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Million Word Challenge UPDATE

Raise Your Child — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:46:34 +0000

Help students read to succeed!

Join the Million Word Challenge.

Over the last week, 134 schools across Los Angeles County have taken on the challenge of encouraging their students to read millions of words outside of school.

These Literacy Champions are joining us in increasing literacy rates among our students. Together, we are creating a legacy of avid readers and critical thinkers amidst a changing global economy and society.

Today, February 1, 2012, the Million Word Challenge officially kicked off at Leo Politi Elementary School in Los Angeles. The campaign led by Families In Schools, is a partnership between education, business, and community leaders. Brad Rumble, Principal at Leo Politi Elementary School, shares the importance of literacy and the Million Word Challenge:

Principal of LAUSD Elementary School Challenges You

The 2012 Million Word Challenge is a literacy campaign that encourages preschool – 12th grade students to read millions of words outside of school time. Each year, 200,000 students in over 300 schools participate in the Million Word Challenge and explore the joy of reading. At the annual campaign’s culmination in April, each participating school will select one student winner to receive a $50 gift certificate to purchase books of their very own.

Million Word Challenge participant challenges you to read outside of school!

How Can a School/Agency Participate?

Register your school/agency online at www.millionwordchallenge.org today. The Campaign launches on February 1, 2012. There are limited spaces available so schools/agencies will be registered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Implement the challenge in your school/agency following the guidelines. Schools/Agencies will have access to an online handbook to help with implementation.
Submit the name of your school/agency’s Million Word Challenge Winner by logging back onto www.millionwordchallenge.org in April 2012.
Each student winner receives a $50 gift certificate to purchase books at the Target Book Store at Festival of Books, which will take place at USC April 21 – 22, 2012. Students unable to attend Festival of Books will be able to use their gift card to purchase books at any Target store.

For additional information, please contact

Colin Meng at (213) 201-3907 or at

ctmeng@familiesinschools.org

Expand Your Read with Me/Lea Conmigo Family Literacy Program!

Raise Your Child — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:59:09 +0000

Thank you for supporting literacy through Read with Me/Lea Conmigo, a family engagement program designed to improve the early literacy skills of infants and toddlers, preschool children, and students in kindergarten through 1^st grade. Expand your Read with Me program today for the low, one-time cost of $100 per student. Also, please feel free to contact us for other support services including:

Getting Ready for Read with Me: A 2-hour Read with Me training for new staff.
Read with Me Again: A 2-hour Read with Me refresher training for staff already trained in the Read with Me program
Read with Me Literacy Backpack: Replace your Read with Me backpack with or without books.
Read with Me Backpack Tags: Replace you lost tags for your backpacks.
Storysharing Tips: Replace lost Storysharing tips for your Read with Me backpacks.

I have attached a Read with Me brochure for your information. Please feel free to contact me at (213) 201-3905 or at lmiranda@familiesinschools.org to expand your Read with Me/Lea Conmigo program today. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Best Wishes,

Lupe Miranda

Lupe Miranda

Program Assistant, Early Education and Family Literacy

Families In Schools

Web: www.familiesinschools.org

Direct Number: (213) 201-3905

Main Office Number: (213) 201-3900

Email: lmiranda@familiesinschools.org

LéaLA Book Fair With a Mission to Make History in Los Angeles

Raise Your Child — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:59:37 +0000

LéaLA Book Fair With a Mission to Make History in Los Angeles

Isabel Allende, Elena Poniatowska, Laura Restrepo, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Carmen Boullosa, Francisco Martin Moreno, José José and Kate Del Castillo, are Among Presenters

One of the most ambitious efforts to celebrate the world of Spanish language books will make its debut when LéaLA, the Spanish book fair in Los Angeles, premieres April 29, 30 and May 1, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. “This book fair is the first of its kind in the U.S.,” says Marisol Schulz, Director of LéaLA. “LéaLA was conceived as a cultural festival where the spinal cord is the literary program, a space where authors from Latin American countries and U.S. Latino writers can find a home that reflects the U.S. Latino reality. A place where Hispanics from all walks of life can rediscover their roots, reading, culture and understand the new society they are building in the U.S.,”

