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News from Reach Out and Read Washington State
In This Issue
Campaign for Grade-level Reading Highlights Reach Out and Read Video
With Your Action, Generous Gift Will Put $500,000 into King County Classrooms
Early Learning Guidelines Available for Review
Early Learning-Library Partnerships Win National Leadership Grant
Put Books in the Hands of Children
Follow Us on Facebook
About Us
Support Reach Out and Read in Washington

Your Amazon shopping you benefit Reach Out and Read programs!  

 September 2011

Greetings!

 

The joy of a sunshine-filled autumn day, juxtaposed with black clouds shrouding our economy. The continued excitement that surrounds the growth of Reach Out and Read, alongside the ongoing threats to our basic funding. The minimal investments made in early learning, right next to the evidence of the amazing return on investment they bring. The optimism about the potential inside each and every tiny baby born in our state, beside real data showing that only half of our 5-year-olds have the basic language and literacy skills they need when they enter kindergarten. A vision of bickering and stalling leaders, next to a world of possibilities in the wealthiest nation on earth. One paradox after another, it is hard to know what to think!

 

But spinning in circles in something we cannot do. We are the adults, and it is up to us to improve outcomes for kids. On our worst day, most of us are better off than far too many children across this nation. That is why we roll up our sleeves each day and seek the "possible" and the "aspirational," as together we really can change the world. 

 

"Cradle to College and Career" efforts like The Road Map Project  in South King County are great examples of communities recognizing the importance of supporting education strategically starting at birth. Watch Community Center for Education Results Executive Director Mary Jean Ryan tell the story on NBC. We appreciate the mention of Reach Out and Read, and it's a great lead into our newsletter stories on 3rd grade reading and DonorsChoose. 

 

As we enter fall far too close to a new legislative session, we ask for your continued support of Reach Out and Read. Today we'd like to share some "possibilities" with you.   Here's to more sunshine!

 

With gratitude,

Jill Sells MD and The Reach Out and Read Washington State Team

 

....because Reading Is Doctor-Recommended 

CAMPAIGN FOR GRADE-LEVEL READING HIGHLIGHTS

REACH OUT AND READ VIDEO

 girl reading 

Early Literacy and the Path Toward Reading in 3rd Grade.    Reach Out and Read doctors will tell you that it is such fun to participate in a program that immediately brings joy to children and families. Is there anything better than handing a young child a new book, and seeing his or her eyes light up in the middle of a busy day? Yes, there is. It happens when you know that book and the accompanying advice to parents will change what happens at home that very day, and help put the child on a path toward doing well in school.
 

That's why we are increasingly working to connect Reach Out and Read with "P-3" initiatives. These are efforts where schools and communities align preschool and kindergarten through 3rd grade practices to support children throughout the early learning years. Reach Out and Read's work to support parents and children from infancy aligns well with this and can strengthen and support community-school efforts.  We've recently layed this out visually in our Theory of Change: Education Continuum diagram. But we know that videos are often the most powerful way to show these connections. So we are excited to be part of the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Check it out at and see the Reach Out and Read video under Parent Engagment. Parents tell the story best!  

WITH YOUR ACTION, GENEROUS GIFT WILL PUT $500,000 INTO KING COUNTY CLASSROOMS

School Clip Art

Support Public School Classroom Projects on October 5th.  Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $500,000 will be available to support public school teacher projects NEXT WEEK.  Teachers post projects at DonorsChoose.org by October 1st, and everyone can pick up a $10 gift card at King County Starbucks locations on October 5th. Redeem them at http://www.donorschoose.org/king-county-2011  to support the project of your choice by November 8th.   DonorsChoose.org is a nonprofit that makes it easy for anyone to help public school teachers and classrooms in need. Their average teacher project request is for just over $400 in student materials. 70% of these are funded each year by citizens, corporations, and foundations. School budgets are hurting more than ever. Please help teachers put their great ideas into action to support students.  

EARLY LEARNING GUIDELINES AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW

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Help make Washington's guidelines work for children.  A strong early learning system needs a set of generally agreed-upon guidelines for child development--ones that support families, caregivers and teachers in helping children grow and learn. In our state, these guidelines have been known as the Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks. Going forward, these will be known as the Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines. Watch a video message from Dr. Hyde, Director of the Washington State Department of Early Learning.
 
Common early learning guidelines can help Washington consistently support school readiness at the state, regional and local level. For example, guidelines can give parents, caregivers and teachers insight into what kinds of skills and behaviors they might see as children grow and develop, and ideas about how to support that growth. As you may be aware, a steering committee and workgroups have been meeting for several months to redesign our state's early learning guidelines so that they are up to date, culturally relevant for Washington's diverse population, and link effectively to the K-12 system. Please consider reviewing the draft guidelines, and then give feedback via the online survey

WASHINGTON EARLY LEARNING-LIBRARY PARTNERSHIPS WIN NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANT

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Project VIEWS2: Valuable Initiatives in Early Literacy that Work Successfully is funded! The University of Washington Information School was just awarded $635,000.00 to lead this 3-year Institute for Museum and Library Services National Leadership Research grant. Reach Out and Read works closely with libraries across the state, encouraging families to take advantage of library services for young children, and Dr. Sells is excited to be serving on the Strategic Advisory Board for this new grant. Early literacy programs are very common in public libraries across the nation, but libraries struggle to find accurate and meaningful ways to measure the impact these programs have on children.

 

Building on a 2009 research planning grant from IMLS, researchers in the University of Washington Information School and partners including the Early Learning Public Library Partnership, the Foundation for Early Learning, and the Washington State Library will investigate and test new ways to measure the effectiveness of early literacy programs in public libraries. The research will focus on measuring early literacy outcomes for children from birth to entering Kindergarten related to library programming and will leverage innovative public library and school partnerships. The investigation will be conducted in 30 - 40 Washington public library locations but will be structured so that the results are useful for, the tools are available to, and the methodology can be replicated by libraries across the country.


HELP PUT BOOKS IN THE HANDS OF CHILDREN

Support Reach Out and Read while you shop, or make a donation.

Dr.Woodruff and family If you shop at Amazon.com, a portion of your purchase can support us. Simply go to www.reachoutandreadwa.org and click on the Amazon.com logo on the left bottom corner of the page to begin your shopping.  If you click through and make a purchase, at least 4% will go directly to Reach Out and Read in Washington! This is an ongoing partnership for us, so please  share this opportunity with your friends and family. 

Please consider also making a direct tax-deductible donation to Reach Out and Read: Donate on Line. Just $5 can help place a beautiful book where it belongs, in a child's home.

REACH OUT AND READ WASHINGTON ON FACEBOOK 

Find us on Facebook

 

Reach Out and Read Washington State is on Facebook.  Please LIKE us.  If you could also suggest our Facebook page to your friends, that would go a long way in helping us spread our message about early literacy - thanks! 

ABOUT REACH OUT AND READ WASHINGTON STATE

Reach Out and Read helps prepare children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.  Our evidence-based, proven program leverages the volunteer time of doctors to make literacy a standard part of well-child visits. Reach Out and Read supports parents as their child's first teacher. Through 125 programs in 28 counties, over 800 medical providers serve more than 68,000 children and families.

Founded in 2007, Reach Out and Read Washington State supports programs across the state.  We are part of the national, evidence-based Reach Out and Read Program, founded in 1989.
  


CONTACT INFORMATION:

Email - [email protected]

Telephone - 206-524-3579
Fax - 206-524-4768
  

Address - 155 NE 100th Street - Suite 301, Seattle WA 98125