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Literacy expands student knowledge!
And helps you grow from pre-K to college.
- Grover, Sesame Street

DonorsChoose.org was invited to attend the International Literacy Day Symposium held September 8 at UN Headquarters where leading  educators and policy makers discussed partnerships and best practices for achieving universal literacy.  Keynote speakers  included Honorary UN Ambassador Laura Bush; Jacob Atem, Founder of Southern Sudan Health Care and former “Lost Boy of Sudan”; and Gary Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop who brought along Grover from Sesame Street!

Panelists discussed how teachers and educators are currently working together and integrating technology to advance basic reading skills, in addition to childhood development of social media and emotional literacy. “We are here to share stories of hope, faith, and commitment to improving literacy for all children, no matter where they grow up,” said CBS news correspondent Byron Pitts. Pitts moderated the session and shared his inspirational story of finally learning to read at age 12 after years of being “functionally illiterate.”

DonorsChoose.org currently lists over 6,000 requests for classroom literacy projects in search of funding. Thanks to the generous support from our donors, last year we provided over 300,000 books to students nationwide. Here are just a few of the great titles that students are reading right now:

James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl

Coming of Age in America: A Multicultural Anthology, Mary Frosch

Dinosaurs!, Gail Gibbons

Tears of a Tiger, Sharon M. Draper

Cupcake Tycoon, Matt and Jennifer Holm

If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King, by Ellen Levine & Anna Rich

Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself, Kathleen Reilly

One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve with Math!, Eric & Natalie Yoder