Celebrate International Literacy Day!

Thanks to Maupin House's blog, we here at Prestwick House can join in celebrating International Literacy Day! Read an excerpt from the Maupin House blog below, or click here to read the full story.

Celebrate International Literacy Day!

In 1965, the United Nations declared September 8 International Literacy Day. For the past 45 years, International Literacy Day has aimed to emphasize the importance of literacy to communities, societies and cultures around the world!

Illiteracy is not something that occurs only in far away continents and countries. It could be affecting someone in your community. According to the International Reading Association, an estimated 780 million adults do not know how to read or write. The IRA also estimates that 94-115 million children worldwide don’t have access to education. International Literacy Day is just one of the ways we can strive to increase literacy around the world!

Not sure how you can get involved? Here are some fun, easy ways to celebrate the day:

• Have your children or students write short stories about their favorite books or story characters. Allow them to create their own illustrations to go along! Then have them present their short stories out loud.

• Organize a reading circle with your class or children, where everyone takes a turn reading part of a story.

• Take a trip to the library and pick out some new reading material for your class, your kids, or yourself!

• Volunteer at a local library or after-school program. Read and write stories with the children there!

• Are your kids too old for some of the books in the house? Are you tired of the same books you’ve had for years? Donate them! You can take them to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, churches-anywhere! One man’s trash is another man’s literary treasure.

And most importantly, spread the word! Raising awareness of International Literacy Day is easy and powerful. Send out an e-mail or write a newsletter or short article telling about the day and why it is important. And let your students or children know how lucky they are to have the tools that teach them to read and write. The more people who know about International Literacy Day, the closer we are to helping the people it affects.

Now go do your part, and enjoy the day!