May News: Our LitKids Have a Story to Tell

We Are the LitWorld Story.

Last week, our vibrant and dedicated community united at the LitWorld Spring Fundraiser to make sure every child gets access to the transforming power of literacy. Watch our LitKids tell the LitWorld story in our two-minute Spring Fundraiser video, and browse photo highlights from the evening on the LitWorld Facebook page!

Spotlight on LitWorld Mississippi

LitWorld programs are expanding across the United States. A few weeks ago our team traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to be with our local partner Springboard to Opportunities. Together we have launched LitClubs in three communities in Mississippi, the state with the highest child poverty and lowest literacy rates in the US. Our LitKids and LitWorld leaders are telling a new story about Mississippi in which children and families use literacy to launch their dreams and become change-makers in their communities. 

A New Partnership Begins with Omaha Nation

With our partner GlobalGirls, we also visited Nebraska this month to plan the launch of Girls LitClubs and LitCamps with members of the Omaha Nation Tribal Council. Fifty percent of the 8,400 people who live here are under 18 years old. It is a community brimming with stories and leaders who are committed to creating opportunities for this young population to thrive. Together with the leaders of the Omaha tribe we will make sure that the voices of the young women of this community are heard, that their dreams are supported and that their identity as Omaha is cherished.

Celebrate Mother's Day with LitWorld

We are counting down to Mother’s Day by celebrating the women of our Moms LitClubs around the world. Honor your mom or a special woman in your life with a Mother’s Day gift to LitWorld and support this important program.  

Zawadi is a member of our Moms LitClub in Rwinkwavu, Rwanda. She did not go to school as a child because she had to help take care of her family.  She is 28 years old and has five children. She is also HIV/AIDs positive.

Through LitClub she found a loving, supportive community. She considers the women in her LitClub family. Zawadi says: “I got friends from LitClub. Sharing stories is a very important thing which helps me in my daily life. LitClub helped me to have self-confidence. I became able to resolve my own problems. The whole of my life before I depended on my husband.

At Rwinkwavu Community Library and Learning Center I help my children with their homework, I read to them from different books which is helping them to glow morally and spiritually and academically. We started the sewing project in our LitClub, and I am able to make children’s clothes to make money and take care of my family. I dream of creating my own sewing station.

We Are All Leaders for Literacy!

Today is Leaders for Literacy Day! Championing the power that each of us has to nurture a child’s love of reading and writing is truly a cause for celebration. The LitWorld Way – our model for empowering whole communities to lead transformational literacy programs – is having an extraordinary impact in over 15 countries spread across five continents. Here are five things that you can do to create a thriving literacy culture in your community.

Stories Matter

Personal narrative is a vital part of seeding literacy. Reading and writing skills grow so naturally through the telling of the stories children know best: their own. Encouraging children to write down their own experiences honors and celebrates who they are and affirms that their stories matter. This simple act is world-changing for children, especially those who are never asked to share their voices. A child who understands that her own stories hold great power will become a great leader and literacy advocate for her community!

Literacy is a Lifelong Relationship

The most wonderful thing about literacy is that is everlasting. Once a child learns how to read and write, no one can take that away. She will have a voice in the world forever. For this reason children must understand from the earliest age that literacy is a tool that they can use to shape their lives. To write down big goals and gather all the stories and information that they need to know to go after these goals fearlessly. One of the core questions that LitWorld asks again and again in our work with communities is this: “What does literacy mean to you?” For literacy to be transformational, it must be meaningful in the context of children’s own hopes and dreams.  

Book Power

Strong reading and writing muscles come from practice. The more children read, the more they will be able to read, and the more they will want to read. A child’s motivation to read comes from access to the kinds of books and texts that captivate them and pull them deeply beyond the words on the page into the magical world of story. Get authentic, diverse books – print or digital – that children don’t ever want to put down. 

Build Independence

LitWorld’s mission is to empower young people to author lives of independence, hope and joy. The empowerment and independence follows naturally when children build strong reading and writing identities. LitWorld gives children the freedom to discover who they are as a reader. Do they like poetry, non-fiction, science fiction and fantasy? Children must have ownership over what they read and write about. Required reading lists and whole-class novels do not serve and inspire each child's unique tastes. Instead build in time each day for independent discovery and pursuit of curiosity.

Get Serious About Joy

One of LitWorld’s renowned programs is LitCamp, a summer intensive that combines the impact of literacy with the pure joy of summer camp. Joy is a key ingredient in lasting literacy outcomes. Children remember joy, they seek it out and will practice for hours the activities that make them feel good. Embrace the inherent joy in the power of story: Read aloud daily, and keep reading aloud through high school (no child, or child at heart, outgrows story time); Give children time each day to write in an inspiration notebook about something they care about (no more fill in the blank worksheets!); Make praise and affirmations central to a child's reading experience (every minute read is a reason to celebrate)!

April News: Make a Joyful Noise!

Read Aloud. Change the World.

World Read Aloud Day 2015 was a smashing success, a celebration of the power and joy of reading aloud for the ages! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of our WRADvocates (that means YOU) who organized read aloud activities for family, friends, students, colleagues and community members. Because of your advocacy, World Read Aloud Day made news around the world and we reached 100 countries! Check out Facebook photo albums of international festivities and LitWorld's event in Harlem, New York. To carry forward the read aloud momentum, LitWorld Founder Pam Allyn shared her top five tips for daily reading success. Her article, "For the Love of Reading" is featured in the latest edition of the International Literacy Association's online magazine.

Spring is Here and LitWorld is Sprouting!

