Thursday, January 10, 2013

Attention Parents, Family Members, Teachers, Homeschoolers, Librarians, and Community Leaders!

NEW Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids NOW AVAILABLE Free at OurWhiteHouse.org
 
Use This All-in-One Nonpartisan Resource
to Engage Kids
in the Presidential Inauguration
 
 
Just in time for the upcoming inauguration on January 21st! The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance has created a free, online Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids for all adults who live and work with young people to help engage and excite kids all across the country in this year's presidential inauguration and to enrich kids' knowledge of government and the political process! 
 
The Our White House Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids is available on OurWhiteHouse.org. An easy-to-print version is also available on the document-sharing website Scribd.com.
 
Using the extensive resources in our Kit, you can:
  • Host an Inaugural Ball for Kids!
  • Discover why President Obama will be sworn in twice.
  • Learn how Thomas Jefferson's first inauguration helped unite the country following a bitter election battle AND how President Kennedy's inaugural parade was NOT thwarted by snow!
  • Play "Inaugural I Spy" on Inauguration Day using our easy-to-print "I SPY" Scorecard.
  • Understand how presidents--and their speech writers--approach and write an inaugural speech.
  • Help kids design their own inaugural parade floats, write their own inaugural poems, and SO MUCH MORE!
Some of the ideas and activities provided in the Kit are designed to coordinate with the content and illustrations in the NCBLA's anthology Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, but most of them can be used independently of the book. We invite you to print and adapt content from the Kit as needed or to browse the pages using your smart phone, tablet computer, or laptop while on the go.

 
About Our White House and OurWhiteHouse.org

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out was created by the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance as a collaborative effort by over one hundred award-winning authors and illustrators. Our White House is an incomparable collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, poetry, and a stunning array of original art, offering a multifaceted look at America’s history through the prism of the White House. Our White House is available in both hardcover and paperback from Candlewick Press.

The Our White House anthology is supported by a companion educational website, OurWhiteHouse.org, which expands the book content with additional stories, primary sources, articles, activities, and discussion questions related to book topics. The Our White House Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids is the most recent addition to this site, which has been named a Great Web Site for Kids by the American Library Association! Both Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and OurWhiteHouse.org are projects created by the NCBLA to not only promote literacy, but to also excite people of all ages about our nation’s rich history. 
 
Learn more about how parents, teachers, and librarians can inspire young people using the Our White House resources in the online article "For Educators: Using Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and OurWhiteHouse.org in the Classroom."
 
Ask for Our White House at a library or bookstore near you!

About The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance
The NCBLA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization founded by award-winning young people’s authors and illustrators. Acting as an independent creative agent or in partnership with interested parties, the NCBLA develops original projects, programs, and educational outreach that advocate for and educate about literacy, literature, libraries, and the arts.

We believe that literacy is essential to the development of responsible citizens in a democracy. And we believe that citizens, both young and old, must have equal access to stimulating books and information sources that invite them to dream and give them the tools to achieve their dreams. As writers and illustrators, teachers and mentors, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles—as citizens and neighbors—our ultimate question is always how can we best serve all of our nation’s children?

For more information about the NCBLA, please visit our website at
www.thencbla.org.