1. Autumn 2009 issue of Channel now available online
2. Report Highlights Early Childhood Literacy Crisis
3. 8TH annual International Children's and Young Adult Literacy Celebration
4. Website of the Week - USA.gov: Health and Nutrition
5. Calendar
=================================================
1. AUTUMN 2009 ISSUE OF CHANNEL NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
The Autumn 2009 issue of Channel, the newsletter of the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, is now available on the web at http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/channel/pdf/chn4501.pdf.
Among the articles in this issue of Channel are:
• Wisconsin awarded library computer hardware grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Plans underway for 2010 Summer Reading Program
• Public libraries in 2008: Growth and challenges
• Best Practices
• BadgerLink's Lunchtime Webinar Series: BadgerLunch
• What's Happening in Wisconsin Libraries: Libraries Benefit from Summer VISTA Program
Beginning with this issue, Channel will no longer be available in a printed version. Since 2003, the newsletter has been available to librarians around the state in a web version, with distribution of printed copies limited to public library and system trustees, legislators, and document depository libraries. This change will make Channel available to everyone on a timelier basis, as well as conserve resources and eliminate the expense required to produce a printed publication. This change will also make it easier for the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning to increase the number of pages in each issue and accommodate longer, more in-depth articles about issues of interest to the Wisconsin library community.
Channel Weekly will continue to provide timely information and updates to the library community on a weekly basis.
Previous issues of Channel are available at http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_channel. Issues of Channel Weekly are available at http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly.
2. REPORT HIGHLIGHTS EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY CRISIS
Jumpstart recently released an issues brief titled "America's Early Childhood Literacy Gap" that briefly summarizes research into the crisis of early literacy. Below are a few highlights of the report:
Our nation is facing an issue of epic proportion and of critical importance. It is an issue that affects our economy, reduces the competitiveness of our workforce and challenges our highest ideals. The issue is America's early childhood literacy crisis.
All across America, children from low-income communities are entering kindergarten without the basic early literacy skills for lifelong success. Children enter the school system behind their more affluent peers and are unable to catch up. Perhaps the most disturbing fact about this issue is that it is entirely preventable. The solution is cost-effective and begins before a child even reaches kindergarten.
Reading aloud to young children is so critical that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at regular check-ups. Moreover, many pediatricians now believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not a fully healthy child.
Given the limited access to books at home, libraries are especially important in poor communities, as they are the single source of literacy for many people. But even here, differences in the numbers of books vary strikingly with an average of four books available per child in middle-income neighborhoods compared to two books per child for the poor. In dangerous neighborhoods, libraries don't even have evening or Saturday hours that make it possible for working parents to come in with their children.
Simply stated, the most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print. Communities ranking high in achievement tests have several factors in common: an abundance of books in public libraries, easy access to books in the community at large and a large number of textbooks per student.
The full report is available at:
http://www.readfortherecord.org/site/DocServer/America_s_Early_Childhood_Literacy_Gap.pdf?docID=3923
3. 8th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE CELEBRATION
The 8th annual International Children's and Young Adult Literature Celebration, "Open a Door... Open a Book... Open your Mind... to the World," will be held Saturday, November 21, 2009, in Tripp Commons at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
This year's celebration will feature Sylviane Diouf, Rachna Gilmore, Kelly Herold, and James Rumford. The event is an annual workshop for educators, librarians, student teachers and children's literature enthusiasts, with an aim to internationalize statewide reading curriculum. Each author will discuss the stories that they have written and highlight the work they feel is most suitable for classroom discussion. Two authors will speak in the morning and two following lunch. A reception and book signing will be held at the end of the day.
This event is sponsored by the Wisconsin International Outreach Consortium (WIOC) in observance of International Education Week 2009. International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States.
For more information and to register, please go to: http://www.wioc.wisc.edu/childlit/2009/registration09.htm. Please register online by Monday, November 13, 2009. For more information call (608) 262-9224, or e-mail: rweiss@wisc.edu.
4. Website of the Week
USA.gov: Health and Nutrition -- http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Health.shtml -- The U.S. government's official web portal offering access to government resources on health care, insurance, diet, fitness, public health, and more.
