Get Ready to Read! News, September 2006

Get Ready to Read! Previews Online Back to School Campaign
Ahhhh, the smell of freshly sharpened pencils, the crisp zip of a new backpack and a vision of future potential within a pack of new crayons--for many, these are the sights and sounds of the Back to School season. While children may be focused on reuniting with friends and meeting new teachers, educators and parents are focused on finding new ways to make this school year a happy, healthy and productive one for their children. 

The GRTR! program is here to help. On September 19, GRTR! officially launches our Online Back to School Campaign. You'll find a host of new, free resources at the GRTR! Web site. This month's newsletter feature contains highlights of the new resources to be found on the Web site on September 19th.

Early Literacy Activity: Mystery Sound
Try this activity to help children become aware that words are made of sounds, and to help them isolate the first sound in a word. Look here each month for a different engaging, child-friendly, and fun activity idea!

Literacy Word of the Month
book knowledge

News Briefs
Find out about GRTR!'s involvement in the national read-a-thon of The Little Engine That Could, learn about the benefits of the Universal Pre-K System, and learn how to participate in Pre-K Now's national conference via satellite in September. 

Ask Get Ready to Read!
Look here every month to find the answers to frequently asked questions from our help e-mail box. This month, we answer a question from a parent about how to share the results of the GRTR! screening tool with a teacher.

Resources for Parents
This month, get tips on how to help your child as he or she starts the new school year, learn how to keep the joy in reading aloud to your child, find out about The National Association for the Education of Young Children's 10 standards for helping parents in their search for early childhood care and education programs, and more.

Resources for Educators
Learn fun new ways to make reading a part of every day, find out about a new review of research that highlights recognizing and responding to early warning signs of learning difficulties in young children, and get ready for the new year with helpful resources for teachers.

News from the Field
In this month’s News from the Field, read about Get Ready to Read!'s participation in Jumpstart's Read for the Record event in Rockefeller Center that reached 500 children from across the metro-New York area.