Día Grant Receipients

Pat Mora

5th annual Diapalooza
We congratulate the following 2 libraries on winning the 2014 Día Grants from the Center for Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL.)

Contra Costa County Library – Pittsburg Library, Pittsburg, CA (Día Theme: “Anyone Can Dream – A Celebration of African American Poetry”) Date of event: April 26, 2014, 1:00 p.m.

Seminole County Public Library, Casselberry, FL (Día Theme: “Dress, Drums, and Dance – Interactive Día Program with an African American Focus”) Date of event: April 10 – 30, 2014. (Note: There will be 5 programs. 1 at each of the 5 library locations.)

CSMCL awards $500 grants in selected multicultural books to libraries that serve children and their families who are having a Día library program, El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) with an African American focus. The Día grants are funded by CSMCL in partnership with the Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC) and Día Founder, Pat Mora.

Happy Día from ALSC!

Pat Mora

5th annual Diapalooza Today’s guest post is by Aimee Strittmatter, Executive Director of the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. Thank you, Aimee!

Aimee Strittmatter From their earliest years, libraries help children to understand society through books, new media and programming. Through rich programming and culturally diverse collections librarians facilitate in children an understanding of the diversity of their communities and the larger world. Participation in the El día de los niños/El día de los libros, commonly known as Día, initiative is one way libraries across the country are connecting children and families with a world of learning.

Recognized by the Library of Congress for assuring cultural relevance in literacy programs in the 2013 Literacy Awards Best Practices publication; the Día initiative works to link children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures. Día emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds and aims to celebrate children and connect them to the world of learning through books, stories and libraries.

Through the Día initiative the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has worked to make it easier for libraries to incorporate quality culturally diverse programming into their schedule throughout the year.
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Explore the Día website to find a range of free resources. ALSC offers annual book lists, program posters, coloring and activity sheets, a Día resource guide and more. Through the National Día Program Registry you can explore the Día Map to find a celebration happening in your own community or register your own celebration. ALSC will even send you free bookmarks, stickers and buttons to help you get started!

dia curiculum exampleALSC is pleased to announce the recent completion of the Día Family Book Club Curriculum for 2014 and beyond. Paired with titles that celebrate our common plurality; lesson plans in this curriculum were written by professionals in the library field. We encourage you to download the twelve lesson plans today along with the free toolkit and invite families in your community to discover the world around them through your own Día Family Book Club program.

The new website, rich resources and the national program registry has made it easier than ever for YOU to celebrate Día!
Happy Día!

Día Blog Hop Begins Today

Pat Mora

5th annual Diapalooza The second annual Día Blog Hop begins today, hosted by Latinas for Latino Literature in honor of El día de los niños, El día de los libros/ Children’s Day, Book Day.

Pat’s post is the first of daily posts by different authors/illustrators who will appear on different blogs, writing an original short article or creating an original illustration in support of Latino children’s literacy. Read the full schedule — you’ll want to read each and every post!

dia_blog_hop_2014

Día Song

Pat Mora

5th annual DiapaloozaToday we bring you a musical treat. Our thanks to the 5th grade at Tony Serna Jr. Elementary (West Las Vegas, NM) and their teacher, Billie Matthews.

Día Song

This is the day of the children,
los niños, the children.
This is the day of the children
the children and their books.

El día de los niños: El día de los libros,
the day of children and their books,
ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán,
los niños and their books.

Celebrate with piñatas
and musica de colores,
add the papel picado
and baskets and baskets of books,

Silly and sad, scary and glad,
baskets of delicious books.

Read to a favorite person,
read to lizards and cats,
read to the moon humming a tune
as you read from your baskets of books.

El día de los niños: El día de los libros,
the day of children and their books,
ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán,
the children and their books.

This is a song that keeps growing,
in Chinese or Navajo too,
so add your verse and sing along,
on this day of children and books.

El día de los niños: El día de los libros,
the day of children and their books,
ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán,
los niños and their books.

by Pat Mora