Literacy – Page 17 – Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library

April is Poetry Month

Feed

I read Feed over the break. It was a quick and easy read, but I am still digesting it. It is a thought-provoking and profound novel, written for Young Adults but definitely worth a read by “Old Adults” too. How much does our constant stated of “connectedness” really help us? How much does it hurt us? Read Feed, by M.T. Anderson, and you will want to think about those questions.

Poetry Slam! Day Two: Seniors

The second day of the LTSS Poetry Slam! featured a dozen senior students. An even larger crowd than the previous day came to check out the proceedings. The audience was treated to many outstanding performances. Thanks to all our poets who shared, and to all the students who came out to watch and listen.

World Read Aloud Day

One of the greatest gifts parents can give to their kids is reading aloud to them. When parents read aloud to their kids, they are helping them grow as literate people. Not only does it help children learn to read, more importantly it helps children learn to love reading. When Mom and Dad read aloud to them, they learn that the adults they care about value reading. This is especially important for boys to see from their Fathers.

Reading aloud shouldn’t be limited to children in the primary grades and younger. Keep reading aloud to your kids for as long as they live at home! Make it a family activity. When they are fluent enough readers, let them take turns reading aloud. High school kids, ask your parents and teachers to read aloud.

Teachers need to remember this too. Many teachers, even in high school, still take opportunities to read aloud to their students. It can be an incredibly powerful experience for people of all ages.

“World Read Aloud Day is an awareness day advocating for literacy as a right that belongs to all people, celebrated around the world annually on the first Wednesday in March. Worldwide at least 793 million people remain illiterate. Two-thirds of them are women. LitWorld is changing that.Every year on the first Wednesday of March, World Read Aloud Day calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories. WRAD motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words and creates a community of readers taking action to show the world that the right to literacy belongs to all people. By raising our voices together on this day we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their stories. Read Aloud. Change the World.” (Source: litworld.org)

Freedom to Read Week

What do the following titles have in common?

All of these are titles which have been challenged. Somewhere in Canada in the past 30 years, individuals or groups have tried to have these books removed from schools, libraries and bookstores. The list of challenged authors includes Alice Munro, the 2013 Nobel Laureate for Literature.

Freedom to Read Week

This inspiring Freedom to Read Week video was made by Julia and Danika from the Calgary Science School, who won the Calgary Public Library Teen Freedom to Read Week Video contest. (source: freedomtoread.ca)

Freedom to Read Week

From freedomtoread.ca:

The Book and Periodical Council and its Freedom of Expression Committee are delighted to announce the 30th anniversary of Freedom to Read Week. A national celebration of freedom of expression that takes place in libraries, schools and arts venues across Canada, this year’s program runs from February 23 to March 1, 2014.

Incorporating public readings and panel discussions, challenged book and magazine displays and a kit for librarians and educators, Freedom to Read Week encourages Canadians to express their views about censorship and the right to free speech and opinion.

For the rest of this article, click here.

The Day We Fight Back

Millions of people around the world are lending their voices to protest mass surveillance and the infringement on our rights to privacy and freedom. Check out the following links to learn more:

thedaywefightback.org

The Day We Fight Back: What You Need to Know (PC Magazine)

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Democracy Now

Family Literacy Day is January 27.

The family is where literacy begins. Parents, you can give your children the greatest gift by reading with them regularly. “Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development. Even just 15 minutes a day can improve a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well.” (ABC Life Literacy Canada)

For more information:

ABC Life Literacy Canada

Christmas Reading Rewards!

Reading is its own reward. But from time to time we like to give a little something more to those students who demonstrate a love of reading to the rest of the class during SSR. Teachers select students for Reading Rewards tickets, which earn them trips to the school library during class for warm beverages, some tasty treats, and some bonus silent reading in a warm, comfortable and festive atmosphere!

Christmas Reading Rewards

Do you love reading and do you demonstrate that each day during SSR? Ask your teacher about Christmas Reading Rewards! You might be lucky enough to come down to the library this week for some tasty Holiday Treats, a warm drink, some Christmas music, and, best of all, some silent reading time!

Colm Cille

If you haven’t yet read How the Irish Saved Civilization, put it on your reading list! Author Thomas Cahill tells some remarkable stories from the era that he calls one of the “hinges of history.” Cahill makes the case that ideas that came from the Greeks, the Romans and the Jews, ideas that are among the foundational ideas of our civilization, were on the edge of an abyss, possibly to be lost forever. If not for the Irish, our civilization, at least civilization as we know it today, may have slipped away forever. Read it for yourself and see what you think.

One of the remarkable figures that jumps off the pages is Colm Cille. Known also as Saint Columba in the Roman Catholic Church, Colm Cille was one of those Irishman who inspired the notion that Ireland is the land of “Saints and Scholars.” In a world of darkness, Colm Cille helped to bring light.

Fifteen hundred years ago, in the wake of a terrible battle, full of remorse, St. Colmcille left Ireland for Scotland. On the remote island of Iona he began a new life and helped create a new world. The beautiful manuscripts he and his followers produced helped spread not only Christianity but ideas about literacy, peace-making and nation-building, not to mention punctuation! His followers became missionaries, builders, teachers. It’s no exaggeration to say that these men from the North of Ireland rebuilt Europe. (source: The Return of Colmcille)