Celebrate National Child Health Day!

Join Reach Out and Read Wisconsin on Monday, Oct. 1

Reach Out and Read Wisconsin staff with message bubble signs

In 1928, Congress created Child Health Day, a national observance bringing attention to the “fundamental necessity” of children’s health programs.

In the spirit of the first National Child Health Day, Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin is hosting a social media campaign to raise awareness for children’s health. You can show your support for kids by taking a photo and posting on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #ForKidsHealth. The individual or organization with the most creative photo will win a $25 gift card! See contest rules at www.chawisconsin.org.

To receive a free #ForKidsHealth message bubble sign, please complete the online request form by Sept. 14. If you would like additional signs for your clinic or partners, please contact ljensen@chw.org.

Thank you for your support and partnership as we work to improve children’s health and literacy in Wisconsin. Please follow Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin on Facebook and Twitter.

We look forward to seeing your photos on Oct. 1!

For Kids Health message bubble

August and September Literacy events

Continue the summer fun and get the kids ready for back to school with these literacy events taking place across Wisconsin. If you don’t see an event in your area, be sure to check out your local library’s website or other local community resources.

August 2018

Date County Name Location Time More information
Aug 1 Fond du Lac Toddler story times Fond du Lac Public Library 32 Sheboygan St. 9:30 a.m. bit.ly/2uRx6Zl
Aug 2 Milwaukee Preschool story time Milwaukee Public Library 814 W Wisconsin St. Milwaukee, WI 10:00 a.m. bit.ly/2uTzT4f
Aug 7 Green Bay Children’s story time at Green Bay Botanical Garden Botanical Garden 2600 Larsen Rd Green Bay, WI 10:00 am bit.ly/2LFwwra This is an ongoing event. Check website for more dates.
Aug 10 Dane Robert Kurson, Rocket Men 702WI 702 E Johnson St. Madison, WI 7:00 pm bit.ly/2LRZdxU
Aug 10 Brown Prevea Read and Play Bay Park Square Mall 303 Bay Sq. Green Bay, WI 9:30 am bit.ly/2sa8dFP
Aug 17 Dane Summer in YOUR City: Kids create at the top of State The Grove, Intersection of W Mifflin and State St. Madison, WI 10:00 am – 1:00 pm bit.ly/2NNw7jJ
Aug 18 Dane Julie Fine, What Should Be Wild 702WI 702 E Johnson St. Madison, WI 11:00 am

 

bit.ly/2mJEzVF

Aug 22 La Crosse Family story time La Crosse Public Library 800 Main St. La Crosse, WI 10:30 am – 11:15 am

bit.ly/2mLWWcE

This is an ongoing event. Check the website for more dates

September 2018

Date County Name Location Time More information
Sept 7 – 8 La Crosse La Crosse Storytelling Festival Myrick Park 2000 La Crosse St. La Crosse, WI 6:30 pm bit.ly/2LVTFma
Sept 8 Everywhere International Literacy Day Worldwide – check the library or Google for local events All day bit.ly/2mMC30U
Sept 14 Brown Prevea Read and Play Bay Park Square Mall 303 Bay Park Sq.Green Bay, WI 9:30 a.m. bit.ly/2sa8dFP
Sept 25 Kenosha Family Literacy Night Kenosha Literacy Council 2419 63rd St Kenosha, WI 5:30 pm – 10 pm bit.ly/2uQT6n0
Sept 28 Dane Read Like Mad (Community reading event) Madison, WI   bit.ly/2uS7nQx

Do you know of an upcoming children’s literacy event in your area? Get it featured on this list by emailing Alex Rogers arogers@chw.org with details!

Outdoor portrait of young girl reading under tree
Get outside this summer and read

An Epic donation

Reach Out and Read (ROR) Wisconsin recently received more than 1,200 books thanks to Epic’s annual book drive in Madison. Our staff will distribute these new and gently-used books across Wisconsin as we travel to clinics for site visits. This is Epic’s fourth annual book drive to benefit ROR Wisconsin.

The new books will be prescribed and given to children by their medical provider at well-child visits from 6 months to 5 years. The gently-used books will help clinics expand their literacy-rich environment as they can be kept in waiting areas or exam rooms for families to enjoy while they are waiting to see the provider. Gently-used books can also be used to supplement the new books and they make great gifts for older siblings who visit the clinic with a ROR-aged brother or sister.

If you are interested in hosting a book drive for a ROR Wisconsin clinic near you, please contact Alex Rogers at arogers@chw.org or (608) 442-4175. Clinics accept books for kids of all ages, but we do ask that you screen donated books before dropping them off at a clinic. Please use our book guidelines when screening and sorting donations.

We would like to thank book drive coordinators Kate Parr and Adrienne Kiser and all the generous Epic employees who donated books. ROR Wisconsin is very grateful for our continued partnership with Epic and we know our clinics and families appreciate these books.

Two Epic employees with their donation of books to Reach Out and Read Wisconsin
Thank you Epic employees for your generous donation to ROR Wisconsin!

June and July literacy events

Summer is here and what better way to start off this season of sun, fun and hopefully some relaxing time spent reading than by attending a literacy event in your area? Check out the information below for local Wisconsin events happening in June and July. If you don’t see an event in your area, be sure to check out your local library’s website as they often have many summer reading programs for both kids and adults.

