The Words Alive Reader: September 9, 2020

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Eli and Titiksha, Words Alive Volunteers

Back to School!

A young girl smiles and holds a backpack. Text above the photo reads, “Reagan got her Words Alive backpack! She is so excited!”

As schools begin to re-open, we want to remind you that Words Alive is here to help! Even through unprecedented challenges, we were able to serve 3,280 students and families last school year, and we will continue to do so while adapting our programming into virtual or hybrid models. 

One of our core values is responsiveness. We are dedicated to listening to community needs and developing innovative solutions. Would you like to help us as we journey into new adventures this school year? Sign up for one of our Virtual Best Practices Trainings to learn all the skills you need to volunteer in remote classrooms!

New Story Station Conductors!

Pictures of Sandy, Jim, and Gina reading aloud on Story Station!

We've been hosting Words Alive Story Station on Facebook Live every week day since the pandemic hit to spread joy, and engage our little learners with fun and inspiring stories that the whole family can enjoy. Now, we're happy to welcome new Story Station Conductors to our team!

Volunteers Sandy, Jim, and Gina are positive reading role models to the 10,000+ kids, families, and classrooms that viewed their Story Station videos in just their first week as Conductors. Join us for Story Station at 2 p.m. PT every weekday on Facebook Live: @WordsAliveSD.

Creative Collaborations!

A screenshot from of one of our Zoom trainings!

By the end of September, we will have trained seven community organizations to deliver the three Words Alive core programs! By providing training, curriculum, books, and supplies, we're making sure that organizations like United Way of San Diego, City Heights CDC, Project Concern International, Groundwork San Diego, Oceanside Public Library, and more are able to connect 300 students in their communities to the power of reading.

Another one of our values is collaboration and in these extraordinary times, we need to support one another more than ever. Help support our efforts to train even more organizations by donating today! 

The Life Cycle of a Page Turners Book

An infographic that displays the life cycle of a Page Turners book: from UNKNOWN to UPLIFTING. (1) a stack of books with a question mark; (2) a girl reading (3) a girl typing at her laptop (4) a girl hugging a stack of books.

Since January, our volunteer-led, ever-growing Page Turners community has helped us identify a whopping 28 books that reflect our students' lived experiences to include in Words Alive programming. How does it work?

1. A new and promising book is brought to our attention.

2. Page Turners read and let us know if it's a good fit for our students.

3. Books that receive multiple glowing reviews are passed on to our Curriculum Crew, volunteers who produce high-quality curriculum guides for the book.

4. Curriculum is taught in partner schools and sites, introducing students to empowering, entertaining, and engaging books that they can relate to, igniting their love of reading and setting them up for success!

Want to join the Page Turners community? Sign up here! 

Donate Here to Support Words Alive!

The Words Alive Reader: August 26, 2020

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email us to learn more.

- Eli and Titiksha, Words Alive Volunteers

Help Us Give Learning Kits to Children & Families!

A woman holds up a backpack in front of a young child.

“Miss Ana is giving me books to learn.”  An 8-year-old participating in Words Alive programs through our partnership with  City Heights CDC and United Way of San Diego scribbled that short, powerful message in their journal. 

Distance learning is providing challenges for teachers, parents, and students in different ways. Before the pandemic, 94% of public school teachers spent their own money on classroom supplies and now, some children are at home attempting to learn with few to no books or supplies around them.

Words Alive is here to help students, parents, and teachers all at the same time! Our Learning Kits are stocked with the tools students need to succeed: pens and pencils, stationary, scissors, and, of course, brand-new books. It takes just $125 to fund one Learning Kit for a child. If you’d like to help level the playing field for a child, donate here!

More Than 200 Page Turners?!

275 book reviews, 1141 hours volunteered, 28 new books added to curriculum, 229 Page Turners, and 177 reviews in progress!

We launched Page Turners last fall so that our Words Alive community could help us find new, diverse books to read with our students. Since then, over 200 volunteers have joined Page Turners, allowing us to add 28 new books to our programming!

Are you interested in joining a community of passionate readers who are helping us read and review titles? Click here to sign up to read a book!

We Could Use Your Help!

Dozens of cardboard boxes with the Words Alive logo.