LéaLA will feature an impressive gathering of highly acclaimed authors from the literary, cultural and entertainment worlds. More than 100 publishers and 80 authors will showcase their works from fiction to non-fiction, with topics ranging from history to empowerment, for everyone from book aficionados to children just learning to read, in Spanish and English. The jam-packed literary and cultural program will complement the sale of books and give the public a close-up look at the wonders of the written page in an entertaining way.

Confirmed authors include: Isabel Allende, Laura Restrepo, Francisco Martin Moreno, Xavier Velasco, Sealtiel Alatriste, Carmen Boullosa, Sanjuana Martinez, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and Sandra Lorenzano. Also participating will be the Director of the Royal Spanish Academy, Jose Manuel Blecua; former Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres; legendary singing superstar, Jose Jose; actress Kate del Castillo, and more celebrities who will read to children in the kids’ zone.

The Mexican state of Jalisco is the honored special guest and as a tribute LéaLA will present a homage to three Mexican literary greats: Juan Rulfo, Agustín Yáñez and Juan José Arreola, as well as the theatre performances by one of Mexico’s greatest artists, actor-writer-director, Ofelia Medina, presenting "El Placer de Nuestra Lengua," "The Pleasures of Our Tongue,” with the Rubén Albarrán (lead singer of Café Tacvba). The play’s name is a double entendre referring to the Spanish language as well as our physical tongue. It is a dramatic staging where delicate, romantic lyricism is intertwined with potent eroticism through the Spanish Language. The Ballet Folclórico of the University of Guadalajara, considered one of the best folk dance troupes in Mexico with international acclaim, will also offer a command performance, with concert caliber mariachi on Sunday, May 1 at the Wiltern Theatre.

Plenary sessions, book signings, talks, panel sessions and talks will fill each day’s program revealing insights into a plethora of topics including: popular trends, current events, immigration, the vitality of Latino culture in the U.S. and Latin America, the history and roots of Latin American countries, mysteries of love and sex, personal finance, mental and physical health for women, gay history, the drug trade, Mexican cinema in L.A., the art of Mexican cuisine, and the education crisis, among others.

Topping each day will be evening concerts at the Nokia Theatre with top recording artists including, Lupillo Rivera and Banda El Limon, Pedro Fernandez, and Molotov and Kinky.

The event is open to the public and expects to draw over 30,000 people. Admission is free to the book fair. Event hours are: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Concourse Hall, 1201 South Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 90015. Tickets for the concerts and theatre performances are available through Ticketmaster. For more information visit the LéaLA website at www.lea-la.com

LéaLA is an initiative organized by the University of Guadalajara USA Foundation and supported by the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Feria Internacional del Libro, known worldwide as FIL; and the University of Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

For interviews, photos and more information, contact:

USA: Oralia Michel
626-705-1942
oralia@ommpr.com
México: Yadira Cota
33-31342222 ext.12641
Yadira.cota@redudg.udg.mx

Happy Halloween!

Raise Your Child — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:29:32 +0000

I came across this very interesting 4-part-article on Halloween, or rather, its pagan root holiday, Samhain, and I thought to feature it here. This article explains us how this special holiday is to teach us how to overcome fear.

This article certainly gives a more comprehensive and soulful meaning to Halloween. It offers interesting stories and good values for you to relay to your children. ((A notch up from orange candy without going organic )

Below is the first part of the story…

“At its core, Samhain is about the night when the old God dies and the crone Goddess mourns him deeply for the next six weeks. The popular image of her as the old Halloween hag stirring her cauldron comes from the Celtic belief that all dead souls return to her cauldron of life, death and rebirth to await reincarnation.”
…. more ~ read the whole story here