One of my favorite authors of all time hosts the Annual Drop Everything And Read Day each year on her birthday, today, April 12th. Beverly Cleary has long been an influential part of my reading past and I’m delighted to share her stories with my own children as they grow up. National D.E.A.R. Day is a special reading celebration to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority.

As part of the days initiative Cleary, along with a host of other organizations and companies encourage us to drop what we’re doing and read with our children/grandchildren/nieces/nephews/cousins…anyone. Just Read! The goal is to make reading a regular part of your routine.

So, go ahead and read today, tomorrow, and every day! Try to get in a least 30 minutes a day and see how big of an impact it has on the lives of those you love!

For more information about National Drop Everything And Read Day check out their website, you can even host a special event at your local school with the information they provide.

For the Comments: Who are you going to read with today?

Share A Story Shape A Future has been a fabulous journey! I’m excited to come back tomorrow with my wrap up post, but for now I want to get to the really exciting news. The winner of The Itty Bitty Bookworm Giveaway.

The winner will receive Year One and Year Two of the Bo Curriculum.

There were many votes tallied, but in the end there had to be a winner. Without further ado, the winner is…

Summit County Integrated Preschool- Newberry

Also…

because Tara was so touched by each of the schools and their individual stories she decided to extend the giveaway to the two runner-ups. Both East Elementary and Fleming Island Elementary will be receiving Year One of the Bo Curriculum on CD! So, wonderful!

I want to personally thank Tara and The Itty Bitty Bookworm, on the behalf of the Share A Story Shape A Future Tour, for the generosity provided to these wonderful schools. I know that every student who has the opportunity to take part in this amazing curriculum will appreciate it so much!

Make sure to take a look at The Itty Bitty Bookworm Site and Blog when you have time, you never know…you may just find what you need to help the kiddos in your life!

I will be contacting the nominating parties of the winners with the details on how to receive your winnings.

The Share A Story Shape A Future Tour is going out with a bang today! Jen Robinson of Jen Robinson’s Book Page is hosting Day 5 – “Reading for the Next Generation”.  Each of the contributors will be talking about how to approach reading when your interests and your child’s don’t match. Maybe because you don’t like to read but your child does, so how do you raise the reader you’re not, and dealing with the “pressure” of feeling forced to read.

I have to say when it comes to this topic, I loved Lee Wind’s post on Monday, “Dads! The 3 Secrets to Reading with Your Daughters“. He talked all about his aversion to glitter and pixie dust, repetition with kids and how it can send you to dream land, and how to “experience” a book with your child. Every bit of this article was amazing and informative.

For me, I’ve only just begun to deal with this problem. My own son has been, from day one, an avid truck/car lover. Well, I can’t say I’m not, because one of the reasons my husband originally was drawn to me was because of my propensity to work on a car here and there. But working on them and reading about neon colored ones are completely different.

What I’ve found, through trial and error is that it’s not so much about whether you like the book, but how you make your child feel about it. You obviously don’t want to promote something you find offensive or harmful, but how many children’s books are? Engage them. Share with them and show them that you are passionate about a book or subject too. That doesn’t mean it has to be the same, my taste in books is quite different from my mother’s, but she’s who I remember reading as a child. It stays with them and as they get older the impact will be lasting.

Make sure to stop by the contributors for Day 5 and learn a little more about “Reading for the Next Generation”:

• Sarah shares “Let the Sillies Out: Reading to Babies and Young Children” at In Need of Chocolate.
• Melissa shares “Help! My Child’s Stuck!” at Book Nut.
• Mary Ann Scheuer shares “How do I help my child learn to love reading if I am not a great reader myself?” at Great Kid Books.
• Dawn Morris shares “Am I a failure if I don’t read with my kids?” at Moms Inspire Learning.
• Joyce Grant shares “Getting Your Video-Kid Reading” at Getting Kids Reading.
• Caroline Lennox shares “Princess Books? Give Me a Break!” at Learning Parade.
• Dawn Little shares “Resisting the Urge to Create a Reading Superstar” at Literacy Toolbox.
• Kate Messner shares “The Trouble with Great Expectations: Should kids be pushed to read more difficult books?” at Kate’s Book Blog
• Esme Raji Codell shares “After the Love Has Gone: Read-Aloud for the Young and the Restless” at Planet Esme.
• Amy Watson shares “Help! My Reading Interests are Different from my Child’s” at Literacy Launchpad.
• Mary Lee Hahn shares “Trusting Your Child to Make It through His/Her Current Reading Phase” at A Year of Reading.

Also, make sure to check out Tif’s site Tif Talks Books where today she will be sharing, in honor of the event, the favorite fairy tales from childhood of the participants in her event “Fairy Tale Fridays“. One not to be missed for sure!

As well, you only have until tonight at midnight to cast your vote for The Itty Bitty Bookworm Giveaway and make a difference in lives of many children! Please click on the link to cast your vote!

Susan Stephenson, the Book Chook, made the above logo for Share a Story Shape a Future at ToonDoo.com

Nominations have closed and now it’s time for everyone to cast their vote!
Below I’ve included a list of all of the nominated schools and a short bit of information about them from the individual who nominated them. Please consider carefully your decision, as this will affect the lives of many children. Here’s another look at what the school will win courtesy of Tara from The Itty-Bitty Bookworm:

The Giveaway
Tara is very graciously donating one full-year subscription for each of her programs for Share a Story Shape A Future 2010.

