Tag Archives: literacy

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

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Transform a basic brown box into a community full of color, patterns, and fun! This simple project was inspired by the true story of a neighborhood in San Diego’s East Village!

We read Maybe Something Beautiful, written by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, and illustrated by Rafael López (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016). Mira lives in a gray city, but her heart and mind are full of color and joy. When she meets a muralist with a pocketful of paintbrushes, they launch a mission to bring bright, bold, and inspiring colors to walls, benches, and sidewalks. A true story, this book describes how the Urban Art Trail initiative transformed a community. It’s an amazing, heartfelt read, and the illustrations are next level gorgeous. Don’t miss the note from the authors in the back of the book, or the fact that the original community muralist, Rafael López, is also the book’s illustrator!

All you need for this project is a box and some markers and/or art supplies! We used leftover craft box houses from our Gingerbread Architecture event…

And then we brought out markers, paper, stickers, feathers, foam beads, pipe cleaners and our good ‘ol Bling Bin. When everyone was finished, we put the houses together for a little neighborhood walk!

There and Back Again: Katie’s Journey

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It’s been a long journey, but Katie and Finley finally completed their quest!

You might recall that two years ago, Katie and her trusty dog Finley decided to test THE LORD OF THE RINGS Virtual Challenge series, offered by Conqueror Virtual Challenges. It’s an app that invites individuals to virtually hike famous trails, parks, and fantasy locations! Katie chose to traverse Middle Earth, carrying the One Ring all the way from the The Shire to Mordor. Katie and Finley started on June 2, 2022. After every dog walk, she logged her hours and watched her progress on the app’s neat-o map. She finished October 26, 2024. The grand total? 660 miles.

There were five stops along the journey, and at each stop earned Katie a medal that was mailed to her house. As you can see, they are unique, intricate, surprisingly large, and super cool. One of them glows in the dark!

The company also mails postcards when you reach certain milestones, and they physically plant a tree for every 20% that you walk. For Katie and Finley, that translated to 25 trees! The medal set also included the One Ring. It fits inside the Shire medal and the Mordor medal. But Katie very prudently cast it into the fires of Mordor, thus saving Middle Earth forever. Go Katie!

In case you are wondering where Katie is warming her little hobbit feet, it’s by the massive fireplace in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room. It’s located inside the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey. It was the perfect location for a restful fireside tankard.

With it’s stone, brick, wood floors, and ceiling beams, The Tap Room really does look like it could belong in the Shire. We just need a house band and a few dozen jolly hobbits.

The Tap Room has plenty of Princeton University touches as well, from a photo wall of famous alumni, to a carved tiger guarding an exit door.

But the most famous feature of the Tap Room is “Yankee Doodle,” an original Norman Rockwell painting that hangs over the bar. One of his largest canvases, it was commissioned in the mid 1930s by Edgar Palmer. Rockwell painted in right onto the wall of the Tap Room. Today, it’s carefully protected by glass.

Congratulations to Katie and Finley on their fantastic achievement! And, if you’re still in hobbit party mode, why not check out this post on Bilbo Baggins’ recent birthday bash?

R is for Rhino Reader

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Grab a book, cuddle up, and let the reading begin! This is Rey the Rhino Reader, an original robotics project designed and programmed by Princeton University graduate Aneekah Uddin. Rey was part of a larger “Art & Robotics” exhibit on campus last spring.

As you can see from the set up below, Rey wears a camera on his head, which is in turn connected to a laptop. When you place a book in front of Rey’s nose, the program will scan the page and read the book aloud to you! Flip the page, and the story continues at your pace.

While the concept appears very simple, it turns out that programming a robot to read can get rather…complicated. I caught up with Aneekah to ask about her inspirations for this adorable project.

Hi Aneekah! Tell us a little about yourself!

Hi! I was born and raised in Montclair, NJ, and I recently graduated from Princeton (Class of 2024) with a degree in Computer Science and Theater. I love exploring new places, performing arts, and crafting—particularly metalworking and upcycling clothes. One of my favorite childhood book series was Cam Jansen!

How did this project begin?

In my final semester at Princeton, I participated in an Independent Work Seminar titled “Reimagining Robotics Through Art,” taught by Professor Radhika Nagpal. At the beginning of the semester, we explored how the origins of robotics have been influenced by colonialist and patriarchal frameworks, as highlighted by Professor Ruha Benjamin in her book “Race After Technology.” Inspired by these discussions, Professor Nagpal encouraged us to reimagine a future of robotics that challenges these frameworks by centering arts and creativity. As an actress, scriptwriter, and dancer, storytelling is fundamental to my understanding of art. For my project, I aimed to create something both functional and subversive of colonialist and patriarchal norms, while celebrating my love for storytelling. This led to the creation of Rhino Reader!

Tell us a little bit about your philosophy on early literacy for kids!

Eighty-two percent of students eligible for free or reduced lunches do not read at or above proficient levels by fourth grade. I was among the fortunate 18 percent who did, thanks largely to my upbringing. My mother instilled in me the importance of reading from an early age. She read to me daily and, as I grew older, helped me practice reading, sounding out words, and tackling more challenging books. Her dedication was instrumental in my development of English skills and my eventual acceptance into a leading university. However, not every child has the privilege of having a parent who can read, who has time to spend, or who has access to resources. Studies have shown that this kind of support can significantly transform a child’s trajectory. All children should have access to the opportunities and resources they need to develop strong literacy skills from a young age.

What was the most difficult or unexpected part of this venture?

Reading children’s books is challenging! It’s even more difficult for a robot because there’s often no clear “order” to the text. Words can be arranged across pages in unconventional shapes, various fonts, and conflicting orientations. Distinguishing between line breaks and sentence endings isn’t always straightforward, and there’s the added complexity of onomatopoeia. For a robot, learning to read a children’s book is a significantly harder task than understanding a legal contract or research paper.

If you were a kid again, what book would you like the rhino to read to you and why?

Elephant and Piggy! These Mo Willems books are among my favorites, and I spent countless hours reading them to my younger siblings, who are five and six years younger than me. They hold a special place in my heart.