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Conference News
I was very fortunate to attend the International Reading Association Conference in San Diego this month.  While at the conference a common thread of literacy was woven throughout the sessions.  I was told even more how important literacy and reading are to a child and that it is never to early to start. Our government is calling for action from teachers and parents to start early intervention with their children and students.  There are many programs being developed to ensure that children will learn to read and write that are to be federally funded.  There is to be a lot of time and effort put toward this one goal to provide well rounded citizens in our nation.  This begins with books and reading.
While at the conference I was able to meet a couple of my favorite authors.  I stood in line to meet and get books autographed by Tomie dePaola.  He is one author that many of my younger students enjoyed, as well as myself.  As I grew older I enjoyed the writings of S.E. Hinton and was also able to meet her and get an autographed book of the "Outsiders".  Both authors were very excited to see such outpouring for their writings and greeted each person with a smile and conversation.  They both were able to speak to teachers about how important reading and writing are to a child and how they have devoted much of their time to this craft to help children to be engaged and want to read.