To meet the changing needs of children, teens, and families because of the pandemic, we are looking for some specific (donated) expertise and thought you might be able to help:

1. Individuals interested in mentoring first-generation college students for the upcoming school year. In addition to general interests, to help meet needs of specific Scholars we're also seeking professionals with work experience in graphic design, the criminal justice system, or based in Portland, OR. 

2. Pro-bono services from legal and public relations firms

3. App developers or website designers

4. Large, vacant storage unit (or garage) on the ground floor where we can accept, sort, and redistribute book donations safely on an ongoing basis 

If you, or someone you know, is able to volunteer or donate in any of these ways let us know!

Join our Mission Marketplace!

A hand holding a heart filled with books above the words “Support small businesses!”

We know that, now more than ever, it's essential to support the small business owners in our community. If you own a business, restaurant, or even an Etsy store you can team up with Words Alive for our Mission Marketplace! We will promote your business throughout the month of October (or another timeframe that works for you!) in exchange for a portion of proceeds being donated to Words Alive in support of our mission. Win-win!

If you'd like to learn more about the Mission Marketplace, email us here!

Donate Here to Support Words Alive!

September Page Turner of the Month

Every month we like to highlight one of our superstar Page Turners. Our awesome September Page Turner has read a whopping seventeen books since she first started in July. Six of the books she read have already been chosen for curriculum thanks to her insightful reviews! Such books include Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson.

our September Page Turner of the Month is…

Anika Mehra

Here is a little bit about myself: I started reading books with Page Turners because books have always been a source of comfort for me, and so I was excited to have this way of helping others find this love for reading as well. The best books I have read for Page Turners so far have been Educated by Tara Westover and The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman.

Thank you Anika! You and Page Turners like you improve Words Alive programming by identifying diverse, engaging, and inspiring books that we can integrate into programming.

The Words Alive Reader: August 12, 2020

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? Email Robyn, our Volunteer Coordinator. 

#GreatSanDiegoBookGiveaway

An image of a young child wearing a face mask and holding up a sign that says “I’m a Summer Super Reader!”

If you're reading this newsletter, you probably know that books are essential in supporting a young child's growth. We also know that too many children from underserved communities in San Diego are at home without books of their own during this pandemic. Words Alive, the Molina Foundation, the San Diego Council on Literacy, and the San Diego Public Library all came together this past week for The Great San Diego Book Giveaway, a campaign that resulted in 325 families (all of whom participated this spring in the remote version of our programming) taking home brand-new books for the entire family to enjoy!

Learn more about the event here on our blog and donate to help children and families build their home libraries!

Readers in the Heights

An image of Readers in the Heights resources: a book, reading guide, and craft supplies.

For the 5th year in a row, we’ve partnered with United Way of San Diego for Readers in the Heights, a collaborative effort between multiple San Diego organizations to engage families in weekly literacy and self-expression activities to help prevent the summer slide. This year, the program is more important than ever due to COVID-19 and the learning losses expected from transitions to distance learning. This is exactly why we’ve partnered with the staff from the Karen Organization and City Heights CDC to deliver our tested programming to families. 

Even more exciting! Programming is taking place in five languages including Karen and Burmese. Do you want to help us translate our resources into different languages? Take a look at our new virtual volunteer opportunities!​

Upcoming (Virtual) Events:

Celebrating 100 Days of Words Alive Story Station! Watch on Facebook Live @WordsAliveSD every day at 2 pm PT/5 pm ET.

Special Novel Ideas Tour!

Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of our Novel Ideas interactive online gallery on Tues, 8/18 from 3:00-3:30 p.m. Sign up here. 

100th Day of Story Station!

TOMORROW marks the 100th day of Story Station! We have been hosting daily read alouds since the pandemic hit to spread joy, and engage our little learners with fun and inspiring stories. In July alone, Story Station reached 38,000+ people! Join us for our 100th Story Station at 2 p.m. PT tomorrow, August 12th, on Facebook Live. ​​​​​​​

Trending on #QuaranTEENS:

#QuaranTEENS: Prompts to cope with COVID & lessons from the news.

Top stories and activities trending this week on #QuaranTEENS, our online platform helping teens navigate and cope with the COVID-19 crisis and distance learning through reading and writing:

1. Pandemic Podcast

2. The Coronavirus in Six Words

3. Just Breathe

Donate Here to Support Words Alive!