Please note: use arrows below table to scroll to the right for more information.

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Library summer reading programs for kids:

Fox Valley programs

Madison Public Library

Milwaukee Public Library

Monroe Public Library

Know of an upcoming literacy event in your area that you would like to see included on this list? Email Alex Rogers arogers@chw.org with details!

Outdoor portrait of young girl reading under tree, events

Reaching Out Beyond the Clinic Setting

Dr. Michelle Hill pediatrician at the Prevea West De Pere Health Center
Dr. Michelle Hill pediatrician at the Prevea West De Pere Health Center

Reach Out and Read (ROR) has been one of the most fun and helpful additions to our pediatric practice at Prevea Health. The response from families and children who are receiving our books at their visits is so overwhelmingly positive. We wanted to work on even more ways to integrate this program, not only into our health centers, but also into our community.

Prevea Health has sponsored a children’s play area at Bay Park Square Mall in Green Bay for a few years. This play area is partially enclosed, with little slides and play pieces for kids to climb on. In brainstorming ways to best utilize that space, we felt it would be a great place to expand our messaging about the importance of families reading aloud with their children. Not only would we get to have fun interactions with children in the community, but also we would have the chance to promote the importance of early literacy promotion and model engaging reading behavior.

The mall is a central location to our patient population in Green Bay, which means we can reach people throughout the whole community. This includes children who may not see Prevea Pediatricians and who do not benefit from the ROR program in the clinic setting. It also offers families in the community something fun and educational to do, especially during the winter months in Wisconsin!

Prevea Pediatrics and the mall tried to find a way to incorporate story telling along with play time. Knowing how active children can be and that sometimes sitting still for a story is a challenge, we decided it would be a good idea to add some structured play to these events. This would give the children a chance to get their wiggles out before the story. Then, we could settle right in the middle of the play area to read several books.

Prevea Read and Play

We decided to call the event Prevea Read and Play, featuring our pediatricians or child life specialists reading books for the storytime portion. I find it important for the pediatricians to participate in the reading, in part, because it’s just fun to do, but also because I think it magnifies the message of how important reading is when parents see a doctor taking time out of their day to read to children. It also takes us out of the clinical setting and more into the real world of these families and shows them again that reading is a key part of childhood development. I also feel it’s important for children to know that reading is fun and exciting, so this is one more way to keep them interested in new stories.

As of now, this is a monthly program and the community response has been very positive. I participated in our most recent story time in March, around the time of Dr. Seuss Week. After doing some movement activities with the children at the play area, I read two Dr. Seuss stories to about a dozen children of various ages. Some of them had heard the stories before and were eager to chime in about trying Green Eggs and Ham or capturing Thing 1 and Thing 2. We were also able to take a moment to talk about trying different foods because you just might like them, like at the end of Green Eggs and Ham. I was very impressed with the children’s level of attention during my reading. They were all very engaged, even the younger ones who may not have been as interested in these longer stories.

The parents also seemed to enjoy watching storytime and taking a break from chasing their children around the play area. Some of the people attending this Read and Play were repeat visitors who knew about the storytime, but many happened to be passing by and stopped or were pleasantly surprised when they came to play.

After we finished reading, our child life specialist led the children on a fun scavenger hunt through the play area to get them up and moving again. They were able to find various objects like a teddy bear or a stethoscope. Then, they each were rewarded with a certificate and a ROR bookmark to finish up our Prevea Read and Play event. Literature was also available for the parents regarding the ROR program and our Prevea Pediatricians.

Overall, it was a very fun morning at the mall and another great way to expand reading farther into our community. I do think seeing reading in action from a physician sends a great message to our families and I am glad ROR has given us even more encouragement to send that message.

Information table at Prevea Read and Play with information about Reach Out and Read and Prevea Health
Information table at Prevea Read and Play

Reach Out and Read Wisconsin’s first legislative visit of 2018

On Jan. 29, 2018, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Next Door Pediatrics clinic hosted a legislative site visit with Senator LaTonya Johnson. During the visit, Senator Johnson read aloud from the books If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Pete the Cat: Snow Daze to a group of students from Next Door’s Head Start program. One of the highlights of the visit was watching the children’s enjoyment while Sen. Johnson read aloud.

Senator LaTonya Johnson reads aloud to a group of headstart children
Senator LaTonya Johnson reading aloud from If You Give A Mouse a Cookie
Children’s Health Alliance AmeriCorp Member Rebecca Lee and Next Door Pediatrics Medical Consultant Brilliant Nimmer, MD
From left: Clinic Manager Cara Schuhart, Senator LaTonya Johnson, Children’s Health Alliance AmeriCorp Member Rebecca Lee and Next Door Pediatrics Medical Consultant Brilliant Nimmer, MD

After the reading, Sen. Johnson participated in a tour of the medical clinic led by Dr. Brilliant Nimmer, the clinic’s Reach Out and Read (ROR) medical champion. Dr. Nimmer talked about the success of the program and its impact on the community. Since starting ROR in 2010, Next Door Pediatrics has given out almost 6,000 books to children ages 6 months to 5 years.

ROR Wisconsin is grateful for the opportunity to bring together legislative leaders and the medical community to promote, educate and engage around early literacy and children’s health.