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Poem Of The Month
Which animal do you think a middle school student would choose as a perfect pet? It's not a puppy. Nope, not a kitty.
It's definitely NOT a fuzzy bunny.
Give up?
Let Cambridge School of Chicago student Samir tell you about his perfect pet. Trust us -- it's not what you'd imagine.
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Free Books!
Are you a teacher, librarian or parent who could use FREE K-6 nonfiction titles?
From Ancient Egyptian Jobs to American Lives: Andrew Jackson, we're looking for homes for these great books.
See what we have and request a few
or a class set!
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Our Famous Open Boxes Sale Is Back!
We fill our classrooms with more than 10,000 books of all kinds, refreshed regularly throughout the weekend. Come and stock your shelves for literacy!
Softcovers $2 Hardcovers $3
Kids' Books $2
Box Full $30
CASH ONLY
March 5 & 6
10am - 3pm
Member Preview
March 5, 8am - 10am
Memberships are available online or at the door.
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New Team Members! (Want To Be One Of Them?)
Spring is in the air as we welcome three new literacy interns to the fold. These education enthusiasts are excited to help us motivate students to read across the city...and spend a little bit of time in the pencil costume.
Read what Tony, Eliza, and Colleen say about why they're eager to be part of the Open Books team this semester!
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V Is For...
Volunteering!
You read. You write. You care about literacy. Take your enthusiasm to the next level by becoming an Open Books volunteer! We would be thrilled to get to know you in one of our programs, and help you share your love of reading and writing with students in Chicago.
Check out our volunteer opportunities and sign up to join us!
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Dear friends of Open Books,
This February, join us at Open Books to celebrate what you really love. No, not an expensive bouquet or a box of chocolates, but books and reading! From creating kooky characters at CICS Irving Park to exposing Chicago Talent teens to new, amazing books -- this month, love (for literacy!) is indeed in the air!
Anna Piepmeyer Program Director
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Unlocking Students' Creativity:
Why Rebecca Loves Buddies
at CICS Irving Park
I am proud to be the site leader for Buddies at CICS Irving Park, where I have the privilege of working with twenty kindergarten - 5th grade students for an hour a week. This month, we've begun a new, long-term activity: each student is developing a character from scratch by imagining what the character looks and sounds like, describing his or her personality, family, strengths, and weaknesses, and determining whether the character is a hero or villain. Every week from now on, the students will write short stories about their characters and at the end of the semester, I will bind their work together for them to take home to show their family and friends!
Getting students to imagine and create characters can be a great way not just to engage them with books and reading, but also to teach them to solve problems...creatively. Recent articles (like this one from EdWeek) point to a decline in "creativity" among American schoolchildren. Of course, this isn't just about the ability to dream up an avatar, but for our students to develop the ingenuity that will allow them to be leaders and innovators in their communities once they're grown. Many countries (Britain and China, to name two) are now holding creativity classes in their schools, and introducing a curriculum that prompts students to solve complex problems utilizing out-of-the-box thinking.
Back at CICS Irving Park, Juan created 'the Terminator,' describing his personality as being "mean and nice and protects kids" and that "he's strong 'cause he's the Terminator." Justine's character Qui has a favorite animal shirt and he "is very tall but kind of short." Gianna's character is a heartthrob who "is hard to stop looking at" and is afraid of clowns. Isac's creation, Bla, is 3,458 years old and wears a cape. Isaiah's character is a villain who fears looking in the mirror but has a fantastic super power -- everything he draws comes to life! He also has a love interest...
To read more about the creativity crisis in public schools (and what Britain's doing about it!), check out Ken Robinson's book, Out Of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative. And to get involved in fostering creativity with our Buddies, volunteer!
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Donate to Our Treasure Trove:
5 Books We Want This February
As we bring libraries to our partner schools and work to get new titles into our students' hands, we try to find books that will engage and excite our young readers. However, since we are at the mercy of our book donations, sometimes it can be a challenge to find specific titles, especially multicultural and urban children's literature that will open the minds and hearts of our students. Starting with this issue, each Literacy Landscape newsletter from now on will include a list of titles we're seeking for our programs. This is a great opportunity to give children the exact book they've been looking for, and to donate directly to our Buddies sites and other programs. This month, we're looking for copies of: Do you want to donate one or more of these titles? Thank you!!! You can either drop them off at the Open Books store (in the Treasure Trove bin in the Literacy Pavilion) or ship them to us at: Open Books 213 W. Institute Pl. Chicago, IL 60610 Thanks for helping support our Chicago readers! |
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Introducing: Spring Teen Book Club
at Chicago Talent Development High School
Though not yet fully grown, struggling adolescent readers have already developed powerful coping mechanisms to hide their lack of reading ability. When prompted, students who have a hard time reading will comment that reading is "boring," "lame," or generally a waste of time. Recently, we asked a group of struggling teen readers at a local school to complete the sentence Reading Is...
Their answers, though heartbreaking, remind us why we are so passionate about providing teens with caring mentors who can help them become enthusiastic, confident readers. This spring, we are thrilled to announce a new book club for struggling freshmen readers at Chicago Talent Development High School in Garfield Park. Mentors will not only help students build critical literacy skills, but also empower students to explore the wealth of ideas and opportunities found in books.
Our Spring Book Club at Chicago Talent begins March 11
and takes place on Fridays from 2:15-3:30pm.
If you are interested in joining us as a mentor,
please email volunteer@open-books.org
or contact Anna for more information.
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Did you know that Open Books publishes 3 newsletters every month? Sign up for What's In Store, Volunteer Vanguard, and Literacy Landscape now!
Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that operates an extraordinary bookstore, provides community programs, and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy in Chicago and beyond. We enhance lives through reading, writing, and the WONDROUS power of used books. |
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