Read, Write, Think offers suggestion on how to celebrate this event. For more information click here .

Thursday Luncheon Speaker

Trinka Hakes Noble

Limited number/ticketed event 

Trinka Hakes Noble, author and illustrator, is one of the choices for Thursday luncheon speaker.  Her many awards include ALA Notable Children's book, Booklist Children's Editors Choice, IRA-CBC Children's Choice, Learning: The Year's Ten Best, and several Junior Literary Guild Selections including Apple Tree Christmas, The Scarlet Stocking Spy, The Last Brother, and The Legend of the Cape May Diamond. 

She also wrote the ever-popular Jimmy's Boa series and Meanwhile Back at the Ranch. She resides in New Jersey.

Developmental Reading Courses Approved for Grades 6-12

The State Board of Education approved two developmental reading courses for use with students in grades 6-12 at its meeting on June 13, 2011.The courses, Strategic Reading for grades 6-8 and Critical Reading for grades 9-12, may be used by school districts beginning with the 2011-2012 school year. School districts are not required to seek permission from the Arkansas Department of Education, Curriculum and Instruction Unit, to teach these courses. Students in grades 9-12 who successfully complete the Critical Reading Course may receive credit as a career focus or elective.  

For more information, click here. 

Heifer International Issues September 8 Literacy Day Challenge

by Kim Machnik, Heifer International

In some places in the world, a child cannot attend school without money for tuition, uniforms, and/or books. In others, parents can't afford to lose their children's labor for the hours that it takes to build literacy skills in a classroom. Worst of all, there are children for whom learning is out of reach for another reason - they are too hungry to think of anything but survival.

September 8^th is International Literacy Day, and it is the perfect chance to connect your students with children around the world - and maybe  make a big difference in a chld's life! Heifer International, a global sustainable development organization whose mission is to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth, offers free stories, lessons, experiments, games, and other activities to help you develop the global citizens in your classroom. Visit www.heifer.org/schools to download books and standards-based lessons about children and cultures around the world, resources, human rights and social issues, the environment, and many more topics. You can even order hard copies for your classroom for FREE!

Take the Heifer Literacy Day challenge: choose a book or a lesson from Heifer's resources and share it with your students on September 8^th. If you and your students are inspired to take action, you can find plenty of action ideas at the same website - including the popular Read to Feed®, a program that fosters a love of reading while providing an opportunity for kids to make a global difference. Contact schoolprograms@heifer.org with questions, ideas, or for help with your classroom initiatives.

 Orphans Nguyen Thi Ha and Phan Van Quang (in striped shirt), hold a rabbit that is helping provide additional income at the Thien An Social Protection Institution outside Can Tho City, Vietnam. "We pride our children here with stabilization of life both mentally and physically. Heifer Vietnam has helped our situation by setting up an animal farm as well as vocational training for our children," said Director Rose Tran Bach Yen.

Click  here for more Heifer photos from around the world.

Powers to Present Tips on Literacy at Conference

Kathy Powers, Arkansas Teacher of the Year, is a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Simon Intermediate School in the Conway School District. She received a $15,000 cash award with the title and represented Arkansas in the 2011 National Teacher of the Year competition.

Powers has received several grants and presented at the International Reading Association Annual Conference. In addition, she has published articles in two reading journals: Reading Improvement and The Reader. She also is an adjunct instructor in reading at the University of Central Arkansas.

Carla McClafferty  let us know on ARA's Facebook page that she is available for workshops on writing nonfiction and how to help your students write research papers. "With the new core curriculum focusing on more nonfiction, I believe these topics will be a help to educators." Contact her at ckmcclafferty@gmail.com or visit her web page:
 

www.carlamcclafferty.com

Council Spotlight 

Pinnacle Special Interest Reading Council held its annual Literacy Banquet on April 5, 2011 at St. John's Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. Judie Krile was honored as our nominee for Educator of the Year. We provided dinner while students from Christ the King School and LISA Academy modeled the We Read Together and You Read to Me and I'll Read to You books that encourage buddy reading.

Crowley's Ridge Reading Council will host Caroline Schenk for Newspapers in Education, provide book packets to the county health departments for children getting immunizations, and partner with the Jonesboro Rotary Club to start a Bookcase for Every Child project. A new website has been created and can be accessed through ARA's web page.

Jefferson County Reading Council "Wow!" replaces "Ow!" as preschoolers visit the Jefferson County Health Department for back-to-school inoculation thanks to "Booster Book Bags" provided by the Jefferson County Reading Council and Epsilon Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma teacher organization, which partnered with JCRC.

IRA Coordinator's Corner:

Happy International Literacy Day! Each year IRA councils and members join others around the world to celebrate International Literacy Day on September 8.

I invite you to join the celebration this year and share with ARA how you celebrated by sending a brief description and/or a picture to tanna@arareading.org .

Visit IRA's website on International Literacy Day for more information.

Enjoy sharing the world of reading with your students!

    
Tanna Clark
IRA Coordinator, Arkansas Reading Association