• Bailey Curriculum ~ for children 18 months -36 months. Here is a sample (pdf) of what the Bailey program includes.
• Bo Curriculum ~ for children 3 to 5 years old. Here is a sample (pdf) from the Bo Curriculum.

**Important Note**: These licenses are for one teacher, one classroom. Any reproduction of the material is a copyright violation.
To read more about the giveaway please take a look at my previous post here and make sure to check out the Share A Story Shape A Future site for other great Literacy articles and giveaways.
The Nominated Schools:
These are the schools that were nominated as well as a little bit of information about each that was provided by the nominating party. Please look over this information carefully and then move to the bottom of the post to place your vote. You can vote once per day per email address provided. Voting will close on Friday March 12th at midnight Eastern time and the winner will be announced on Saturday March 13th.

• Summit County Integrated Preschool- Newberry: Summit County Integrated preschool services children with and without disabilities in our area.  They work with a variety of students, with a variety of needs ranging, but treat them all equally.  When you walk through the doors of this school you are unable to tell the children serviced for their special needs, and the typical peers.  The curriculum is paced to meet everyone’s needs, and allows for all students to participate.  The teachers and therapists embrace literacy as a way to captivate all learners, no matter what their abilities may be.  I feel this curriculum would assist the teachers in creating motivating, high interest lessons, and assist all the students in becoming lovers of books!
• East Elementary: This school is struggling this year. All funds have been frozen and teachers have not gotten any supplies this year.The teachers are turning to outside sources such as Donors Choose and blog giveaways to get basic supplies and to enrich their classrooms.
• Fleming Island Elementary: This school has helped my daughter learn and grow.  I was really nervous about sending my “baby” (3 year old) to elementary school. My daughter and I have loved the experience and would like to give something back to the school that will help all the students and teachers!

Voting is now closed. Stay tuned…the winner will be announced on Saturday March 13th 2010.

How and why would we want to incorporate activity and sticker books into our family reading rituals? Activity and sticker books are often used by parents as “babysitters”, but when used appropriately they may help a beginning reader make connections between visual images and words on a page with reality. In fact, these valuable resources can be an excellent teaching tool when used in conjunction with reading daily, especially for children who may struggle with some form of a learning disability.

Turkeybird’s Struggle
Our sweet Turkeybird was an early reader, but a late talker. He was diagnosed with a form of Autism called “Hyperlexia” at just around 20 months of age. It basically boils down to him reading by the time he was just older than a year old, but not being able to communicate verbally or interact socially until he was a bit older. I know you’re thinking, “he couldn’t talk, but he could read???” Yes, he would literally read words off of pages but hardly say hello when greeted by another family member or friend.

We sought the aid of a speech therapist and children’s counselor not knowing how else to help him. They used evaluations and problem solving games to help him express visually the words he was struggling to connect verbally. This continued for a few months and shortly thereafter our sweet Littlebug was born. For some reason, maybe a lack of attention, triggered in him a greater desire to communicate with us, but he still struggled to connect the “truck” on the page with the truck in his bedroom.

Soon, we moved across country and no longer had the aid of outside therapists and counselors. I decided there had to be something else that I could do as a parent to help him make those little connections. While looking through some “teaching” books and materials on the internet one day I came across some sticker books. The Turkeybird has always been a huge fan of sticker and activity books. What kid doesn’t love a sticker as a reward for a trip to the doctor or for a job well done? This was it, I thought! I ordered some and the work began.

Work Together!!!
Working with The Turkeybird was the key to progression. Children learn the most when they are read to or when they are taught directly.* Starting with the above pictured Sticker Activity book and moving on to many others, we worked together.Every day, while Littlebug slept, we sat down together at the table and went through the pages of the books one at a time. The first book focused on numbers, but also used “real” life objects to illustrate the numerals. Even from the beginning I tried to allow him to place the stickers in the appropriate places and verbally tell me what each was. After this we would go on excursions, be them around the house or to different venues (the park, petting zoo, etc.), and we would point out the different things he found in his activity books. Soon, he began to connect the dots.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
To this day we still use the sticker books on a daily basis. We read on a daily basis. And we play together on a daily basis. It’s important to create routines in all children’s lives, but especially in those that struggle with some form of learning disability. Even as adults we benefit from a daily routine and continued persistence with a difficult task. Why would it be different with a child?

Everyday the Turkeybird looks forward to our “mini-school” sessions and asks for the next task. This shows me that he is making connections and learning more everyday. He loves to learn and I can tell when I see his face light up at the mention of crayons, stickers and books.

The End Result
The Turkeybird is talking more now, carrying on long conversations with non-family members and can now connect the words on the pages in his books to real life objects.  His social skills have progressed far beyond what was originally thought he would be capable of at this age. He continues to love reading and learning and his mom continues to love to read to and teach him.

I’m not saying that sticker and activity books will solve all your learning/teaching dilemmas, but if done right they can’t hurt. I’m not a professional, just a mom, and I make no presumptions about how effective these activity books may be in your own child’s life. Make sure to use them with your son, daughter or student; this is where you will find the best result. Children love to be taught, they love attention and exultation when they’ve accomplished something they’d never been able to do before. Interact and show you care about the outcome. And then, do it all over again.

This post was presented as part of the Share A Story Shape A Future Day Two. Make sure to stop by The Book Chook’s site for more posts pertaining to Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way!

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

*Referenced & paraphrased from: On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners – December 1997