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Participate in RORVA Week! (March 2-7) |
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 (A father and son enjoy a book in the pediatric waiting room of ROR pediatrician Dr. Carolyn Boone's practice.)
Introducing RORVA Week
Reach Out and Read Virginia will host its inaugural Reach Out and Read Virginia Week across the state March 2-7.
The weeklong effort to raise awareness, collect books and secure other support for RORVA kicks off on the birthday of renowned author Dr. Theodor Suess.
RORVA is inviting schools, day center centers, civic groups, companies, retailers, and individuals to host book drives for participating RORVA practices in their local communities.
We're delighted to announce that book drives will be hosted on behalf of RORVA in Books-A-Million bookstores across the state March 2-7.
During RORVA Week would you or your organization like to:
* Provide volunteer readers for a clinic?
* Host a book drive?
*Collect donations that put children through the five-year program and help them build personal libraries?
* Collaborate on your own creative strategy for partnering with RORVA?
If so, please contact RORVA's volunteer coordinator, Sarah Eichner, at seichner@rorva.org or (804) 521-0425. |
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Guest Columnist ~~~ Author Emma Walton Hamilton |
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The Secret to Raising Readers:
Keeping the Joy Alive
by Emma Walton Hamilton
(Emma Walton Hamilton is a best-selling children's book author, editor, and arts and literacy advocate. Her latest book is Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment. She has also co-authored books with her mother, actress Julie Andrews.)
For the last 50 years, reading has suffered a precipitous decline.
Blame has been widely assigned to the advent of electronic entertainment, but there is perhaps a subtler, more subversive force undermining the reading landscape: the association of reading with chore. Ideally, our earliest reading experiences are warm and fuzzy. We snuggle up with loved ones while listening to enchanted tales...Reading = JOY.
Then, we go to school. Little by little, our parents stop reading to us, feeling it more important to promote our independent reading skills, and those underlying connections between reading and pleasure begin to be replaced by feelings of pressure, responsibility, frustration, even boredom.
To build, restore, or maintain a love of reading, we must continually reinforce the subliminal association between books and pleasure. Some suggestions:
* Surround kids with, and expose them to, great books.
* Provide a warm and inviting reading atmosphere, minimizing distractions like background noise or harsh lighting.
* Cuddle up and read together as often as possible - even with older kids.
* Provide books that cater to individual passions - whether baseball, ballet or horses, great fiction and non-fiction abounds.
* Make regular trips to the library or bookstore to explore the tactile, sensual pleasures that books provide.
* Give books as gifts and encourage others to do the same.
* Don't force completion of a book that isn't resonating. Help kids find the ones that speak to them.
* Don't use book as weapons ("If you don't ___ , then no reading tonight.")
* Make practical connections with books. Cook recipes, listen to music, see a film or play, explore art, make crafts, etc. inspired by great books.
The challenge is to keep the JOY alive by continually asking ourselves, "Will this reinforce - or erode - the connection between reading and pleasure?"
(www.raisingbookworms.com)
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| Welcome to Reach Out and Read Virginia's January Newsletter. We hope you've had a great start to the New Year.
RORVA is gearing up for an exciting 2009, and we're delighted to share in this issue some of the activities you can look forward to, as we continue our effort to make books part of a healthy childhood for youths across the state.
We hope you'll consider partnering with us during the upcoming Reach Out and Read Virginia Week (March 2-7) and in others ways during the year that best suit your organization's or company's needs.
As we work together, we'll continue changing lives for the better, one book at a time.
Sincerely,
Sue Rockwell,
RORVA Executive Director
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RORVA Ambassadors
Women's Education Honor Society adopts Midlothian pediatric clinic
Members of Gamma Psi, the Chester, Va. chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, is supporting the mission of RORVA by providing books and other literacy support to Capitol Pediatrics, a Midlothian-based clinic that serves children in Chesterfield County.
Gamma Psi members conduct regular book drives to keep new and gently-used titles readily available for Capitol Pediatrics' patients.
One of the chapter members, Leigh DeFreitas, recently penned a poem about RORVA (Read below).
RORVA sincerely appreciates Ms. DeFreitas and all Delta Kappa Gamma members for their support!
Embrace the Dream
By Leigh DeFreitas
Reach Out and Read...
Embrace the dream
That books can change a life:
Since often journeys in this world
Come wrapped and mapped with strife.
Take time and share---
Some words of hope
Through stories of all kind:
Authors past and current pens
Can stretch and mold the mind.
Set goals and soar---
To heights beyond
Your greatest possible desire:
Help others to believe they can
Read books that will inspire.
Decide and act---
Extend a hand
Unlock the mystery:
Show how a book enriches life...
Make dreams reality.
Reach Out and Read---
Embrace the dream
That you can open the door:
The portal to a world so grand
Where life brings so much more.
Believe that putting books into
Little hands today
Can. Tomorrow. change a life
In such a special way.
Embrace the dream!
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RORVA Literacy Fact for January
Not only does reading improve children's language development - the single strongest predictor of school success - but it also brings parents and children closer together.
Yet, a study conducted for Reach Out and Read shows that fewer than half of American parents read to their children daily. Young children who aren't read to are at the highest risk of reading below grade level once they begin school.
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Participate in Williamsburg Barnes & Noble Bookfair
Support Feb. 7 Fundraiser
The Barnes & Noble -New Town, located at 5101 Main Street in Williamsburg, will host a day-long bookfair to help raises funds for all of the Reach Out and Read participating practices in the Williamsburg area.
During this "For the Love of Books" event, a portion of the proceeds from purchases made by bookfair participants will be donated to the Williamsburg ROR program.
Participants must simply share with B&N cashiers the Bookfair ID # provided below before a purchase begins, so that their contribution can be tabulated.
Here's how you can help:
* Shop the Barnes & Noble - New Town, or a Barnes & Noble location in your area on Sat., Feb., 7 and take along the Bookfair ID # provided below.
* If you can't make it to the bookstore on Feb. 7, call and make a purchase by phone. Use the Bookfair ID # and your contribution will still be counted. (757) 564-0687
Bookfair participants who visit the New Town location on Sat., Feb. 7 can participate in a Doctor and Nurse Storytime at 3 p.m.
For more information, contact Lissette Pratt, the Williamsburg area RORVA Coordinator, at lpratt@rorva.org.
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Barnes & Noble - New Town
Sat. February 7, 2009
"For the Love of Books" Bookfair
Benefiting RORVA - Williamsburg Area
5101 Main Street
Williamsburg, Virginia
(757) 564-0687
BOOKFAIR ID #: 473678
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Thank you for your continued support!
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