Pine Glen LTC Supports World Literacy

There are 793 million people in the world who cannot read. So last week, the students of Pine Glen and the Library & Technology Center supported world literacy in a couple of different ways.

First, we celebrated World Read Aloud Day, sponsored by LitWorld.org, on March 7 by connecting with students in Falmouth, ME and Solon, IA and reading aloud to each other through Skype. For example, Mrs. Potter's kindergarten class in Falmouth, ME shared a poem with us while Ms. Hayes' 4th grade class read Tikki Tikki Tembo. It was a wonderful day of reading, sharing, connecting, and, most importantly, showing the world’s children that we "support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world."

Second, we spent the entire week donating books to children in India who do not have books in their lives. How did we do that without ever leaving the walls of Pine Glen? We visited the We Give Books web site where if you read a book, they give a book. I signed up for a free account then chose a campaign to support with our reading--I choose Support My School India. The We Give Books web site has many wonderful fiction and nonfiction ebooks to read online. I chose a few I knew the students would love and read them aloud throughout the week as the book was projected onto my SmartBoard. When we finished a story, I clicked the Give a Book button and voila . . . We donated a book!

The Pine Glen students loved the stories and we all loved that the simple and joyful act of reading allowed us to support world literacy in a meaningful way.

Crossposted from the Pine Glen LTC.