5. CALENDAR
November 11-12, 2009 - Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Advisory Committee, Madison
November 13, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Middleton
January 8, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, by videoconference
April 11-17, 2010 - National Library Week
==================================================
To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe, go to: http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly
==================================================
Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (609) 266-8770
2. Report Highlights Early Childhood Literacy Crisis
3. 8TH annual International Children's and Young Adult Literacy Celebration
4. Website of the Week - USA.gov: Health and Nutrition
5. Calendar
=================================================
1. AUTUMN 2009 ISSUE OF CHANNEL NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
The Autumn 2009 issue of Channel, the newsletter of the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, is now available on the web at http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/channel/pdf/chn4501.pdf.
Among the articles in this issue of Channel are:
• Wisconsin awarded library computer hardware grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Plans underway for 2010 Summer Reading Program
• Public libraries in 2008: Growth and challenges
• Best Practices
• BadgerLink's Lunchtime Webinar Series: BadgerLunch
• What's Happening in Wisconsin Libraries: Libraries Benefit from Summer VISTA Program
Beginning with this issue, Channel will no longer be available in a printed version. Since 2003, the newsletter has been available to librarians around the state in a web version, with distribution of printed copies limited to public library and system trustees, legislators, and document depository libraries. This change will make Channel available to everyone on a timelier basis, as well as conserve resources and eliminate the expense required to produce a printed publication. This change will also make it easier for the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning to increase the number of pages in each issue and accommodate longer, more in-depth articles about issues of interest to the Wisconsin library community.
Channel Weekly will continue to provide timely information and updates to the library community on a weekly basis.
Previous issues of Channel are available at http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_channel. Issues of Channel Weekly are available at http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly.
2. REPORT HIGHLIGHTS EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY CRISIS
Jumpstart recently released an issues brief titled "America's Early Childhood Literacy Gap" that briefly summarizes research into the crisis of early literacy. Below are a few highlights of the report:
Our nation is facing an issue of epic proportion and of critical importance. It is an issue that affects our economy, reduces the competitiveness of our workforce and challenges our highest ideals. The issue is America's early childhood literacy crisis.
All across America, children from low-income communities are entering kindergarten without the basic early literacy skills for lifelong success. Children enter the school system behind their more affluent peers and are unable to catch up. Perhaps the most disturbing fact about this issue is that it is entirely preventable. The solution is cost-effective and begins before a child even reaches kindergarten.
Reading aloud to young children is so critical that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at regular check-ups. Moreover, many pediatricians now believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not a fully healthy child.
Given the limited access to books at home, libraries are especially important in poor communities, as they are the single source of literacy for many people. But even here, differences in the numbers of books vary strikingly with an average of four books available per child in middle-income neighborhoods compared to two books per child for the poor. In dangerous neighborhoods, libraries don't even have evening or Saturday hours that make it possible for working parents to come in with their children.
Simply stated, the most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print. Communities ranking high in achievement tests have several factors in common: an abundance of books in public libraries, easy access to books in the community at large and a large number of textbooks per student.
The full report is available at:
http://www.readfortherecord.org/site/DocServer/America_s_Early_Childhood_Literacy_Gap.pdf?docID=3923
3. 8th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE CELEBRATION
The 8th annual International Children's and Young Adult Literature Celebration, "Open a Door... Open a Book... Open your Mind... to the World," will be held Saturday, November 21, 2009, in Tripp Commons at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
This year's celebration will feature Sylviane Diouf, Rachna Gilmore, Kelly Herold, and James Rumford. The event is an annual workshop for educators, librarians, student teachers and children's literature enthusiasts, with an aim to internationalize statewide reading curriculum. Each author will discuss the stories that they have written and highlight the work they feel is most suitable for classroom discussion. Two authors will speak in the morning and two following lunch. A reception and book signing will be held at the end of the day.
This event is sponsored by the Wisconsin International Outreach Consortium (WIOC) in observance of International Education Week 2009. International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States.
For more information and to register, please go to: http://www.wioc.wisc.edu/childlit/2009/registration09.htm. Please register online by Monday, November 13, 2009. For more information call (608) 262-9224, or e-mail: rweiss@wisc.edu.
4. Website of the Week
USA.gov: Health and Nutrition -- http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Health.shtml -- The U.S. government's official web portal offering access to government resources on health care, insurance, diet, fitness, public health, and more.
5. CALENDAR
November 11-12, 2009 - Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Advisory Committee, Madison
November 13, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Middleton
January 8, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, by videoconference
April 11-17, 2010 - National Library Week
==================================================
To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe, go to: http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly
==================================================
Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (609) 266-8770
For questions about this information, contact Roslyn Wise (608) 266-6439