Reach Out and Read's
Public Service Announcement (PSA)
Click here to see our our new PSA featuring actor Hill Harper.
Playing in 19 markets across the country, this represents one more way the word is spreading about the importance of reading aloud and the work your providers do everyday!
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Important Notes from National:
In case you missed it, on December 12th, Whoopi Goldberg mentioned Reach Out and Read on ABC's The View to help launch Scholastic's "One Million Bookprints for One Million Books" campaign to support Reach Out and Read with up to one million books!
To learn about the books that have influenced the lives of the famous and not-so-famous -- and to create your own "bookprint" -- please visit Scholastic's webpage here: One Million Book Prints for One Million Books!
and
Primrose Schools donated more than $124,000 to Reach Out and Read! With its 2011 donation, Primrose has donated nearly $1 million since the inception of its six-year partnership with Reach Out and Read.
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Does your Program
need used books
for the waiting room?
Put up flyers in your community!
Put up flyers asking staff to bring used children's books to your office Holiday Party!
For a flyer template, just write to me here:
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Considering a year-end charitable contribution?
Please consider Reach Out and Read! To make a tax-deductible contribution to Reach Out and Read Click here! |
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Reach Out and Read New England
VERMONT Newsletter
Winter, 2011
Serving 17,433 children
at 53 Programs
distributing 32,080 books
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Our newsletter has information for Reach Out and Read providers, coordinators, volunteers, and partners ... so be sure to forward it to your pediatric and family practice providers and staff as well as to friends, volunteers, and supporters. Send us email addresses and we'll make sure they automatically receive our quarterly newsletter!
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Regional Director's Note 
Growing up, I always heard it said, "You are what you read." Regardless of era, conventional wisdom seems to espouse the importance of a steady book diet if children are to grow up knowledgeable and smart, with windows wide open to the vast world around them. By giving a child a book - by sharing hundreds and thousands of images and rhymes and textures and words - we give them a powerful gift.
According to a recent national survey, Kindergarten teachers say 66% of America's children are ill-prepared for Kindergarten and that being familiar with books before entering school on Day 1 is critical. Thanks to Scholastic, Inc., Reach Out and Read is able to continue providing that powerful gift to close to 4 million children again this year, a year that has seen the loss of $6 million in federal funding.
I cannot enter this holiday giving season without acknowledging this enormous donation, one that goes to our Sites all across Vermont (and across the country) at a time of need. Your sustainability books will arrive a little later this year -- in early February -- but they will arrive. Thanks to our steadfast partner, Santa Claus has them in his sack!
Wishing you happy holidays,
Gretchen Hunsberger
Program Director, New England Region |
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HELPING YOU FUNDRAISE
Adopt-A-Site Materials are ready!
Until recently, the VT Virtual Bookroom was fully stocked with books for all ages. As you know, there is now an insufficiency of titles for the very youngest ages which means Sites will need to purchase board books. While this is business-as-usual in Programs across the country, it's new for Vermont. Individuals, small businesses, and local service organizations simply need to be aware of our phenomenal literacy model and its impact. With that in mind, we've worked hard to produce an effective marketing tool to help you solicit funds within your community for your Reach Out and Read Program. Check out our new ADOPT-A-SITE brochure and materials here.
- The brochure is editable in select places, so all you have to do is include your Site's name, address, and the number of children your Reach Out and Read Program serves.
- Most software programs include Microsoft Publisher, and it's easy to use. But if Publisher isn't installed on your computer, I can email you the brochure as a Word document.
- Add a personalized letter to your potential donor and you are all set! As with the brochure, just swap in your health center's name and site-specific information, and mail along with the brochure. (See a copy of the letter template in the Adopt-A-Site link above.)
- And, we've created a double-sided information sheet to guide you through the Adopt-A-Site process, along with other suggestions for community outreach ideas. (See copy in above link.)
NOTE: all these documents are in the same folder, the link for which is above. There are two versions of Brochure template, to accommodate older and newer versions of Publisher.
In January, we will hold three Webinars to better familiarize you with the Adopt-A-Site materials and to answer questions. Stay tuned for an email about the dates and times!
Feel free to use these documents now, during the end-of-year giving season!
If you have questions or a link doesn't work, please contact me at Gretchen.Hunsberger@reachoutandread.org or 617 455 0656.
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New Programs
Welcome to the newest additions to the New England coalition of programs in Vermont!
The application from Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Pediatrics, with practices in Bennington and Manchester Center, was approved in October. Both practices' providers are now fully trained in Reach Out and Read best practices and handing out books to their youngest patients and proffering anticipatory literacy guidance to parents.
"Our providers are so excited to be bringing Reach Out and Read to our families," says Dr. Lynn Mann. "The parents' reactions to the Program have been great. Today, I asked a three year old to tell me what was happening in the book, Stone Soup. Her mom was thrilled to see her young daughter relate so directly with me, creating sentences about what she was seeing; she was so proud of her! And, I love having the children read to me! It's becoming a favorite part of my day."
Dr. Mann and her colleagues are reaching over 800 more children in southwestern Vermont.
As soon as South Burlington Family Practice's lengthy roster of family physicians has completed the required CME course, SBFP will become our next new Reach Out and Read program. Dr. Clara Keegan, who brought Reach Out and Read to her previous practice in Massachusetts, is now leading the effort at SBFP here in Vermont!
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News of Note:
Like dozens of you, Dr. Virginia Brack (and her colleagues at Mt. Ascutney Physician Practices in Windsor) recently took the Reach Out and Read Provider Training course. Afterward, Dr. Brack conveyed this message via email: " I thought the training was helpful, especially the videos." Dr. Brack, who has been doing Reach Out and Read since 2004, also pointed out that she "always brings the book in up front, but felt like I got some new tips on how to use it. I especially liked the section on dialogic reading."
Dr. Andrea Grant from University Pediatrics in Burlington and Diana Jennings, NP from Berlin Family Health will attend the January "Train the Trainer" webinar hosted by Reach Out and Read National Medical Direct, Dr. Perri Klass. They each hope to offer in-house trainings to their staff/residents.
A focus on training re-energizes a Site! As part of an overall focus on quality, training reminds providers of the component parts of Reach Out and Read. From choosing the correct book to offering relevant anticipatory guidance -- by encouraging stronger parental engagement in reading aloud or using the book as part of developmental surveillance -- through proper tracking of number of books used and asking if a family has a library card at the three or four year visit -- Reach Out and Read at your Site can only be as excellent as the component parts. Our funders and our families rely on you ... coordinators and providers alike ... to advance the cause of pre-school readiness through your own every-day excellence. Thank you for making your Reach Out and Read program all it can be.
At Rainbow Pediatrics, in Middlebury, selecting books is the favorite part of their day!
This photo was sent in by Lisa Ryan, the Reach Out and Read Coordinator there, who recently snapped this photo of the very happy faces of Dr. Tawnya Kiernan and one of her young patien ts.
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Paper, not plastic! 
While it may seem as if technology takes deeper root in our culture every day, this article from the NYTimes reports on the continuing preference for the old-fashioned children's book...not e-readers...for parents and children to enjoy together, and explains why this is so.
Interestingly, New Y ork Times Book Review's children's book editor Pamela Paul says, "The number of quality books created for children is on the rise. Choosing which books to cover is an almost impossible task. I felt strongly, when I started this job, that I needed more room and more ways to cover children's literature." Paul has had the backing of the Times, she says, which has recognized that children's books constitute "an area of real interest." Read this article here.
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