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Nashville Parents Learn to Give a Jump-Start to Reading Press Release: Dollar General and Periwinkle Park Donate “Sing To Read” Book Series NASHVILLE, TENN. - Jelly beans are purple. Jelly
beans are blue. To kick-off the school’s Family Workshop program, Park Avenue Elementary will share the gift of reading to approximately 70 Nashville parents of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children. As part of Park Avenue’s Family Literacy Celebration, Atlanta-based Periwinkle Park Educational Productions, Inc. (www.singtoread.com) will lead a hands-on parent training session on Thursday, September 12, 2002 at 5:00 p.m. at Park Avenue Elementary, Media Center. The evening seminar is designed to share the importance
of the development of early reading skills and teach effective reading
strategies that engage children. The training session will utilize
Periwinkle Park’s “Learning early reading skills as early as at birth will give each child a jump-start to literacy,” explained Lorraine Parker Long, president, Periwinkle Park Education Productions, Inc. and former Nashville kindergarten teacher. “By teaching parents to engage babies, toddlers and preschoolers through music, hand movements and simple reading techniques, we are promoting the progression of cognitive and language development - ultimately giving a child a ‘leg-up’ when the kindergarten doors open.” According to published research, positive parental attitudes toward literacy boost children’s interest and enthusiasm towards books. Parents as well as early caregivers play an essential role in preparing a foundation for literacy by talking and reading daily to babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Programs, such as Park Avenue’s Family Workshop, work to encourage parents to invest at least 30 minutes each day to reading to children of all ages. Periwinkle Park develops predictable book series that incorporate music to enhance the learning cycle. Predictable books are stories written in a manner so that children can use rhyme, repetition, patterns and picture cues to predict upcoming words in the text. This reading pattern encourages children to embrace reading at an earlier age. Further, music has been shown to increase learning capacity during children’s developmental years. “It is my hope that each parent leaves the session with an understanding of the important role that reading plays in a child’s early development,” states Long. “A great reward is to see our predictable, musical format with songs that correspond to the books’ text, build literacy confidence, not only with the child, but among the entire family.” Park Avenue Elementary School Family Workshop The Park Avenue Elementary School Family Literacy Celebration supports the goals of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Early Reading First program issued by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. About Dollar General Corporation About Periwinkle Park Educational Productions,
Inc. Thursday, September 12, 2002 Contact Persons: Web-Sites:
in the Home Press Release:
The Dollar General Corporation joins hands with
Periwinkle Park Educational Productions, Inc. and Metropolitan Public
School, Caldwell Early Childhood Center, to strengthen families and
promote early literacy for the school's young children in the Sam
Levy community in East Nashville.
Thursday, November 1, 2001 Authors of children's storybooks, Lori Parker Long, former Caldwell
kindergarten teacher, Mary Lou Roberts, Caldwell kindergarten teacher,
and Suzanne Brown, Caldwell's Home/School Coordinator, will direct
a parent training on early literacy strategies at Caldwell School.
The parents attending will receive The Sing to Read Adventure,
a set of 7 storybooks and a musical CD with sing-alongs for each
storybook. The storybooks are written by Lori Parker Long and Mary
Lou Roberts. The Sing to Read Adventure storybook
kits are gifts from the Dollar General Corporation and Periwinkle
Park Educational Productions, Inc. book publishers.
The Dollar General Corporation has been dedicated to the
Sam Levy community since July 1993 by building a Dollar General
Learning Center and Store in the neighborhood offering parent training
and jobs. Tragically, in 1997, fire destroyed the Dollar General
Store burning it to the ground. The Dollar General Corporation
made a commitment to the renewal of the Sam Levy community and rebuilt
the store. The Sam Levy Dollar General Learning Center and Store
reopened in 1998.
The Caldwell Early Childhood Center early literacy event supports
the goals of the White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive
Development-Ready to Read, Ready to Learn, held July 26-27,2001
at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. The summit was created
and co-hosted by First Lady Laura Bush to highlight the early learning
activities that parents and educators can use to prepare young children
for school.
Contact Person: Lorraine Long, 770-592-3436
Web-Sites: |