CONNECT - Read to Me! Quarterly

Planting the Seeds of Literacy

Its time to celebrate the beginning of a new year, and along with it, a special anniversary for Read to Me!

Read to Me! was launched on Family Literacy Day 2002 and this January marks our 7th birthday. Much has happened since we delivered that very first Read to Me! bag and I’d like to take a moment to celebrate what all of our provincial partners have accomplished.

The vision behind Read to Me! was simple and powerful – give every child born in Nova Scotia the gift of free books and the message that literacy is their birthright. Read to Me! is just one link in an important chain of literacy support which includes hundreds of adult and family literacy programs in Nova Scotia. By putting that first link in place for every baby, we strengthen the literacy continuum from birth through life.

Read to Me! is not one idea or one person, it is the vision of a partnership of people with the shared dream of bringing the gift of literacy to every child born in Nova Scotia.

Read to Me! is now running strong at 11 hospitals and we have delivered over 50,000 Read to Me! bags!

Over 50,000 Nova Scotian children have grown up enjoying the Read to Me! books and rhymes. And like 50,000 seeds, the books planted across the province are now bearing fruit as those first Read to Me! children head off to school with a strong foundation of language and learning.

In this issue we bring you the story of the very first baby who received the Read to Me! bag, and we talk with her and her family about what Read to Me! has meant to them.

To the hundreds of partners who make up the Read to Me! team I send warmest wishes for a happy 2009 and heartfelt thanks for the important work you do.

Chinese and Arabic Read to Me! Bags

Read to Me! is pleased to announce that our bag is now available in Chinese and Arabic. Each bag contains an introduction to Read to Me!, reading tips, the Read to Me! hat as well as the board book “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” by Annie Kubler. This is a dual language book in English and Arabic, and English and Chinese.

Did you Know?

 

Read to Me! gives a bag of books to every baby born in Nova Scotia

To date, Read to Me! has given out 50,784 bags containing over 114,000 high quality baby books!