Students at Glen Iris Elementary School enjoy picking out a book for themselves as part of a partnership with the UAB School of Education. Students and faculty from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Education visited with and read books to students at Glen Iris Elementary School in celebration and acknowledgment of International Literacy Day, celebrated annually Sept. 8.
International Literacy Day spotlights literacy as a fundamental human right, and amplifies information about literary disparities worldwide.
“The best way for children to become readers is for them to have access to books they want to read and time to read them every day,” said Kelly Hill, Ph.D., assistant professor in English Learner Education and Early Childhood Education at UAB.
In addition to reading to the children in grades pre-K through second grade, more than 479 books were donated to Glen Iris students. The donation provided each classroom with books for the in-room library and allowed for every child to self-select a book to take home to read with their families and add to — or start — their own home library.
Additionally, UAB provided families with additional resources to support and promote reading at home.
“International Literacy Day was a perfect opportunity to collaborate and promote reading at home,” Hill said. “Through thoughtful planning, we were able to collaborate with several community stakeholders by providing books and resources for families to continue and enhance what they are already doing to support their children as readers.”
UAB was joined in their efforts this year by the Maryann Manning Family Literacy Center and the IMPACT-PD grant team, a grant funded by the United States Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition.