Be Prepared for National Reading Month with Ohio AAP’s Toolkit

Did you know March is National Reading Month? We hope you will partner with us to give children increased lifelong opportunities by raising awareness of the many positive impacts of early exposure to books and language.

During March 2020, the Ohio AAP will be sharing messages to raise awareness of how all caregivers can be part of early literacy and learning for the children in their life. Reading aloud is widely recognized as the single most important activity leading to literacy acquisition, and as trusted sources pediatricians, other healthcare providers, and community organizations can help share this with families in a unified message.

Early Literacy Awareness Key Messages

1. #BooksBuildBrains – Reading aloud is widely recognized as the single most important activity in helping children begin to learn to read.

2. #BooksBuildBrains – Reading with your child grows your relationship, and we know healthy relationships build strong emotional connections in the developing brain.

3. Reading with your child can be fun and easy! Even a few minutes a day of reading aloud to a child improves school readiness.

4. Discussing early literacy can be incorporated into many different interactions – as anticipatory guidance in visits with families, as a best practice with colleagues, or as a tip with friends and other caregivers for the children in your life.

Early Literacy Awareness Partner Actions

1. Distribute this toolkit to everyone in your network
2. Share the messages in this toolkit on social media, using #BooksBuildBrains
3. Talk with the children, parents and families in your life about the positive impacts of reading

These actions require very little commitment of time or resources but have potentially high impact on the long-term success of children in Ohio. If all advocates for early literacy shared these messages throughout March, millions of families could easily be reached. Today we are asking you to commit to spreading the word to help #BooksBuildBrains by taking the 3 partner actions described above. The materials in this toolkit will make your involvement as simple as possible.

If you have questions about National Reading Month, or our early literacy initiative Brush, Book, Bed, please check out the following link http://ohioaap.org/earlyliteracy/ or contact Hayley Southworth at hsouthworth@ohioaap.org.

 

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