Press Release: UOG Press, Hafa Adai Printing donate 8,000 children’s books
For more information, contact:
Akina Chargualaf
Marketing Communications Coordinator
University of Guam Press
Tel: (671) 735-2154
Email: achargualaf@triton.uog.edu
The University of Guam Press, in partnership with Hafa Adai Printing, donated 8,000 CHamoru children’s books to pre-school and Kindergarten classrooms island-wide, including the Chief Hurao Academy and the Faneyåkan Sinipok CHamoru Immersion Pilot Kindergarten Program at P.C. Lujan Elementary School.
The books are part of an effort of UOG's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (SNAP-Ed) to increase the effectiveness of healthy living curriculum in schools by providing culturally relevant material to facilitate family conversations around food-related traditions, experiences, role-modeling, and family relationships.
The SNAP-Ed team at UOG, in collaboration with UOG Cooperative Extension and Outreach, distributed the books to 352 students and 26 teachers in 17 Head Start, five Pre-K Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), and four Pre-K classrooms island-wide and hosted a workshop at a Family Engagement Conference. Chief Hurao Academy will also be using the books in their CHamoru immersion preschool classrooms as well as providing copies to families to use at home.
“Parents, children, teachers, and administrators were guided through each book to highlight healthy food talk opportunities and were introduced to online resources from UOG Press,” said Assistant Professor of Nutrition Tanisha Aflague, SNAP-Ed coordinator. “Select materials were printed and used as an activity for parents and children and others were provided to the teachers to incorporate into their class time.”
Published by Taiguini Books, an imprint of UOG Press that publishes cultural and indigenous literature about and for the people of Micronesia, the books that were donated include:
Free K–12 curriculum resources for select Taiguini Books titles can be downloaded at www.uog.edu/uogpress/k-12-curriculum-taiguini.