Ezra Jack Keats Foundation offers minigrants The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is accepting proposals for its 26th annual Minigrant Program, which provides opportunities for qualifying teachers and librarians in the nation’s public schools to inspire their students to create amazing pieces of art, writing, and more. The foundation will distribute approximately 70 grants of $500 each. The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2014, and decisions will be emailed to all applicants by May 1, allowing educators to plan the upcoming year accordingly. “We are in awe of the extraordinary programs designed by the Minigrant award-winning teachers and librarians,” says Deborah Pope, executive director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. “These educators go above and beyond, inspiring their students to create amazing pieces of art, writing, and even scientific experiments. In the past year, students mounted projects involving food and math, wrote sequels to Keats’ classic The Snowy Day, and made Peruvian-style cloth artwork to map their community. We are dedicated to continuing our direct support to exceptional educators whose program ideas will foster creativity, cooperation and interaction with a diverse community.” Kent State SLIS heads to Denmark The School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University invites qualified applicants to student international children’s literature and librarianship in Denmark during the summer of 2014. The academically rigorous course on international cultural production for children aims to serve as a case study, providing students with hands-on perspectives on international children’s literature, librarianship, museums, and a view on how different cultures construct childhood. The course combines both online course delivery to students with actual face-to-face class time in Denmark from June 4–15. Tours and seminars in Denmark will include visits to the Royal Library School, the International Animation Workshop, Rosinante Publishers, an independent children’s bookseller, Helsingør (Hamlet’s castle), the ministry of culture, selected children’s libraries, and Tivoli Gardens. The deadline for completed applications to the program is February 14. CDW-G, Discovery Education launch sweepstakes CDW-G and Discovery Education have launched the 12th annual Win a Wireless Lab K–12 Sweepstakes program, in which schools can enter to win one of two $45,000 grand prize grants. Since its inception, the Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes has awarded $1.9 million in classroom technology; the program enables eligible school employees to register once per day to win sixteen weekly prizes, four monthly prizes, and one of the two grand prize grants. Each of the grand prize technology grants includes on-site professional development from CDW-G and Discovery Education and a $5,000 Discovery Education digital media reward. Schools can enter from now through May 1 once a day online, or increase their daily entries via Twitter via @WinWirelessLab. Technology prizes will be awarded weekly to sixteen winners selected at random. There will also be a top referrer prize awarded to the individual who refers the most people to the sweepstakes, and four instant monthly winners who will receive a tablet for personal use. Celebrate No Name-Calling Week GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, invites schools to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its No Name-Calling Week, an event during which educators emphasize kindness and compassion as a means to eliminate name-calling and bullying of all kinds. The event has already reached tens of thousands of K–12 classrooms. Schools participate in a variety of ways but usually incorporate lesson plans and activities found on GLSEN’s resource site, such as writing classroom name-calling policies, encouraging students to sign a pledge to be kind to each other, and creating a No Name-Calling Week Creative Expressions Exhibit. The event was inspired by the popular young adult novel The Misfits by author James Howe. The book tells the story of four students who have each experienced name-calling and who decide to run for student council on the platform of creating a No Name-Calling Day at school. Together with The Misfits publisher Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, GLSEN created No Name-Calling Week in 2004 to encourage schools to dedicate a week of the year to improving school climate. Día Grants for African American focus The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL) will award grants of $500 to libraries whose 2014 programs to celebrate El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros (Children's Day/Book Day), to be held on or about April 30, have an African American focus. The grant will be for the purchase of selected multicultural books for the chosen libraries. The application deadline is March 15, 2014, and the winning recipient or recipients will be notified on or about March 27, 2014. The Día grant or grants will be funded by the CSMCL in partnership with Día founder Pat Mora and the Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC). Selected libraries will be chosen based upon the creativity and originality of the implementation of their 2014 Día program. Applications can be obtained by contacting CSMCL’s executive director, Dr. Claudette S. McLinn, at Center4MulticulturalChildrensLit@aol.com.