Celebrating Read Across America Week with Parents as Teachers

29 February 2016 / Leave a Comment


I've recently added a new venture to my already fabulous job. If your unfamiliar with Looney's Literacy I'll give you a little background before I move forward. I've been a K-6  literacy interventionist for 11 yrs. I absolutely love all things literacy! After having my second child, who was diagnosed with an early childhood  developmental delay in speech and language and  proprioceptive sensory disorder; I became fascinated with early childhood development and literacy development. So as soon as a position for Parents as Teachers was open, I snatched it up. Which leads me to the topic of today's post that I'm going to share with you today.



If your unfamiliar with Parents as Teachers it is an amazing program that supports development-centered parenting. For my very first group connection I'm joining with my district's book fair and parent reading night to offer information regarding homemade toys that support age-appropriate, multi-sensory literacy readiness opportunities.

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday I will be creating (pinterest inspired) toys, Seuss Style!Because the actual program will not be until March 3rd I will only be showing you the toys I'll be presenting with the information that I'm going to have available for parents to have so they can make their own homemade toys at home! After March 3rd I will try to link up a post that highlights this fun event!

I'll start with the decorations because they are just so cute and I was supper excited to get most of them in the $1 Spot at Target!  




Next, I'm going to share the sensory bags you can make for less then $5 using materials from Dollar Tree & the $1 Spot at Target! Sensory bags can be used to support several developmental stages that will encourage  future literacy readiness. When babies are about 3-4 months old they will naturally lift their head up during tummy time for longer periods of time. This developmental milestone will support future milestones concerning gross motor development like sitting, crawling and walking.



You might be wondering what this has to do with literacy readiness. Well, these gross motor milestones will support core and neck strength which in turn encourages and stabilizes fluid eye movements which will be needed later on for tracking print. The sensory bags will hold your child's attention for longer periods of time and  they offer multi-sensory input.

I'll also be offering a mix of bought and homemade sensory toys that offer multi-sensory input for little explorers. The rattles are made  out of plastic Easter eggs and rice. I hot-glued them shut and then hot-glued ribbon around them.


This is just a brief preview of some of  the toys I will have available at our celebration March 3rd. I will post a link here to the post I will write after the event so you can see all the resources I had available.  I hope you have a fabulous Read Across America week and look forward to hearing what you did to celebrate. 

**Disclaimer - This post is owned by Looney's Literacy. Dr. Seuss is a registered trademark. All Dr. Seuss materials seen in pictures were legally purchased and follow all trademark rules and regulations. 



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