Don't Be Left Out

Did you mean to RSVP for the Project Read Community Summit and time slipped away from you? No worries! See you Tuesday at 4:00 in the Blandin Foundation auditorium.

Friday Fun

It's Friday, and Friday's are for fun.

What's more fun than Science Friday on National Public Radio? Science Friday with the band They Might Be Giants and tracks from their new CD/DVD release "Here Comes Science."
Listen to the podcast from the SciFri web site.

Did you know more new vocabulary words can be introduced in an elementary Science class than in a foreign language class? Try to use scientific vocabulary at home with our child, and sing some silly songs while you're at it.

Better Readers, Better Workforce NOW!

Interested in discovering how you can help lower costs in our schools
and create more productive employees in our workplaces NOW?
Then please join us for the first annual
Project READ Community Summit
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, 4–6 pm at the Blandin Foundation Auditorium
Keynote speaker: Kate Horst, Minnesota Early Literacy Project

Project READ is an initiative of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. Its mission is to increase the number of area children who enter school ready to read and ready to learn because it believes that our community’s investment in helping our children become better readers can be felt NOW.

Operation RoundUp Grant

Local electric cooperatives "Round Up" customer bills to the nearest dollar and pool the contributions to make grants to nonprofits, and schools, for a variety of purposes including literacy. The fall deadline for programs in the area served by North Itasca Electric Cooperative is October 5th, the application is available here. (opens in pdf). Lake Country Power applications, available here are due November 15th. Grant awards for both programs generally range from $200-$400. Lake Country Power considers applications quarterly, North Itasca twice a year.

Project Read Committee Meeting

The regular monthly Project Read meeting will be in Rm. 135 of the ISD 318 Admin Building in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Sep. 24 at 8:00AM. New members always welcome.

Hit the Books

Back to school advice from Great Schools web site.

For the younger child, reading books together about going back to school is a good way to start conversations about his excitement and fears. To get you started, here are some suggestions for elementary-school–age children:

* Berenstain, Stan and Jan. The Berenstain Bears Go to School (Random House, 1978)
* Brown, Marc. Arthur's Teacher Trouble (Trumpet, 1986)
* Bridwell, Norman. Clifford's First School Day (Scholastic, 1999)
* Haywood, Carolyn. Back to School With Betsy (Odyssey Classics, reissue edition, 2004)
* Howe, James. The Day the Teacher Went Bananas (Penguin, 1987)
* Jackson, Ellen. It's Back to School We Go! (Millbrook Press, 2003)
* Parish, Herman. Amelia Bedelia Goes Back to School (Harper Festival, 2004)
* Rey, Margret. Curious George Goes to School (Houghton Mifflin, 1989)