News from the Curriculum Resource Center

 Summer’s here! It officially arrives on Wednesday, June 20, in the northern hemisphere. We enjoy our longest hours of daylight on the first day of summer, or summer solstice.

Do your summer plans include reading? The CRC has books about summer for children, as well as  summer novels for young adults.

Whatever your favorite warm-weather pastimes, enjoy these long days of summer!                 

Sunday, June 17, is Father’s Day for 2012. This celebration occurs on the third Sunday in June. Fathers and father figures are celebrated for the contributions they make to children’s lives. Father’s Day was first celebrated in 1910 and was recognized as a holiday (but not a national holiday) by President Nixon in 1972.

  World Music Day, or Fete de la Musique, was first celebrated in France in 1982. It is celebrated at or near the summer solstice. This year, with the solstice on Wednesday, June 20, World Music Day will be celebrated in some places on June 17 (a weekend day near the summer solstice).

The event usually consists of free music performances and unofficial concerts. Why not celebrate!

June 14 is celebrated as Flag Day each year. This day was chosen to commemorate adoption of  the “Stars and Stripes” as the United States flag in 1777. Although it had been celebrated in various locales for a number of years, the holiday wasn’t recognized as the National Flag Day until President Harry S Truman signed an Act of Congress on August 3, 1949.

Ray Bradbury, a master of science fiction, died earlier this week at the age of 91. Among his many books were Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Dandelion Wine. Bradbury loved libraries all his life. Unable to afford college, he educated himself at the library, as is explained in the following quote:

. . .he read and wrote voraciously. ”When I graduated from high school in 1938, I began going to the library three nights a week,” he said in an interview with The Paris Review. “I did this every week for … Continue Reading

     June 5 is World Environment Day. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began on this day in 1972. The commemoration of WED began on the first Wednesday in June, 1973. The 2012 theme is:       

Green Economy: Does It Include You?

Check the World Environment Day web site to see what is happening around the world. You’ll find it at: http://www.unep.org/wed/

The children’s literature world again has lost well-loved figures. Leo Dillon, who was the first African-American illustrator to win the Caldecott Medal, and Ellen Levine, an award-winning writer who focused on social justice, history, and the immigrant and slave experiences, both died on May 26.

Leo Dillon and his wife, Diane, worked together to illustrate books. They won the Caldecott two years in a row–the only artists who did. Dillon won numerous awards in addition to the Caldecotts. He and his wife were working on the art for a book, … Continue Reading