When You Read With A Child, Everybody Wins!

MrsP.com Announces 2nd Annual Writing Contest

"Be a Famous Writer" Contest Encourages Creativity

Most of you know me from the classic stories I read at my website, www.MrsP.com. While the works of some of the finest writers that ever lived are in my Magic Library, I have a little secret to share. One of my great joys as a storyteller is reading aloud stories written by children.  Every year I host a writing contest for kids, my “Be A Famous Writer Contest.”  The winners have their stories read by me on my website for everyone to hear.  It’s so much fun, such an infinitely good time for both my heart and soul, to help bring to life the world of a child’s imagination!  And what makes me just as happy is what the writing contest teaches kids:  how much power they hold in their words and their thoughts.

The contest began September 1 and runs through October 15, 2010.  This year I made a special video message to share contest news because so many teachers requested something they could share with their students.  I am also Skyping with several schools to talk to kids in real time about the writing contest and the importance of reading.

I’m very excited about the contest’s judges this year, who are themselves some of the world’s most famous writers:  #1 best-selling author Meg Cabot (“The Princess Diaries”); Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, the most popular cartoon strip in the world; and Danny Kallis, creator of the Disney Channel's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" and “The Suite Life on Deck,” television’s top-rated shows for kids.

The two grand-prize winners will have their stories read by me (Mrs. P) in videos featuring original illustrations and produced by my Hollywood production team.  The videos will be posted for viewing by a global audience at my website.  Each winner will also receive a bound copy of the illustrated story, as well as gift certificates to Powell’s Books (www.Powells.com), the largest independent bookseller in the world and the official sponsor of the writing contest.

Stories submitted for the contest may cover any topic, fiction or nonfiction, and should be between 250 and 1,000 words. It is open to children 4 to 13 years of age. 

I can’t wait to start reading this year’s entries and see who’s going to be the next “Famous Writer”!  

Enjoy my video message

Wolper Subscription Services Seeking Recipes For Cookbook To Benefit Everybody Wins!

Our friends at Wolper Subscription Services are creating a new cookbook showcasing a collection of recipes from Wolper employees and customers. Wolper has generously selected Everybody Wins! USA to receive a portion of proceeds from the cookbook.

Do you have a favorite recipe you'd like to see included in the cookbook? Take your favorite cookbook down off the shelf, or dig out your flour-dusted recipe card box, and send your submissions to Wolper at http://wolper.com/recipes/recipe.html

Mrs. P (from MrsP.com) Launches New Reading Challenge Game

Good news!  I’ve just launched my new Mrs. P Reading Challenge Game.  Why did I build a game for young readers?  Because I didn’t want kids to lose the reading skills over the summer they worked so hard to develop in school last year.  Studies have shown that children who don’t read over the summer can lose many months of reading progress. Why am I launching the game now, so late in the summer?  Because it took forever to build!  I wanted to launch it back in June, but building a new game is hard work, and, frankly, we had more bugs than a Volkswagen factory!

But the game is done now, and I’ve never been prouder!  It features some of my favorite classic stories as well as the winning entries from my “Be a Famous Writer” contest last year.  Kids who play the game will get to prove how well they comprehend and retain what they read.  I help them find the right answers with funny audio and visual messages.  And when players get a good score, they’ll be rewarded with a pot of gold!  (When I was a kid, we just got a cheap little gold star!) 

My new game isn’t the only way to keep your child engaged in reading when they’re away from school.  Here are a few more ideas:

• Reading simple instructions for a task is a great way to improve comprehension skills.  Visit the Activities Page of my website, MrsP.com for fun things you and your child can make.  Fans of “Alice in Wonderland” will love the easy and clever homemade toys and games you can make with materials most people have sitting around the house.  

• Get a public library card. It’s FREE, and most libraries have fun summer and after-school activities (as well as books full of wonderful stories and ideas from the smartest people who ever lived.) You can also find good educational videos and audio books at the library.  I have a special place in her heart for librarians, so tell them Mrs. P sent you!

• Download a free poster of Mrs. P or another one of your child’s favorite celebrities from Get Caught Reading   Hanging one of these colorful posters in your child’s room will remind them “Reading is cool and so are you!”

• Visit an online learning portal: My favorite is Professor Garfield’s Interactive online environment, where children can safely explore, learn and creatively express themselves. The site, started by the creator of Garfield the Cat, has reading games galore!

• Encourage Writing. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand; developing skills for one always helps with the other.  Encouraging your child to make up and tell you a story can be an excellent work-out for the imagination – and also a fun way to spend time together.  And if you come up with an idea you really like, enter it in my next Be-A-Famous-Writer Contest.  Check out the prizes on my website  – they’re really quite amazing!

• Audio Books.  Listen to a story on your next car or plane trip, or just on a hot afternoon at home. Listening to the audio and following along with the actual book will help kids improve their skills even faster.  Audible Books has an extensive collection of quality children’s books. 

