Did you know that reading aloud to your child is one of the most important things you can do to help boost their literacy skills and their overall success in school?
Studies show that children who are read to regularly at home by an adult have an overall better success rate in school. Knowing this, you would think that all parents are reading at home to their children, but the fact is, only about half of all children ages 3-5 are read to on a daily basis.
Here some other benefits of reading aloud to your child:
Reading with your child is a great way to bond.
Reading on regular basis instills good reading habits and establishes reading as part of a routine.
Reading to your child prepares them for school by increasing their vocabulary.
Reading is part of language development.
Language development takes place during the early years of brain development, and 90% of brain development takes place before a child's 5th birthday.
Reading together can help instill a lifelong love for reading and learning.
Reading together builds all sorts of literacy skills.
The Kauai Children's Authors Guild recognizes the need to support literacy efforts right here on Kauai. Please Join us for our Read Across Kauai Day event to be held on February 28th, 2014.
If your business or organization would like to sponsor books for children for the Read Across Kauai Day event, please contact us.
I recently had the chance to interview best-selling author
and speaker, Noah St. John, about his new book, Afformations. I was introduced
to Noah and his book shortly after the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild asked the
Mayor of Kauai to designate a day for literacy on Kauai. Prior to Read Across
Kauai Day being designated by the Mayor, the the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild
members had been working on ways to help with literacy efforts on Kauai. First,
we researched joining a national literacy organization and opening a Kauai
Chapter, but Kauai is so small and special that the Guild members wanted to
take a more personal approach to meet the needs of Kauai Students. It was at
that time that I asked the Guild members, “What if we could get a day devoted
to literacy right here on Kauai?”
Shortly after I asked this very important question, we
requested a Proclamation from the Mayor and the things began to fall into place
for Read Across Kauai Day including the receipt of a pledge for donations that
will begin to make this event a reality. All the authors got fired up and began
to come up with all kinds of ideas about making this day a success and we began
to receive additional support. I was beginning to ask myself, “why was this so
easy?”
Now you may be asking, “what does this have to do with Noah
St. John and his new book?” Well, Noah is part of national group of authors
that I also belong to and I had the pleasure of attending a webinar that was recently
hosted for Noah by book marketing guru John Kremer. In the webinar, Noah was
talking about how had used affirmations for years, but they never seemed to
work and then one day he had an epiphany and he discovered what he calls
“Afformations”.
What he found was that when you continue to write and say
all these affirmations, like: “I am rich”, etc., you’re mind does not really
believe it, but if you instead ask the right questions like: “What if I could?”
then your brain automatically begins to search for the answers. This really
struck me, because quite by accident, without knowing Noah or anything about Afformations, I had done just what he suggested. I had asked our the members
of the Kauai Childrens Authors Guild, “what if we could?” Not only did I get my
brain seeking answers, the whole group began to seek answers about how to help
with literacy efforts on Kauai.
So, I wrote to Noah to tell him about my story and to ask
him a few questions about why this had worked so well for our group and this is
what he said:
Noah St. John- “What you did right was activate the embedded
presupposition factor of your brain, which happens when you ask a question that
the brain seeks an answer to.
This is the essential reason that Afformations are so
powerful and so amazingly effective – because your brain is always asking and
searching for answers to questions.”
Monika Mira- “If this worked so well for us, how can other
folks here on Kauai use Afformations with their efforts to help the community
or help their businesses succeed?”
Noah St. John- “Tell all of your friends in the community to
go to www.Afformationsbook.com
and share the teaching of Afformations with everyone they know – parents,
teachers, and students.
Kids especially love Afformations because their brains
aren’t filled with years of “head trash” like most adults. That’s why we have a
mission to have every student in America be taught Afformations as part of
their regular curriculum – because it will teach them how to use the most
important tool they will ever have: their own mind."
Monika Mira- Well there you have it! A cool new tool to help
you succeed. I have embedded a little video below where Noah talks about what Afformations
are and how he discovered them, and folks from all over are getting results.
Check it out, see what it can do for you or your efforts to help others. I sure
hope that our group can continue to use Afformations to make Read Across Kauai
Day a success!
The Annual Princess Kaiulani Keiki Festival will be held in Hanapepe Town on Saturday October 18th, 2013. This very special event celebrates the life of Princess Kaiulani and the culture of Hawaii.
The festival includes a full day of Hawaiian cultural activities, performances by local hula halau, celebrity story readers, a main street parade, children's arts and crafts, and of course a visit from the princess.
For the last few years, the festival has also hosted the Kauai Children's Authors Guild. This year, children can enjoy listening to local authors reading their books in the Storybook Theatre. The children will be able to interact with local authors and the authors will also be available for book signings. The Kauai Children's Authors Guild members will also be able to discuss their goals for Read Across Kauai Day that will be held on February 28th, 2014.
This event is produced by the Storybook Theatre of Hawaii. For more information please visit www.storybook.org or email director@storybook.org.
The Kauai Children's Authors Guild is elated to announce that Kauai Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. has issued a Proclamation designating February 28th, 2014 as Read Across Kauai Day. Members of the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild were recognized for
initiating a huge project to support literacy on Kauai. The designation of this day was requested in an effort to raise awareness about the
importance of early childhood education and literacy. "Literacy is so important." states Guild Member, Susan Dierker. Here are some startling literacy statistics:
According to 2009 NAEP results, 33% of 4th grade public school students are at or below the "Basic" level and 26% of 8th graders performed at or below the "basic" level.
Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
Over 70 percent of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.
According to UNESCO, two-thirds of the adult illiterate population are women.