Thank you, Scatena Daniels!

Scatena Daniels is a San Diego-based PR firm that helps companies and organizations showcase why what they do matters. As it says on their website:

We believe your story matters. We'll tell your story in a way that resonates with your ideal customers and leaves a lasting impression.

Words Alive was thrilled to be selected for Scatena Daniels’s The Resilience Project. As COVID-19 hit our communities, Scatena Daniels was at the forefront supporting their philanthropy-focused clients as they worked hard to serve the San Diego County community. They recognized the need for non-profits to adjust their operations during “stay-at-home” orders, and recognized that they could help.

The Resilience Project was a scholarship program providing up to five (5) hours of strategic guidance with a high-level plan as a takeaway. Their hope was to find organizations that have a true spirit of resilience. We are beyond thankful that they chose Words Alive!

Over the past few months, we’ve been meeting with the team from Scatena Daniels, introducing them to Words Alive and talking through the challenges we’ve faced with is comes to communications, PR, and media. We are so thrilled with the high-level strategic communications plan they’ve delivered to us. With this plan, we know we can spread the word about Words Alive far and wide meaning we can connect even more children, teens, and families to the power of reading.

Thank you, Scatena Daniels, for your incredible support of Words Alive and the entire San Diego community.

If you are, or if you know of an PR professionals looking to volunteer time to a great cause, please email us!

The Great San Diego Book Giveaway!

An image of a young child wearing a face mask and holding up a sign that says “I’m a Summer Super Reader!”

Reading books over the summer is one of the most impactful ways children can nurture a love of stories and maintain their reading skills while out of school. We also know that too many children from underserved communities in San Diego are at home during the pandemic without books of their own to explore. But we can do something about that! 

Words Alive collaborated with the San Diego Public Library, the San Diego Council on Literacy, and the Molina Foundation to get books into the hand of children who need them this summer. The San Diego Council on Literacy and the Molina Foundation facilitated a book donation of 3,000 books to Words Alive. This past week, we hosted three Touchless Book Giveaway events at San Diego Public Library branches and ensured that 325 families (all of whom graduated from the remote version of our Family Literacy Program this spring) had books to build their home libraries.

We couldn’t be more thankful to the community partners who made this wonderful event possible, and we’re so incredibly excited for the children who will enjoy such wonderful books this summer!

Page Turner of the Month: August 2020

Page Turners are a HUGE help to Words Alive. You help us identify diverse, engaging, and inspiring books to include in our curriculum! In thanks, we have decided to celebrate a Volunteer of the Month to show our appreciation. In August, our first-ever Page Turner of the Month is…

Jazmyn!

Jazmyn has read and reviewed nine books for Page Turners, and is in the process of reading two more! Two of the books she's read have already been migrated to our Adolescent Book Group Curriculum. We asked Jazmyn some questions about her time as a Page Turner:

What has been the best book you've read with Page Turners?

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

Why did you start reading books with Page Turners and why do you continue?

I needed service hours for the National Junior Honor Society and I love reading and realized once my service time ended, I still wanted to keep on reading these books taking myself out my comfort zone with some of the topics/genres I was reading.

How has being a Page Turner helped you?

It's given me access to books I never would have thought of and forced me to think about things I can change going on in my world.

You can sign up to become a Page Turner right here!

Meet Our Page Turners Intern: Annika Schafer!

We are so thrilled to welcome Annika Schafer as our first-ever Page Turners intern. Annika was our Student Volunteer of the Year last year and now she is stepping up to help us grow our exciting Page Turners program!

You can sign up to join Page Turners right here! Learn more about Annika below:

My name is Annika Schafer and I just started as Words Alive’s first-ever Page Turners Intern (picture of me and the book I'm writing curriculum for above)! I am beyond excited to work with you—our volunteers—on expanding the Page Turners program and getting some really amazing books into the Words Alive curriculum!

​​​​​​​A little bit about me: I am a junior at Wellesley college all the way across the country (outside of Boston, MA) but I was born and raised here in San Diego. That’s how I got to know Words Alive! I organized a Words Alive book drive in high school and went on to volunteer as an office volunteer and curriculum writer during my college breaks. They couldn’t get rid of me if they tried!

