The Maine DOE has developed new informational brochures and videos designed to help community literacy teams across the state educate parents and the public about literacy development and empower them with simple ways in which they can support literacy education.
A set of six informational brochures are now available on the Literacy for ME webpage. The brochures span the birth to adult continuum (birth-5, K- grade 2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, grades 9-12 and adult) and contain helpful tips for supporting literacy learning during these points in time. The brochures can be downloaded and customized with community literacy teams’ or organizations’ contact information.
Three short (4 minute) informational videos are also included in the Investing in Literacy series and available on the Literacy for ME webpage. These videos describe literacy learning at varied points in time (early childhood, elementary school and adolescent/adult) and provide suggestions for how parents and community members can bolster literacy learning. A shorter (2 minute) informational video entitled Literacy for ME: An Investment in Maine has also been developed and provides an overview of the Literacy for ME initiative and describes the importance of literacy education to Maine’s well-being. The videos were filmed in Maine communities at a variety of locations that provide literacy education opportunities or where literacy is used in the workplace.
The Literacy for ME initiative strives to bolster literacy education efforts in Maine across the birth to adult spectrum. Since its launch in September of 2013, Literacy for ME has informed Maine DOE’s literacy work and has supported community literacy team formation and planning activities.
A listing of community literacy teams can be found on the Department’s Literacy for ME webpage, which also includes other resources that support literacy education efforts and community literacy planning, including links to the 2014 webinar series for community literacy teams.