Empowering Teachers, Students, and Families
For over 20 years the School Literacy and Culture Project (SLC) has promoted effective teaching through rigorous professional educational initiatives that emphasize early literacy, child development, writing and culture. Our work is based on the following guiding principles:
• Change requires teachers to become part of a professional learning community that places inquiry at its center.
• Teachers learn best when they can use their own classroom experience to examine their beliefs and practices.
• Issues of equity must permeate the fabric of professional development.
Bernie Christine Mathes
The School Literacy and Culture Project celebrates the life of Bernie Mathes,
former project Director. Bernie's love for and understanding of children strengthened our program, and anyone who knew Bernie treasured her warmth and concern. She was a teacher, a leader, a thinker, a researcher, and good friend to all. She will be honored at our upcoming January Literacy conference.
Spotlight on the Rice Oral Language and Literacy Lab
SLC was the focus of HISD Board President Michael Lunceford's "HISD Up Close" -- this spring focusing on our innovative program at Gabriela Mistral Early Childhood Education Center to teach English to non-native speakers. Click here to watch the video.
Idea of the Month:
Personalized Class Stationery
Summer Institute WelcomesTeachers from Near and Far
This summer the annual Summer Institute on Reading, Writing, and Cultural Connections welcomed attendees from as far away as Africa and Brazil. 50 teachers gathered all week in the Kyle Morrow room of the Fondren Library to hear presentations from experts in early childhood education.
Click here to see our Facebook photo album!
Click Here for our most recent report to the SLC Advisory Board.
Rice University's School Literacy and Culture Project is funded solely by gifts, grants, and the fees paid by participating schools. We are a 501c(3) organization. Your gifts are tax-deductible. To donate to our program or to sponsor a teacher, please click here.
Registration for Upcoming Events
Click below to learn more:
Parent Workshop: Eight Books Young Children Should Not Live Without
Classroom Storytelling Project
Summer Institute on Reading, Writing, and Cultural Connections
Our Favorite Books
We are proud to announce a new resource for teachers and parents. Support SLC and visit our Amazon Bookstore to find our recommendations for kids and professionals. We will be updating this page frequently, so be sure to check back!What New Piece of the Universe Did Your Students Touch Today?
Dr. Linda M. McNeil's latest article is in the TSTA Advocate. Click here for PDF (pg. 14).
Standards Correlation Available Online
The SLC Literacy Team has finished correlating our early literacy program activities to state Pre-K standards.Click here to read more.
Ridgemont Collaboration Begins Our Fourth Year
Our largest campus collaboration is at the Ridgemont Campus in Fort Bend ISD. This center, unique in the Houston area, is a dawn-to-dusk facility providing services for infants to 5th graders, as well as their families. Click here to learn more.
Registration for Creative Writing Camp open Feb. 1!
This year we have EIGHT locations!SLC Partners with HISD's Gabriela Mistral CEC to Create Model Literacy Lab
The Rice Oral Language and Literacy Lab, which opened in August 2011, has been created as a demonstration site for teachers striving to provide children with extensive opportunities for oral language development. This collaborative HISD/Rice venture to systematically support English Language Learners is the first of its kind in the U.S.! For a closer look, click here.
Our Early Literacy Research Wins National Award
Research published by SLC authors has received one of two annual awards for research by the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. Click here to read about this paper.
SLC Partners with Kinder Institute Through Student Internship at Small Steps Nurturing Center
Ashlin Orr is a member of the SLC
team who began her time with us as a Community Bridges Fellow. Community Bridges is a unique initiative that actively engages Rice undergraduate students in Houston's Fifth Ward. Students are able to apply what they have learned in their sociology courses through internships with locally based non-profit organizations. During Ashlin's time as a fellow last semester she worked on facilitating the Classroom Storytelling Project at Small Steps Nurturing Center, a comprehensive early childhood education center in Houston's Third and Fifth Wards.
You may see a video describing this new initiative by clicking here or on the photo above.