Enjoy this little video

101 Books That Hook Kids On Reading | Online Universities

Check out this great list of children's classics that promote reading for a lifetime from onlineuniversities.com

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/07/101-books-that-hook-kids-on-reading/

The Professor Garfield Foundation Learning Portal Welcomes MrsP.com

News from Everybody Wins! USA Honorary Board Member and Partner www.MrsP.com:

June 27, 2010 - The Professor Garfield Foundation www.professorgarfield.org learning portal announced the addition today of www.MrsP.com to its fun, interactive online environment where children can safely explore, learn and creatively express themselves. The agreement between popular storytelling site MrsP.com and Professor Garfield web site, one of the largest free learning portals on the Internet for grades K-8, was unveiled at the ISTE conference in Denver, Colorado, which is geared to learning and teaching through technology.

“The addition of Mrs. P to our portal seemed a natural,” said Bob Levy, a member of the board of directors for the Professor Garfield Foundation.  “We have similar missions to both educate and entertain, with the ultimate goal of helping to instill a love of reading in children.”  The Professor Garfield site attracts millions of visitors each month.

MrsP.com offers read-along options on its library of free videos, a feature which has proven beneficial to both young readers and ESL students. The site also hosts an annual writing contest and provides a host of games, activity guides and coloring sheets.  The site features TV star Kathy Kinney (“The Drew Carey Show”), who portrays Mrs. P and is also one of the creators of the website.

About The Professor Garfield Foundation
Professor Garfield Foundation is a collaboration between Ball State University and Paws Inc., the creative studio for Garfield the Cat. The foundation’s mission is to engage and inspire children through innovative interactive learning activities that are educationally sound, allowing children to achieve their full potential. Many school districts and parents find the content on the site to be an outstanding source of supplemental academic curricula. All of the content on the site is available at no charge.

About Mrs. P Enterprises, LLC.
Mrs. P Enterprises, LLC, was founded in 2008 by Hollywood team Clay Graham, Kathy Kinney and Dana Plautz. After having built successful careers in television and New Media, the three creators of MrsP.com were brought together by a love of reading and a desire to help spark that same passion in young people everywhere. The company endeavors to expose young people to great books and stories through a celebrity storyteller and to spark their imaginations and creativity with on-line games and writing contests. Its production offices are located in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California.

Maupin House's Blog: BEFORE THEY READ Wins 2010 Distinguished Achievement Awards in Professional Development

Maupin House Publishing is proud to announce that the 2009 title, Before They Read by author and national literacy consultant Cathy Puett Miller, was awarded the 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award in Professional Development in the Guided Reading category.

"This is truly an honor since the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) has such high standards and uses a multi-layer review system for determining the winners," Miller said. "When I spoke today with AEP staff, they told me that the number of entries was very high, making it even more gratifying that they chose Before They Read."

Miller has been on a mission since the release of this title (and its partner book, released in tandem, Anytime Reading Readiness).  "It is so important for families and educators to get on the same channel, focus on key predictors of later reading success such as oral language development; multiple, positive experiences with print; and early phonological awareness. My aim with these two books is to help facilitate that 'getting on the same page' approach and to start young children off with the sort of strong foundation that will result in it being easier for each child to learn to read at his or her prime time."Cathy Puett Miller is an active and passionate speaker and is available for engagements nationwide. Through the Maupin House Speakers Bureau, Cathy customizes professional development to fit the needs of her audience. Please contact Maupin House, [email protected], for more information about having Miller as a speaker or about her award-winning book, Before They Read.   

Cathy has also begun a simple challenge through the venue of social media that can help us all address the summer reading slump.  If you are on Facebook, visit her cause page "The Literacy Ambassador's K-6 Summer Challenge" to see the details.  If you aren't on Facebook, you can still be involved by emailing her at [email protected] with SUMMER CHALLENGE in the subject for complete details.  It's easy, free and fun and you'll make a difference in the life of a child.

via maupinhouse.blogspot.com

Former Everybody Wins! Power Lunch Student Receives Full College Scholarship

From Everybody Wins! USA Executive Director Rich Greif: 

As many of you know, I first got involved with Everybody Wins! and the Power Lunch program back in 1998. I was fortunate to have read each week to a boy named Jamal Jones. As I wrote about last year, Jamal and I stayed in touch over the years even after he "graduated" from Power Lunch in fourth grade (see Rich and Jamal: Reunited 10 Years Later).

This spring, I was excited to learn that Jamal would be graduating on-time with his high school class and that he was applying to colleges. He graduated from East Boston High School last Saturday and my family was honored to be invited to his graduation party. It was a joyous occasion to see Jamal's family and friends celebrate this important milestone in his life.

But the real surprise came midway through the evening when Jamal stood-up and thanked everyone for coming and supporting him. Before concluding his remarks, one of his aunts stood up and asked him to open the card she had for him. To Jamal's and nearly everyone's surprise, inside the card was the news that he had received a full scholarship to the University of New Hampshire! We could not be more thrilled for Jamal and his family. He is a wonderful young man with a bright future ahead of him.

