After Too Long An Absence . . .

Thank you to all of you who continue to follow this blog.  I have been absent, struggling a bit as all of us do from time to time, with squeezing everything we want to do into the time and energy we have.  I know that parents can relate to that. 

A MEANINGFUL RE-START

With this post, I'd like to draw us back together and begin again the discussions about parents and kids reading together.  This post is for parents of 2 year olds and parents of 22 year olds.

Please share this new post with your friends and tap them into an important resource.

GREETINGS FROM TAMPA, FLORIDA!

This is a view out my hotel window tonight.  I am in lovely (and warm) Tampa, Florida for the

National Title I Conference and am so excited to tell you that family engagement in children's learning is on the FRONT burner!  

Not only does my session, Families and Educators: A Joint Book Club Concept, address this topic but there are at least five other presenters talking about this same issue.  With educators talking more about how to involve families (some how to "follow the letter of the federal law in Title I schools but others, happily, who are genuinely interested in partnering with parents).

I'd love to hear the viewpoint from anyone reading this post on the following questions:

1. Do you feel welcome at your child's school?  Why or why not? 
2. Do you see your child's teacher as "friend" or "foe"?  Why or why not?
3. If you could stand in front of the Title I teachers from all other the country this week, what would you say to them?

I look forward to your comments!

P.S.  Need some reading for yourself?  Check out reviews from me and my fellow book reviewers at http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/reviewer/cathy-puett-miller.



VOTE AT PEPSI REFRESH FOR THE BIG 3 LITERACY PROJECT

A DREAM

For 6 months now I've been working on a project with the Region IV Head Start Association's Executive Director, Myra Ingram.  Talk about inspiring!  I've visited Head Start classrooms, talked with parents and teachers and children and today we have a chance to make a bigger dream real.

My company, TLA, Inc., and Region IV Head Start Association are teaming up now for the Pepsi Refresh Project,  

Parents everywhere can relate to the idea that moms and dads want the very best for their child.  And in Head Starts across the SE, we have a chance to build upon what is already happening with family engagement to bring a new level of partnership between home and school.Learn more by visiting the Pepsi Refresh Pages for this project, watching the video and then voting.  Take a few minutes to then help us spread the word as broadly as possible (I'm telling EVERYONE on the earth that I know!)

There are several ways you can participate and make this dream possible:

1) Visit  The BIG 3 LITERACY PROJECT
to vote personally for the project (a quick registration is all you need).  Then bookmark the site and put a reminder on your phone or calendar to vote daily (30 votes are possible for this one project per person - one a day.  

2) Share this blog or the link through social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and others.  Your connections plus ours make for great numbers.  Encourage as many of your friends as possible to vote daily as well. When you see someone else Tweeting this voting, retweet them too!

3) Offer voting by texting  (all regular texting fees apply):  Text* 102675 to Pepsi (73774).
 Again, daily votes prompted by a calendar reminder are great.  If you'd like an email remainder, request same by emailing TLA. 

4)  Reach your best friends, collagues and the nonprofit agencies (including Head Starts) throughout the SE states of AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN - they'll be learning about this opportunity to impacts them directly soon if they haven't already gotten the word.  Let's get everyone on the bandwagon to vote daily.  

Together we can do this but we need EVERY vote! Thank you all!   Stay tuned for updates.  As of this afternoon, we've moved up approximately 40 points in the running but we are still far from our goal of being #1 or #2.  I know we can do it with the help from each of you!

Support Region IV!