If "Reading Rainbow" met a live music concert, its inspired educational offspring would look a lot like the locally produced, nationally praised program, Books Alive. The Emmy-nominated, award-winning literary performing arts program is the brainchild of local jazz legend Kathy Wade.
Wade, founder and director of the non-profit
Learning Through Art, started the Books Alive curriculum 15 years ago as a way to increase literacy, and fun, in elementary schools around the region. "The connectedness between literacy, visual art and performing art is powerful tool for teaching," Wade says. "It allows integrating the arts through every curriculum topic in a classroom."
Books Alive, designed for students from Kindergarten through third grade, includes elements of sight, sound and touch: participants read the book, watch of a performance based on the book and make a related craft. Teachers and administrators of Bond Hill Academy praise Books Alive for helping increase students' literacy between 20 and 40 percent since 1998. Teachers in Connecticut who use Books Alive report literacy gains as well.
In all, Books Alive has touched the lives of more than 7,000 children so far, reaching from Cincinnati to the East Coast and anywhere there is an Internet connection, thanks to
online versions.
After hearing from teachers how much the program helped students, how it encouraged them to connect with books in new and exciting ways, Wade determined to expand. Today, the Books Alive program includes an Educational Edition, Home Edition, Birthday in a Box and Holiday in a Box--all of which are available to
purchase online.
Just one of many Learning Through Art programs, Books Alive embodies Wade's approach to learning that lasts. "It's about taking your creativity and teaching with it to it and for it," she says.
Do Good:
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Read all about it. Follow LTA's work on Facebook.
• Go to the Zoo! LTA's annual Zoo Day, which includes greatly reduced admission, July 20, 2011. ?
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Support the cause. Contact LTA and donate your time or money to keep connecting more kids to the arts and learning.
By Elissa YanceyPhoto courtesy of Learning Through Art
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