New LitWorld programs and partnerships are springing up across the country and around the world. In Uganda and Pakistan our programs have already doubled with five new LitClubs and the launch of our Moms LitClub program. We are also excited to welcome new local partner organizations in Nicaragua and Afghanistan into our ever growing global literacy movement. In the United States our work has expanded to Mississippi and is budding now in New Jersey. Last week in Newark we celebrated the super powers that come from reading and writing at the Read and Believe Children's Book Party! The event was a partnership between The Believe in Newark Foundation, Scholastic, My Very Own Library, the United Way and LitWorld!

Three Ways to Spread the Joy.

Your support has a huge impact on the LitWorld story. Here are three ways that you can give back to our LitKids this Spring season.

1. Join us at the LitWorld Spring Fundraiser in New York City on May 11th. Tickets are on sale now! RSVP today and come be a part of our one-of-a-kind LitWorld community.

2. If you can't be with us at our Spring Fundraiser, will you Live Below the Line for LitWorld? Live Below the Line dares you to live on $1.50/day for 5 days (April 27th to May 1st) to call attention to global poverty. Take the challenge and collect pledges in support of LitWorld and the power of literacy to break the cycle of poverty. Set up a fundraising page today and spread the word to friends and family.

3. Support our LitWorld Shooting Star, Lauren Levine, who is running a half marathon for LitWorld! Cheer her on virtually by visiting her CrowdRise page to help her reach her $5,000 goal.

World Read Aloud Day Creates Equal Opportunities in Education

New York, New York: On March 4th, global literacy non-profit LitWorld presents World Read Aloud Day, an international advocacy day that brings equal access to quality literacy learning for children. LitWorld is joined by Scholastic, Skype in the Classroom, 2015 Newbery Medal Winner Kwame Alexander, and a coalition of participating non-profit organizations, corporations and individuals reaching over one million people worldwide.

"Reading is a basic human right that belongs to all people. The mission of LitWorld is to empower children to reach their full potential," says Pam Allyn, Executive Director of LitWorld.  "At LitWorld, we truly believe that access is the currency for change around the world.  Each and every day, literacy gives children access to a world of information, inspiration and hope." Today one in ten people around the world cannot read or write and 57 million children never have the chance to go to school.

The 2015 Kids & Family Reading Report published by Scholastic found that 91% of parents read aloud to their children before age 6, primarily to cultivate language development and a love of reading. The report also found that 83% of children enjoy reading aloud at home as a fun, special activity to do with parents. Yet nearly one in four parents stop reading aloud to children by the age of 9. Reading aloud to children every day is proven to put them almost a year ahead of children who do not receive daily read alouds regardless of parental income, education level or cultural background.

On March 4th, LitWorld and Scholastic will engage parents and teachers online, hosting a 10am EST Twitter chat with Pam Allyn and Kwame Alexander under the Scholastic handle and an 11am EST PBS NewsHour panel discussion on Facebook. Joining the panel will be Pam Allyn, Scholastic parenting expert Maggie McGuire, and Dr. Perri Klass of Reach Out and Read.   

In all 50 states and over 85 countries, communities will participate in World Read Aloud Day with in-person events and with virtual connections using Skype in the Classroom. Teachers worldwide have scheduled Skype connections across 6 continents with authors and classrooms in other countries. LitWorld’s worldwide coalition of participating non-profit organizations, corporations and individuals will hold events to educate whole communities about the importance of reading aloud and investing in children’s education.

LitWorld encourages people everywhere to participate in World Read Aloud Day. Find free resources at litworld.org/wrad. Join the social media movement by connecting with LitWorld on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Read Aloud & Poetry: Kindred Spirits

Reading poetry aloud brings it to life in all of its rhythmic and melodic glory. This World Read Aloud Day a wonderful poet and friend of LitWorld, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, has shared a special poem that all are welcome to read aloud on March 4th. We wish you a joyful day sharing words with friends and family.

February News for You: World Read Aloud Day Announcements

Count down with us to World Read Aloud Day on March 4th! We have some exciting announcements and super fun ways to inspire your special read aloud plans. Follow LitWorld on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates.

Rock a World Read Aloud Day Celebration

Five World Read Aloud Day actions that you can take right now:

1. Register your participation and check out LitWorld's FAQ for answers to your World Read Aloud Day questions.

2. Post on social media to spread the word.

3. Take the World Read Aloud Day reading minutes challenge.

4. Join our amazing WRADvocates in the Speak Your Story weekly blog-a-thon. 

5. Visit Skype in the classroom to schedule a long-distance read aloud connection.

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Look WRAD While You Read Aloud

We are so excited to unveil our LitWorld store! New and vintage World Read Aloud Day logos are now available as t-shirts, hoodies and totes. In addition to our archive of WRAD illustrations, we are offering a selection of LitWorld Be the Story swag. 

The best part? All proceeds from your purchases will be donated to LitWorld. Show your LitWorld spirit and support our LitClub and LitCamp kids at the same time. We want to know where in the world you will sport your LitWorld gear. Share a photo of your travels with your totes and tees on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

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LitWorld Change-Maker Receives Newbery Medal

Last week our LitWorld inspiration, Advisory Council member, brilliant writer, child advocate and friend Kwame Alexander received the Newbery Medal for his book The Crossover! Kwame has been part of the LitWorld family from the very beginning. In 2010 he read a draft of his book Acoustic Rooster on our first ever World Read Aloud Day. That same year we commissioned a poem from him to share at our Gala. The rest is... well, history!

We are overjoyed that Kwame will be with us again on May 11th to host and be celebrated at LitWorld's Spring Fundraiser. You will soon receive a save the date for this joyful event.