My Readable Feast - children's book activities, kidlit reviews, and children's cooking activities » RIF

Reading is Presidential – join RIF in getting books to kids in D.C.

Anne-Marie — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:03:44 +0000

Be Part of History! Celebrate the Inauguration of the 44th President, Barack Obama, by Donating a Book like What Does the President Do? for D.C. Students and Schools.

Sallie Mae the nation’s leading provider of saving and paying for college programs, along with Building Hope, a D.C. based private foundation that supports charter schools and Reading Is Fundamental, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit children’s literacy organization have joined together to launch a nationwide book drive to celebrate the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The goal of the “Reading Is Presidential” inaugural book drive is to collect more than 44,000 books for Washington, D.C. Schools in honor of the historic election of the nation’s 44th president.

For every $5 donation, you will provide one new book to a DC Public School child, as well as providing support to RIF’s national mission. The book drive runs from January 8 through Inauguration Day, January 20.

You can make one of the following donations:

$50 for 10 books
$25 for 5 books
$10 for 2 books
$5 for 1 book
or donate another amount

Celebrate Reading is Fun Week with RIF and get ready for summer

Anne-Marie — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:34:57 +0000

This week, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s oldest and largest children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization, is celebrating Reading Is Fun Week, which was started in 1979 to mark the start of summer reading. The RIF website provides free resources to help families celebrate Reading Is Fun Week including a day-by-day children’s activity calendar for each day of the week.

Summer’s Just Around the Corner

Summer, huh? Well, I don’t know what’s going on in your school district, but this week is my children’s last real week of school. Next week it’s clean up time, field day, parties and preschool graduation.

Like me you may be in a slight panic thinking, What am I going to do with these kids all summer? Thank goodness there are such things as library summer reading programs, summer camps, visits to parks, zoos, and the rec center, and playgroups with friends.

Lucie will be attending a preschool summer camp three days a week. I have Nathan enrolled in several mini-camps at his school, including a book club and a writing club. He’ll also be learning American Sign Language and the principal (who’s also our town’s mayor) will be taking a group of kids to the state capitol building in Denver for a field trip.

Both kids will be participating in a week-long soccer camp and a career day at school. Plus, I’ve signed them up to help with a community service project that two teachers are supervising.

We’ll be doing some camping as a family, too, and before we know it August 18 – the first day of school – will be here. Then I’ll have two kids in school full time. I’m so exited!

How RIF Can Help Keep Kids Busy This Summer

With an Olympic summer just around the corner, RIF has put together The World’s Most Athletic Booklist for children of all ages. The list contains books representing Olympic sports, and is available for free at RIF.org.

“Experts agree that children who read during the summer gain reading skills, while those who do not often experience learning losses,” said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of RIF. “Reading Is Fun Week is the perfect time for parents and educators to encourage children to read for fun during their summer vacation.”

The RIF website provides free resources to encourage summer reading. Visitors to the website can also send a children’s art e-card to spread the joy of reading, and explore RIF’s literacy activities, like Reading Is Fun bingo.

RIF also provides parents with reading tips, including how to:

Help children start a reading journal
Find a fun book series for children to read
Relate what you are reading to outdoor activities
Be a reading role-model and talk about books

So this summer, partner up with RIF and spend some quality reading time.

Act now to help reinstate RIF’s Funding (and my Congressman’s response)

Anne-Marie — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:14:58 +0000

In a genius move by the Bush Administration, the President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 eliminates the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program, which is the RIF book distribution program. Unless Congress reinstates funding for this program, RIF would be unable to distribute 16 million books annually to the nation’s youngest and most at-risk children. This would be devastating to the children in your community as well as the 4.6 million children and their families who receive free books and reading encouragement from RIF programs at nearly 20,000 locations throughout the U.S.

Please act now and help RIF build support for reinstating the funding by sending an e-mail to your members of Congress. You can also tell your friends online:
Facebook

MySpace

YouTube

Here’s the response I got back from Colorado Congressman Mark Udall (D):

Dear Ms. Nichols:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Reading is Fundamental program. I appreciate your taking time to get in touch and I apologize for the delay in my response.
With increasing testing and accountability standards for our schools it is important that we provide students and teachers with the tools they need to become proficient in reading. Reading is Fundamental creates an excitement about reading for students by allowing them to take home new books, encouraging them to read at home as well as at school.
I believe we need to do more to encourage reading in our nation’s youth; however I am concerned that the current Labor-HHS-Education budget does not do enough to assist our schools in reaching the accountability standards and guarantee that American students’ reading and math skills are at an adequate level. Please know that I will continue to work for the resources we need to ensure a quality education for all of our children.
Thank you again for contacting me. To do my job well, I need to hear critical feedback from fellow Coloradans. For more information about my positions, please visit my website at www.house.gov/markudall and sign up of the email newsletter.
Warm Regards,

Mark Udall
Member of Congress