April National Month of?: April National Month of?

April is the National Month to celebrate a great many interests. A complete list of over 55 topics is available at https://www.thebalanceeveryday.com/april-is-national-month-calendar-3514983. Each of these highlighted categories is important, but some examples significant to MOTAL include Financial Literacy, Mathematics Awareness, Child Abuse Awareness, Internship Awareness, Autism Awareness, The School Library, and Poetry. Today we are going to shine the light on two.

National School Library Month
A library is much more than a collection of books and periodicals. A school library provides a sanctuary for self-learning. With the help of a trained librarian, the collection remains healthy, appropriate and accessible. In addition, the librarian teaches students how to find resources and how to use them properly.

It is important to know that in many public schools today, professionally qualified librarians are few and far between. The school library is often staffed with part-time or volunteer technicians who may be supervised by a district librarian. Unfortunately, some schools no longer have libraries, despite research that shows strong correlations between school libraries and school reading scores.

Whether your school has a full-time librarian or a part-time technician, the fact that your child has access on campus to a library is significant, for not all students have easy access to materials at or near their homes.  For more information on school libraries, including standards, research, and recommendations, visit this site for the American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/

National Poetry Month
You may think that poetry is not your cup of tea,
But on the other hand, it just might be
That you have not discovered that one poem Which touches your heart and lifts your soul.

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   A brief poem can often express more insight, 
   emotion, or wonder than a novel or a movie.


   In the 21st century, poems may:
   rhyme or not;
   have meter or not;
   be 15 syllables or more;
   speak plainly, grandiloquently or lyrically or not.

Did you know?
. . . That Michelangelo wrote poetry? In addition to his paintings and sculptures, he wrote over 300 poems!

. . . That performance poetry has enjoyed an upsurge in popularity ever since Amanda Gorman’s presentation of “The Hill We Climb” at the 2021 Inauguration ceremony? Among many of its memorable lines: “A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished,” and “While we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.”


There are many sources for poetry on the Internet, including apps like Pinterest. Also, for more information on National Poetry Month, you may visit: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/30-ways-celebrate-national-poetry-month


Submitted by Cheryl Stewart
MOTAL Board Member
We Educate People About Education