According to NCES, 26% of children who were read to three or four times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet. This is compared to 14 % of children who were read to less frequently.
Only 53% of children ages 3-5 were read to daily by a family member (1999). Children in families with incomes below the poverty level are less likely to be read to aloud everyday than are children in families with incomes at or above poverty (UNESCO).
"After reading statistics like these, you just have to take action when you are in a position to be able to help," says Guild Member Monika Mira.
As a result, the Guild members came up with the idea of having a day designated to literacy right here on Kauai. The concept for the event, which corresponds with the date
of the national Read Across America Day, is that Kauai authors will be reading
books to Kauai’s preschool and kindergarten students. The authors will also be
distributing books to these children on the day of the event. Children who participate in the event will be sent home with
information about the program and encouraged to read the books with their
parents. The goal for the
first year is to raise enough money to put 500-1000 books in Kauai’s student’s and
teacher’s hands.
Any business or organization that is interested in
sponsoring books for children or for a classroom is encouraged to contact the
Kauai Children’s Authors Guild. Schools, libraries and educational
organizations that would like to request a visit from an author should also
contact the Guild.
Children’s Book Week is celebrated from May 13-19 in 2013.
This year, the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild is doing something a little
different. Members are working to develop a day devoted to literacy on Kauai. This
project is in the early stages of development, but Guild members hope to gain
support and partner with other agencies around the island and the state as they
get closer to a date sometime next year.
The Kauai Children’s Authors Guild recognizes the importance
of early childhood education and the need to support literacy efforts on Kauai.
The Guild is proposing the creation, proclamation, and designation of a day devoted
to promoting literacy on Kauai. For now, we are calling this day, “Read Across
Kauai Day,” but it could also be called “Kauai Literacy Day.” We would like to
model this day after the efforts of organizations like Jumpstart and First
Books, Read for the Record, and Read Across America Day.
The idea is to partner with a non-profit agency to help
raise funds for the purchase and distribution of children’s books by Kauai authors
to preschool and kindergarten students attending schools on Kauai. Why not just
any books? Guild members feel that the impact of meeting and interacting with
local authors far surpasses just handing a child a book. However, the Kauai
Children’s Authors Guild will also be partnering with other organizations like
KART (Kids are Readers Too Foundation) to provide additional books to the
children that may not be written by local authors, but could be read and
delivered by local authors.
The effort would be to raise awareness about the importance
of both literacy and early childhood education. Children that are sent home
with books would be given information about the program and would be encouraged
to read books with their parents. Members of the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild
would be available to appear in schools to read their books to children on the
day of the event. When an author interacts with a child, there becomes a
personal connection with the book. Allowing children to actually meet and
interact with local authors can make a further impact on the children about
literacy, not just about reading but also about encouraging creativity through
writing and artistic expression.
The goal for the first year is to raise enough funds to put 500-1000
books in student’s hands. For future years, the goal is to get a book to every
preschool and Kindergarten student on Kauai.
Any nonprofit agency, literacy organization, retailer, volunteer, or corporate sponsors that would like to help the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild put books
into the hands of children is encouraged to contact the Guild at
lucidhawaii@mac.com.
Kauai author, Monika Mira is concerned about the state of our coral reefs. In a recent interview she stated, "I feel that it is my duty to not only highlight all the fun and interesting facts about these amazing animals, but also make children aware of the things that may threaten their existence. I am committed to teaching children to become stewards of the environment, so in my books, you will often see a list of ways that children can help conserve these animals and their environment."
Recently, Kauai's north shore reefs have been plagued by a mysterious, fast spreading coral disease. Mira feels that it is not only extremely important to spread the word about protecting coral reefs, but also also extremely urgent. Coral reefs are at the basis of the food chain and are extremely valuable to our economy and the overall health of the environment.
So, for Earth Day, Mira is offering her book, Coral Reefs FREE on Amazon. She has also discounted her best-selling book, Hawaii's Green Sea Turtles to just 99 cents. She hopes that you will download her books and take action.
Mira's first title, The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book, just won another national award, the KART Kids Book List Award. This title is printed on Green Seal certified recycled paper in an effort to be consistent with Mira's environmental goals.
Happy Earth Day! Spread the word and help protect our coral reefs!
Kauai Authors will celebrating National library week by making a number of appearances at events on Kauai during the week of April 14th-20th.
On Saturday, April 13, 2013 dozens of authors will be signing and selling their books at Kukui Grove shopping center. The event is sponsored by Friends of Lihue Library in conjunction with their Spring Used Booksale Fundraiser. This event will host dozens of Kauai's Authors, and a number of different genres will be represented.
Pam Brown will be signing copies of her recent release, Kauai Stories, a magical collection of stories written by the residents of Kauai. Each heartwarming story tells about the history, culture, and people of Kauai through the eyes of its residents.
Jan TenBruggencate will be signing copies of his book, Lihue Mill, One Hundred Years of Sugar Processing along Nawiliwili Stream: Grinding Cane and Building a Community. This is probable one of the most interesting historical accounts of how the sugar industry influenced life on Kauai.
The Kauai Children's Authors Guild members will be signing their children's books. These include: The Eye of the Lion by Mark Jeffers, Benny the Beetle by Carol Peacock-Williams, Knuckles, The Hound of Hanalei by Susan Dierker, Sabrina, The Girls with a Hole in Her Heart by Wendy Lewis, King of the Beach by Mark Huff and The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book by Monika Mira. Monika Mira will also be signing copies of her new release, Who Lives in the Sea? Ocean Animals of Hawaii.
Many of Kauai's Authors will also be present at different events being held at Kauai Museum over the next month.
