Needle and ThREAD

Stitching for Literacy Update

Clip Bookmarks collected by The Stitchers' VillageClip bookmarks collected by The Stitchers’ Village for the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy 2010 Bookmark Challenge. The Village is already collecting for 2011. (hint, hint)

It’s time to get moving on the 2011 Bookmark Challenge. Here’s our motivation. This is a story from Becca:

I bought a pattern of the Kansas University Jayhawk while I was visiting my brother and mom in Kansas. I asked my first grade great-nephew, who has become an amazing reader, if he wanted a bookmark with a Jayhawk on it. He replied “Yes, please” and was clearly waiting for me to give it to him. When I explained that I would have to make it after I went home, he asked “How many days?” So I think I better get to work on that!

I think we’d better all get to work. Heaps of kids (not to mention librarians, teachers, and parents) would love to have a bookmark.

Do you remember the series of “It Takes Just One” posts from last year’s Challenge? Well, they inspired me. I want to single-handedly act locally.

We have a very small local school–probably fewer than 40 kids in grades K-12. Yeah, I live in the boonies; where have you been all this time? I want to see each child at the school receive a bookmark this year, and I want to teach some to stitch their own.

So…my goal for this week is to contact the PBI (that’s PTA or PTO to some of us) president and see if I might get parents to stitch bookmarks for the kids. I’ll teach the parents, and they can help me teach the kids. The PBI president, it turns out, lives across the street. This should be easy.

All right. What are you going to do for the Challenge this year?

Categories: Needle and ThREAD

2 replies »

  1. Hi Jen,

    I am up to 17 bookmarks for the 2011 bookmark challenge. I plan to donate them to one of our local libraries for their summer reading program. I have made most myself with the help of a friend that made one to donate. I hope to have more by the time June roll around.

  2. Woot, Maureen! You’re our first Extreme Stitcher in 2011. I’m going to want pics and deets–maybe progress updates?

    Summer reading programs are enormously important. Students who don’t read over the summer backslide and are behind when the school year starts.