March | Raising A Reader

February 13, 2019

We thank you for making 2018 a great success, serving more than 130,000 children and families across 34 states and more than 3,000 sites! Our impact is possible because of your hard work, dedication to literacy, and commitment to our children and families.

As we begin 2019 â€“ marking our 20th year of program implementation – we are recommitting ourselves to our mission and to better serve you so that together we can impact more children and families. Stay tuned for more announcements next month. Enjoy the first Bookmark of 2019.

Your Raising A Reader National Office Team

Affiliate Spotlight

Craven Smart Start, NC

RAR National LOVES to hear and receive stories about fun and innovative ideas and events that our Affiliates across the nation use to engage parents and children in their Raising A Reader program!

Craven Smart Start, a North Carolina Affiliate, received a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) grant from the BOSCH Community Fund to provide children with hands-on experiences to get students engaged in these fields. Coordinator Nadia Lowe used books from her Raising A Reader STEM collections to bridge STEM activities with literacy.

Each STEM session began with a Raising A Reader book followed by an engaging STEM activity. The excitement was kicked off with The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School paired with an activity in which students constructed a trap for a gingerbread man and demonstrated how it would work. In the second STEM session, students read Oscar and the Bird followed by an electrical experiment that involved using energy sticks to create working circuits. For the final STEM session, students read Ramps and Wedges then used â€œKaplan Ramptasticâ€ materials. The Raising A Reader STEM extension activities were a huge success and all of the students had a great time!

STEM Materials to Enhance Your Book Collection

— Provides parents and caregivers the opportunity to expose their children to STEM concepts through fun and engaging books!

— Bookplates on each STEM title that identify the STEM category of the book, lists age-appropriate STEM concepts that can be found in the book, and offers suggestions for questions that parents can use while sharing the book with their children.

— A variety of ways to incorporate STEM titles into your collection including Supplemental Building Blocks for all the School Age groups (Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2). The PreK/Kinder and 0-3 are still available in Book-Only Collection. New to our collection we have PreK and Kinder Refresher sets.

— Donâ€™t forget, you can also purchase Click Magazines that are STEM-themed on various topics that can be used as giveaways in Blue Bag Events, take home materials during school breaks, or incentives to encourage children to return Red Bags and books!

Business Behind the Books

In this issue of the Bookmark, we spent time reviewing our STEM book collection and showing how Affiliates are incorporating the collection into their RAR programming to not only add different books to the rotation cycle, but also to help meet STEM initiatives within curriculum guidelines and several federal/state mandates. However, where does the funding come from to add these extra books?

First, look to your principal/school district. If there is a budget set aside for curriculum materials or STEM activities, RAR STEM books should qualify not only due to the book content, but also because they include bookplates inside each book cover that outlines what STEM concepts are explored in the book and provides ideas and types of questions parents can ask their child as they are sharing the book aloud.

Sales Promotions

During the month of February, purchase a Japanese, Nepali or 0-2 Portuguese Special Collection and receive 100 FREE Cricket Magazines (your choice of BabyBug, LadyBug, or Click). Look for the coupon codes on the RAR shop website!

Now through May 30, 2019 refer a Smart Start, First Steps, First 5, or other state birth to age five program that may be interested in starting our RAR program. If the agency begins implementing our program by September 1, 2019, you will receive your choice of a Wordless Book Collection, Touch and Feel Book Collection, or 300 issues of Click/LadyBug/BabyBug booklets!