Monday, March 10, 2008
Ahoy mateys!
Last school year I worked as a volunteer at Matt's school, Cary elementary, for the RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) program. Three times a year the children get to pick a free book to keep. My job was to pick a theme, decorate, set up the books & check off each child's name after they chose their book. This year the kids are going to a new school, Phillips elementary, where my little brother goes. They already had a RIF coordinator, my friend Christine. She had never done RIF before so she asked if I would like to work with her as co-chairperson. I really enjoyed it last year so I said of course. We had great plans for the second distribution but things didn't work out so I got in contact with someone I had worked with last year at Cary. Lucky for me, my last minute plan worked out great. We were lucky to have our friend Billy Flynt & William Howard from Blackbeard's Crew join us. The kids were so into it, they really enjoyed having the pirates come. See Matt in the top picture? He's wearing a black shirt & needs a hair cut, haha.
Phillips has never done RIF this way. The way they have done it for years is by simply setting up a table in each hallway & just having the kids walk by and pick a book spending less than 10 minutes per class. The kids go back to class & stick their book in their backpack. There is nothing wrong with this BUT in my opinion it can be a more educational & fun experience. I just don't see why a school wouldn't want to make it a celebration of books & reading. Many times the pirates told the kids how all we know about pirates comes from books & if they have questions they want answered the best thing to do is go get some books on pirates. This is my whole mission, to encourage kids to turn off the TV and reach for a book. My kids LOVE to read and I at times have to get on them about reading when they are suppose to be going to bed or do something around the house.
Back to the pirates. I myself want to go get a few books after hearing them talk about famous female pirates & our local pirate history. When Blackbeard was killed they put his head on a stake & put it out in the Virginian waters as a warning to other pirates. There is so much great info they gave today. I took lots of pictures and some video so I'm adding those so you can enjoy it as I and the children did. Leave me comments you scallywags or you will walk the plank!
| posted at 8:04 PM
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Quetzaltzin wanted to say:
Speaking of Reading Is Fundamental...
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 will be unable to distribute 16 million books annually to the nation's youngest and most at-risk children.
Please ACT NOW and help RIF build support for our funding by sending an e-mail to your members of Congress asking them to sign the RIF Dear Colleague letter. More Info.
