A partnership between Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Beyond School Bells (BSB), Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR), Unite for Literacy, and Linked to Literacy funds literacy efforts. In March of this year, by offering grants of up to $2,500 for literacy projects connected to summer programming, Beyond School Bells implemented what Education Commisioner Brian Maher described as the Department of Education’s vision of fostering “a culture of proficient and lifelong readers in Nebraska.”
Sometimes, the little things aren’t all that little. So when Yanki Smith makes a spiral flourish with her hand to indicate writing with a pen and says her contribution to the writing of Moving Day Made Fun was “a little…
Since its beginning, NGR has made creating stories that speak to the diverse landscapes, the experiences, the languages, and the cultures of Nebraska a central part of its mission. And now, NGR is not only encouraging such local content, it is working with writer’s in a series of workshops to create Nebraska-related books. Kim Parsons has lived in Schuyler for over 50 years and is writing a book about the sweet corn farming that has been a part of her family for 21 years.
Renae Norenberg, who has owned and operated Nae’s Away from Home childcare in Fremont since 1990, says, “my kids just get ecstatic. They watch for the mail. It’s like they know when those books are going to be coming. They want to open the door to see if they have a little box on the porch. We can’t open them fast enough.” Norenberg is talking about the free boxes of NGR books that are sent to early childhood educators who are registered with the program.
Janelle Nissen has been involved with Nebraska Growing Readers since it began in 2023 when Laura Cady began working closely with Indian Hill as a test site for writing books and family engagement. Thanks to Nissen and Cady, it has since been a forerunner in hosting literacy events for the program. As Nissen puts it, “NGR hits our mission of that two-generational home-to-school connection as well as getting books in the home.” What Nissen is doing is building a literacy community.
Both Kim Chase and Amy Standley agree on a very specific detail about Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR) books: they fit well in small hands. While this may seem minor, it means that the children these early childhood professionals work with are holding the books, looking at the colorful pictures, identifying what they see; such moments are the early literacy moments NGR strives for.
Growing the Good Life 