With Pat MoraFor National Poetry MonthApril 30th is Dia de los niños/Dia de los libros 
A great way to celebrate National Poetry Month is with Día de los niños: Día de los libros on April 30th (Day of the Children: Day of the Books). Make this a day to encourage bilingual literacy among all children–in your classroom, day care center, neighborhood, or at home. Día de los niños: Día de los libros began with poet and  literary activist Pat Mora (author of Confetti editor of Love to Mama). As Pat observes, "One in five children in this country comes from a home in which a language other than English is the home language. By honoring these languages, we celebrate our linguistic and cultural wealth." The goal of April 30: Día de los niños: Día de los libros is to celebrate childhood and bilingual literacy. Activities for schools, libraries, museums, and other community organizations include: - Invite parents/family member who speak a language other than English to share bilingual stories and games as honored guests. - Involve families in bilingual writing projects such as family stories and neighborhood oral histories. - Use the observance to encourage parents who are learning English to utilize the school library by initiating a parent library. Pat Mora has written the following poem for this year's observance. |
Song for April 30th This is the day of the children, los niños, the children. This is the day of the children the children and their books. Día de los niños: Día de los libros, the 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 on Día de los niños: Día de los libros, the day of children and books, ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán, los niños 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. Día de los niños: Día de los libros, day of children and their books, ta-lán, ta-lán, tan-tán, ta-lán, los niños and their books. © 1998, Pat Mora |
| The April 30th observance is endorsed by REFORMA, librarians serving Spanish-speaking populations; MANA, a National Latina Organization; NABE, the National Association of Bilingual Education, and NLCI the National Latino Children's Institute.
...Learn more about Confetti: Poems for Children Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers  View poet Pat Mora reading from Love to Mamain our Poetry Power Digital Movie Archive Pat Mora is also featured in our Creativity Survey Visit Pat Mora's personal Web site by clicking here Other BookTalks |
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