|
JACKSONVILLE
The Jacksonville Reading Rally was in support of the new
Jacksonville Public Library (one of our members is the President). The
Grand Opening for the library was held November 12th and thousands of
citizens came out to support this wonderful new addition to the city of
Jacksonville. Eleven EWI volunteers helped direct people around the four
floors of books, and handed out information. The EWI chapter also organized
a book drive in support of the Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library
Inc. The books collected will be used at the new library's annual spring
fundraiser. Any new books collected will be sold at the new bookstore
in the library. All proceeds go back to support the library for things
the taxpayers don't provide.
return to chapter
list
KANSAS
CITY
This
year’s Reading Rally was held on October 5th at The Salvation Army
Children’s Shelter. The event began with dinner for the participating
children, followed by storytelling by Nancy Stegeman of the Kansas City
Library. Each child received a bookmark with a NASA theme to color and
keep. There were 15 children present and each received 3 books. The remaining
books were given to the Shelter for all the children to enjoy. A total
of 120 books were donated - each firm/member was asked to donate at least
one book as well as books purchased from the philanthropy budget. The
shelter director gave everyone a tour of the shelter living quarters,
computer lab area, playroom, laundry and clothes closet. We exchanged
ideas with the director on additional ways we could help the shelter throughout
the coming year and discussed suggestions for next year’s Reading
Rally program.
return to chapter
list
KNOXSVILLE
The Knoxville chapter partnered with the Weekend Academy,
a non-profit organization dedicated to working with inner-city children
to educate and motivate them to reach their potential and become the future
leaders of their downtown community. In keeping with the theme, "Launch
Into Reading - Explore the Universe - Be a Rocket Reader', each of the
40 children was given a book entitled "Stars and Planets". Also,
a teacher lead a session on Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The
Planets" where students listened to excepts from the suite and then
wrote a poem for each planet. Another teacher lead a session on Planetary
Profiles. The books provided by our chapter were instrumental in these
sessions. In addition, we provided reading rally t-shirts, breakfast and
lunch for each attendee.
return to chapter
list
LITTLE ROCK
 On
the morning of Saturday, October 29, 2005, the Little Rock Chapter held
its annual Reading Rally in the gymnasium at The Centers for Youth &
Families specifically benefiting the children of prisoners. There were
15 volunteers in attendance and 35 children.
At this year's Reading Rally's the children were given a
t-shirt, gift bag and passport. There were 7 stations set up around the
room and as the children completed each task their passports were stamped.
The children were also served breakfast and lunch.
Station 1: Diane Kidwell read “Where The Wild Things Are”
and it was such a joy to watch the children enjoy Diane’s animated
dramatic reading.
Station 2: The children received a book explaining why leaves change
color after they made suncatchers out of clear contact paper and colored
leaves.
Station 3: The children made necklaces, pins or bracelets out of beads
spelling their names, keeping with our literacy theme.
Station 4: The children played a word game where the children put a series
of words in alphabetical order. When they completed this task they got
to choose a prize from the treasure chest.
Station 5: The children received a book teaching them about the wild
birds that are found in Arkansas. They also made bird feeders out of pine
cones, peanut butter and bird seeds.
Station 6: The children decorated miniature pumpkins with paint, beads,
feathers and glitter.
Station 7: The children got to choose a design to have painted on their
face. Kristie Johnson, art teacher at Lisa Academy, was the face painting
artist.
return to chapter
list
LONG BEACH
Two authors were invited to speak and work with 30 students
at Constellation Community Middle School about writing stories. Using
the television series “Fairly Odd Parents” these students
engaged in an activity to learn about the beginning, middle, and end of
a story. They worked together to write their own story by first identifying
the problem as a group and devising ways to solve it on their own. Following
the literacy exercise, students enjoyed an ice cream social sponsored
by volunteers from the Long Beach City College Human Services Club and
then went home with a book purchased by EWI member reps’ donations
and a tee shirt donated by member firm Kmart.
return to chapter
list
MINNEAPOLIS
return to chapter
list
MONTGOMERY
 Thirty-three
children from Pintlala Elementary school enjoyed a trip to The Montgomery
Planetarium. They saw a program on the stars and planets. Then the book
"The Berenstein Bears Go to the Moon" was scanned and displayed
on the ceiling as it was read to the children. Lunch and goodie bags was
provided for each child.
return to chapter
list
|
