Message from Talcott School

Wow!  Everyone at Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy sends a big THANK YOU!  Your wonderful donation to the students at Talcott truly inspired readers.  We heard students say things like, “Hey, here are books on energy!” and “Ohh… I want this one, the one about the EPA.”  The Spanish books were especially appreciated by some of our youngest readers who were able to select their books from a wide range of nonfiction topics, most of which connected to what they had learned in science and social studies. Your generosity of both books and spirit has left an indelible mark on the students of Talcott.  Thank you!

Margaret McGregor
Literacy Coach
Chicago Literacy Initiative Partnership
Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy

Message from Murphy Elementary School

Hi Rock For Reading group!

I just wanted to tell you how much the students at our school appreciated the books that you donated. The students were excited to be reading non-fiction text, but were thrilled to find out that they got to keep these books and add them to their home libraries.The teachers and staff were overwhelmed by your generous donation to the reading development at our school.  Most of our students don’t own many books and you could tell they were very excited to share these books with their family.  As our assistant principal, Jesse Tang said, “the first step for reading success is putting books in students hands”.  Thanks to your work, we are closer to accomplishing that goal.
Thank you again!  This was a wonderful experience for everyone involved!
Kay Connley
Reading Coach
Murphy Elementary School – CPS

Thanks from Sit Stay Read!

Dear Rock for Reading Friends,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for your donation of nearly 600 books to Sit Stay Read literacy programs—you ROCK!
It’s that time of year where we start organizing for the big Reading Rewards Celebration in all our classrooms. At the celebration, each of our 350 students gets to choose books of their very own to keep and one to give to a younger reader.
That means we need a LOT of books.  Jenn and Allison had a blast sorting the books and, as you can see, Shandy did a great job supervising.

Thanks to your generosity, we are well on our way to getting all the books we need.

We’re so grateful to Rock For Reading!

We’ll be sure to check back with you at the end of May to share photos of the kids and dogs having tons of reading fun.

MaryEllen Schneider  (and Shandy!)
Sit Stay Read
Executive Director

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to the Rock For Reading blog. You’ll be hearing from various board members and friends of the organization here; we’ll be talking not only about upcoming events and projects but also what we’re reading, feeling and thinking about.

Virtually everyone I talk to about R4R immediately gets it and asks the same question: “How can I help?” I thought I’d get the ball rolling here by sketching out an answer.

1. Volunteer. Odds are that your community has myriad literacy programs; sign up to read to people. It’s a powerful way to connect and to share the magic of books with folks, adults and kids alike, who are learning to read.

2. Donate books. Those piled-up paperbacks, yellowing novels and hardbound classics gathering dust on your shelves? They’re pure gold for programs like ours. Pack ‘em up, drop ‘em off and think about the adventures and insights they’ll bring to new readers.

3. Donate money. Sure, times are tough. But if you can spare a few dollars, you’ll find that donating to literacy is a huge investment in your community’s future.

4. Raise awareness. Are you the person in your circle who sends around e-mails full of worthy causes and inspiring stories? Send a message to your list about Rock for Reading and other literacy organizations. Suggested subject line: “If You Can Read This, You Can Help.” Are you a publicist, marketer, advertising whiz, copywriter, rabble rouser or consciousness raiser? Lend your people-reaching skills to the cause. Word of mouth is still the surest way to way to change the world.

Have you found a creative way to contribute to literacy in your community? We want to know about it. E-mail us at info@rockforreading.org.

More soon; I’ve got some reading to catch up on.

Love,

Alice