 
Jamal and Rich at his graduation party, June 13, 2010

Everybody Wins! USA Meets with White House Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes

Representatives from Everybody Wins! USA met with Melody Barnes, the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and staff from the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation at the White House on May 3rd. Last year, Ms. Barnes visited Everybody Wins! Iowa as part of the White House's Community Solutions Tour. Ms. Barnes wrote an article for the White House blog about her visit, saying, "Everybody Wins! is exactly the type of community solution that President Obama asked me to identify when he called on his Domestic Policy Council to scour the country for the very best, most innovative, most successful programs in our communities."

 

During the meeting, Everybody Wins! USA shared its progress over the past year preparing to replicate its Power Lunch mentoring program to more cities around the country as well as its efforts to raise awareness of Everybody Wins! and help current Everybody Wins! affiliates serve more children. "We applaud the White House's efforts to expand service opportunities in our country and help bring programs like ours to scale. We stand ready to bring the joy of reading and mentoring to more children and engage more citizens in meaningful volunteer opportunities that make a difference in their community," said Rich Greif, National Executive Director of Everybody Wins! USA, who attended the meeting with board members Matt Broder, David L. Brewer III, Brian Kropp, Manar Morales and Chris Mundy, and were also joined by Sonal Shah and Charlie Anderson of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

 

Ms. Barnes shared fond memories of Senator Kennedy's time as a Power Lunch mentor with Everybody Wins! DC, which was recently featured on the NBC Nightly News. Everybody Wins! USA also presented Ms. Barnes with a copy of Rose's Garden, a book inspired by and dedicated to the late Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The book is written by award-winning author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds who is also an Advisory Board member of Everybody Wins! Metro Boston. Just before his passing, Senator Kennedy wrote a touching quote for the book, saying of his mother, "She taught each of us to perservere, no matter how great the challenges, and to do all we could to care for others."

 

Everybody Wins! USA Board of Directors Elects Three New Members

Boston, MA - April 29, 2010 - Everybody Wins! USA, a nationally recognized literacy and mentoring organization, announced that David L. Brewer III, Brian Kropp and Meave G. O'Marah have been elected to the Board of Directors.

 

Vice Admiral David L. Brewer III (Retired) served his country for over 35 years in the United States Navy. During his distinguished career, Vice Admiral Brewer was honored with numerous military and civilian awards. Upon retirement from the Navy, Vice Admiral Brewer continued his service to our nation when he was selected in 2006 as the 46th Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the US, where he served until 2008. Vice Admiral Brewer continues to serve the nation's youth as a Los Angeles Co-Chair of the 5 Million Kids initiative, which will teach financial literacy to five million youth, parents and teachers.

 

Dr. Kropp is the Managing Director, Corporate Leadership Council in the Corporate Executive Board. His quantitative and strategic research is focusing on aligning the various HR performance processes with drivers of human capital outcomes. Prior to joining the Corporate Executive Board in 2002, Dr. Kropp has worked for a variety of research institutions and has taught economics, policy analysis, and quantitative methods courses at the University of North Carolina.  He has been published in several books, academic journals and other periodicals. Dr. Kropp holds a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the University of North Carolina and a M.A. and B.S. in Economics from Clemson University.

 

Ms. O'Marah founded The Owner's Representative in 2000 to provide strategic consulting and CFO services to start-up and small businesses. Ms. O'Marah has extensive experience in politics and public policy, having worked on criminal justice, education,  administration and finance issues. While working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, her focus was on fiscal policy and the close tie between policy initiatives and their effect on state finances. After leaving the public sector, Ms. O'Marah helped launch one of the nation's largest charter school management companies and functioned as the Vice-President for Strategic Planning and Director of Finance. Ms. O'Marah holds a B.A. from Harvard College, an M.S. from Oxford University and is completing an MBA in Entrepreneurship at Babson College.

 

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Brewer, Dr. Kropp and Ms. O'Marah, who bring a wealth of subject matter expertise, experience, and credentials to assist with Everybody Wins! USA's goal of doubling the number of markets operating our Power Lunch program," said Matt Broder, Everybody Wins! USA's Chairman of the Board.

   

About Everybody Wins! USA

 

Everybody Wins! USA builds the skills and love of reading among low-income elementary students by bringing volunteer mentors into schools for weekly one-on-one, read-aloud sessions, increasing children's opportunities for academic and real-world success. Everybody Wins! affiliates in 16 states and Washington, DC serves nearly 20,000 children and adults annually. For more information, please visit www.everybodywins.org

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Everybody Wins: Nonprofit Connects Politicians, D.C. Kids For Reading Mentorship

Though not yet proficient enough to read 2,000-page pieces of legislation, D.C. children are getting better at reading with the help of American politicians. The nonprofit Everybody Wins connects senators and other government officials with children in the nation's capital for one-on-one mentoring. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) says that the mentors get more out of the experience than even the children. "An hour here is an hour of sanity," he said. Ted Kennedy visited with a child every week until his death in 2009. His widow, Victoria, has taken up his role. NBC Nightly News profiled Everybody Wins for their Making A Difference series.

via www.huffingtonpost.com