MNEA partners with Missouri Press Association in Reading Across Missouri project
Missouri NEA and the Missouri Press Association and Foundation will partner in January to promote reading and Missouri history to children across the state.
Each January, Missouri newspapers publish an historical fiction serial story in the annual Newspapers In Education project, Reading Across Missouri. The project, inspired by NEA’s Read Across America campaign, engages children inside their community newspaper—learning a little about Missouri history while improving their reading skills and connecting to their communities.
This year, well-known Missourians will read aloud each chapter of the story, “Three Generals,” and as Missouri’s newspapers publish the serial, children across the state will be able to access the audio files online at www.mnea.org and read along. Among the readers are Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, University of Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton, U.S. Silver Olympic Medalist Christian Cantwell, former U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton, Missouri National Guard Major General Stephen Danner and story author Kay Hively.
The Reading Across Missouri 2011 story, “Three Generals,” introduces young readers to three men, John J. Pershing, Maxwell D. Taylor and Omar N. Bradley, who had significant roles in two world wars and all hailed from Missouri. Inspired by these three famous American generals, the two main characters learn that no matter where they live, boys and girls can achieve great success through hard work and a belief in their own dreams.
The story is eight chapters and is provided at no cost to Missouri newspapers. A companion teacher guide, correlated to Missouri’s learning standards, also is available at no charge. Find it with the audio files at www.mnea.org. To participate in the project, newspapers agree to begin publishing the story sometime during the month of January 2011. Most newspapers will publish one chapter each week for eight consecutive weeks.
The audio files of Missourians reading the chapters will be posted online in partnership with Missouri NEA. The name “Reading Across Missouri” was modeled after NEA’s Read Across America project, which motivates children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources. The timeline for the Missouri effort was set to conclude near Read Across America Day, March 2, which celebrates the birthday of Dr. Seuss.
This will be the seventh year for the Reading Across Missouri project and the eighth time newspapers across the state have published a serialized story for young readers in unison. In 2001, Missouri newspapers published “Hannah’s Diary: A Tale of the Pony Express,” written by Missouri author Kay Hively. Eighty-one Missouri newspapers published that, and it proved popular with readers, young and older, as well as teachers.
In 2005, Missouri Press initiated the Reading Across Missouri project with “A Hunter’s Heart,” the story of Old Drum, a hunting dog from Warrensburg.
“The Best Storyteller” followed, a tale set in Hannibal about Mark Twain, then “A Familiar Face,” the boyhood story of President Harry Truman. “Pressing West” celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Missouri Gazette, the first newspaper in Missouri, and in 2009 readers discovered the Steamboat Arabia in “The River Speaks.” In January, “Colorful Characters,” introduced readers to George Caleb Bingham, a Missouri boy raised in Franklin and Arrow Rock who became one of our most famous artists.
The goal of the Reading Across Missouri project is a unified effort by Missouri’s newspapers to encourage children to start a new year with reading as a top priority. A list of newspapers participating in the project will be published at www.mopress.com in January to celebrate Missouri’s community newspapers’ commitment to promoting reading—and the importance of reading newspapers—to children.
For more information on the Reading Across Missouri project, contact Dawn Kitchell, MPA education director, at
Kitchell@yhti.net or (636) 932-4301.