Then, when COVID-19 hit, I found myself back in San Diego with time on my hands to help out a whole lot more with the organization I had grown to love so much! ​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​You can reach me at [email protected] if you ever have any questions about the Page Turners Program—whether you are a new volunteer, you have questions while reading, or you have a book to suggest. I am excited to hear from you!

Happy reading!

Books Connect Us: June 19, 2020

Through Words Alive’s response to COVID-19, “Books Connect Us,” we are sharing best practices from our 20+ year history to help children, teens, and families use the love of reading to navigate this turbulent time. Here are a few highlights from the past few days. 

Novel Ideas!

For the past few months, you’ve been following the journey of Words Alive’s adaptations to support youth and families through social distancing. Today we are proud to showcase some of the extraordinary work that has come from this turbulent time. 

Novel Ideas is an interactive online gallery of student voices powered by their connection to words, reading, writing, and art. Novel Ideas showcases work from more than 400 students exploring themes of student activism, social distancing, and a love of reading.

We invite you to a docent-led ‘tour’ (via Zoom) of the exhibit to hear stories of these incredible students at such a remarkable time. Sign up for a tour here.

Words Alive + University of California San Diego!

Virtual and remote volunteers are stepping up to support Words Alive in amazing ways during social distancing.

We recently partnered with the Center for Student Involvement at the University of California San Diego to host a two-week long volunteer-a-thon. Students participated in service projects enhancing our curriculum, translating materials to reach more communities, and outreach to help connect with more teachers and families. We want to extend a special thank you to the Words Alive volunteers who also facilitated each project!

 If your company or group are looking for virtual service opportunities, please contact Robyn.

New Curriculum Books!

Words Alive launched the Page Turners program last fall so volunteers could help review and identify which books we should read with our students. We are excited to announce the first books to be moved from our Page Turners reading list into our process to develop curriculum so the books can be used in our programs: Islandborn by Junot Díaz, Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor, Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring by Angela Cervantes, and Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles. Thank you to all of the Page Turners who read and reviewed these titles!

 Over 100 Page Turners are helping us decide which books should be taught in our classroom programming! Interested in joining? Click here.

Upcoming (Virtual) Events

Join us for these stories on Story Station every weekday afternoon (2 pm PT on Facebook Live):

6/22: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin

6/23: Pass It On! by Marilyn Sadler

6/24: The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems

6/25: I'm Not a Chair! by Ross Burach

6/27: Special Friday surprise!

(Recordings are available on our Facebook page after the reading.)

Trending on #QuaranTEENS

Top stories and activities trending this week on #QuaranTEENS:

1. Book Cover Challenge

2. Create a Playlist 

3. Storytelling to Make Sense of the World

Donate Here to Support Words Alive's COVID-19 Response!

Black Lives Matter to Words Alive

Reading has the power to create a more just and compassionate world. 

A book can help you understand the story of someone completely different from you. At the same time, a book can reflect your own experiences back at you, as if to say: I see you. You are not alone. For the students Words Alive works with every day - students unaccustomed to seeing themselves represented in the books they read - it is the latter experience that is the most transformative.

Together, our students read the chapter in The Hate U Give where Starr Carter grabs a microphone at a protest to make her voice heard. She uses her microphone to make sure everyone knows that her friend Khalil’s life mattered, before and after he was murdered by a police officer. Our students relate to and feel her anger - because they’ve experienced it themselves.

Together, our students read Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice about how a Black teenager in 1960s Alabama served as a spark that ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. Our students applaud Claudette’s resistance, and her effort to step into her own power - because they’ve faced discrimination in public spaces, and they’re resisting too. They also grieve how little progress we’ve made as a society since Claudette’s youth.

We have a moral responsibility to our students and their families to stand with those seeking fairness and to advocate against systemic inequities. Which is why we’re making clear today, to Black students, parents, volunteers, collaborative partners, donors, teachers, and our entire community: We see you, we hear you, and you are not alone. Black lives do matter.

They must matter.

They matter to Words Alive.

Reading has the power to change the world, but only when we bring the words alive with our actions. As an organization, Words Alive will support the efforts of those seeking dialogue, understanding, healing, and change. We will listen, first and foremost, to what is needed and how we can help. We will continue to give our students a microphone, just like Starr Carter’s, and we will amplify their voices. 

Because Black voices, and Black lives, matter.