LEARN
ACT
TRANSFORM

Does your school have an innovative program that gets students active?

Child Obesity 180 has launched Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP) Innovation Competition. The competition is looking to uncover and highlight the most innovative and effective physical activity programs in elementary schools across the country.

ASAP wants to learn about any approach that motivates quality physical activity at school and beyond. If you have a great physical activity program and want the opportunity to share your program’s success, enter the competition for a chance to win up to $100,000. Top programs also will have an opportunity to develop and expand their initiative to other schools.

Deadline for entries: April 2, 2012.
Go to www.ActiveSchoolsASAP.org to learn more and enter.

Looking for Resources/Ideas to increase the amount of quality physical activity at your school? Visit the Ohio Action For Healthy Kids Physical Activity Resource Page.

March is National Reading Awareness Month

More than half the children in this country — 13 million children — will not hear a bedtime story tonight.

A coalition of organizations, including our own, is working to change that. ReadAloud.org is a non-profit that is launching a 10-year campaign this month to promote a simple, powerful message:

Organizations that touch the lives of children in Greater Cincinnati have rallied to the 15 MINUTE Movement. ReadAloud’s partners include:

• Cincinnati Public Schools
• The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
• The Strive Partnership
• Every Child Succeeds
• Success by 6
• 4C for Children

These groups recognize the importance of reading aloud, and we do too. Why? Because reading aloud every day is the single most important thing you can do to prepare your child to learn. And, unfortunately, many parents and caregivers aren’t aware of the power of 15 minutes of daily reading aloud:

• Some children begin kindergarten having been read to as few as 25 hours, while their peers may have been read to as many as 1,000 hours. Every time you read to your child you are improving their learning advantage.
• By age four, low-income children have heard an average 32 million fewer words than their wealthy peers. Reading aloud is a key way to introduce new vocabulary.
• Even in higher-income households, nearly 40% of families do not read aloud every day.
• If a child is not reading at grade level by the end of the first grade, then there is an 88% probability the child will not be reading at grade level by the end of the fourth grade.

How can you support the cause? It’s easy! Spread the word, and continue to read to your child every day, or renew your commitment to do so!

Reading aloud can easily become part of your daily routine, before bedtime or naptime or after mealtime. Make it fun! Don’t forget funny voices, sound effects, acting out parts of the story, and asking lots of questions. Even a very young child can look at pictures, practice turning the pages, and hear you talk about the story. A child is never too young to learn that books are fun, engaging, and something that your family values.

Click here and join the 15 Minute Movement today!

Please take a moment to participate in this Cincinnati Public Schools Budget Survey. Your responses are very important and will serve as one of several sources of information that will affect budget decisions.

The Literacy Empowerment Foundation (LEF Books) is sponsoring free books for Read Across America Day – March 2nd!

Don’t delay. Order your books today!
There is a postage fee of $0.68 per book.

Please click the link below to read a recent article from Soapbox Cincinnati online magazine, about Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati.

Soapbox Cincinnati