effectively ... and not make it feel like homework!Thursday, 11 March: Reading Through the Ages: Old Favorites & New Classics Host: Donalyn Miller at
The Book WhispererDonalyn and her contributors will look at books for independent readers. Are there "boy books" and "girl books"? She'll also recommend "new" classics for the books we loved as kids.Friday, 12 March: Reading for the Next Generation Host: Jen Robinson at
Jen Robinson's Book PageJen has invited guests to answer some of the things parents wrestle with, like being the opposite reading personality of their child, or feeling pressured to create a reading superstar, among others. As you can see, this isn't a venue for promoting individual books. That said, we'll be talking about writing and books, in hopes that you find creative, fun ways to engage readers of all sorts - from emergent readers to dormant readers to underground readers!
If you would like to sponsor a giveaway, there is still time for that, too. As a group, the goal is to get reading material where it is needed ... largely in libraries and classrooms. That said, several folks will be sponsoring giveaways for families, too.
_____
Image Credit
0 Comments on Blogging for Literacy: Bring Us Your Ideas as of 1/12/2010 12:52:00 PM
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Thank you so much! I am excited that such a worthy school library will be benefit from the expansive collection from Reading Is Fundamental! Thank you, thank you again!
The Cuyahoga Falls Library was thrilled just to be nominated. They are going to be ecstatic to find out they won! I truly appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this event. It was a blast and I learned a lot from many talented people.