Miscellaneous mentionables
I frequently receive email from companies asking me to share news or discounts with my readers. Each week I’ll gather the requests and share them with you here. Thanks to Kailani, whose Island News posts gave me this idea!
AVON
This spring, the Avon Foundation for Women adds “timely” new firepower to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Pink Ribbon product collection: a beautiful Avon Crusade watch in silvertone with a fashionable croc-embossed pink strap, pink pearlescent face and pink ribbon in place of the “12” on the dial. The elegant and affordable new timepiece, priced at only $15.00, is available from Avon Sales Representatives and online. As with the entire fundraising Avon Breast Cancer Crusade product collection, the money raised from sales of the Crusade Pink Ribbon Watch will support access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer, with a focus on helping the medically underserved – an especially important mission in these difficult economic times. With every purchase of the $15.00 watch, Avon returns $2.00 to the cause.
FAITH BABY
Faith Baby (www.faithbaby.com) offers high-quality clothes and gifts for babies and toddlers featuring positive messages to rejoice in God’s smallest blessings. Founded by Stephanie McGuire, a Christian wife and mother of three, the site offers an alternative to the recent trend of “attitude-wear” for babies by featuring positive messages of Christian faith on onesies, tees, pants and accessories with a stylish, modern sensibility. Ideal for baby showers, birthdays, baptisms and spiritual holidays, or simply to celebrate one’s joy over the birth of a new baby, Faith Baby products are made of super-soft 100% cotton. Onesies come in a variety of colors, in sizes from 3-6 months to 12-18 months. Toddler t-shirts come in four color options, in sizes 2T-4T. The new “frilly” infant pants are one-size fits most from six to 12 months, and will soon be available in new color variations. Gift boxes with a blue or pink tulle ribbon are also available. With each order, customers receive a bookmark featuring McGuire’s favorite bible verses, and visitors to the website can submit prayer requests, which McGuire personally prays over every day. McGuire is offering a 10 percent discount to my readers if they use coupon code PR0309.
GODDARD SCHOOLS
Goddard Schools Nationwide Offer Fun Ways to Teach Toddlers, Preschoolers About Saving the Environment Just in Time for Earth Hour and Earth Day
In the upcoming months there will be many great opportunities to teach kids about saving energy and the environment.
On Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 p.m., during the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour, hundred of millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour in a vote for action on the climate crisis.
Then on April 22nd more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries will celebrate Earth Day.
On March 27, at special “Stepping Up for the Environment” events across 320-plus Goddard Schools nationwide, more than 40,000 youngsters will help spread the message that even very young children – toddlers and preschoolers - can make a positive impact toward a sustainable future. Education experts at Goddard, the country’s leading child care franchise company, offer the following fun projects that you can do at home to teach your kids about the environment:
1. Create the Earth. Eco-friendly coffee filters make great miniature earths. In two separate cups, use food coloring to make blue and green colored water. Then allow the children to use eyedroppers to drop the colors on their Earth (coffee filter). When the colored water is dropped on the filter it spreads a bit and the children can create land and water shapes on their “little earths.”
2. Lights Out, Flashlights On. Play “I Spy” in the dark. Have the children use flashlights to locate objects they can use to become more “green,” such as a light switch or recycle bins.
3. Go for a Nature Walk. Place tape, sticky side out, on the children’s wrists and take them outside to collect things in nature. You could also decorate a sack and go around the neighborhood picking up litter.
4. Dress It Up! Hold a fashion show using old newspapers as the runway. Create vests by using grocery sacks decorated with recycled supplies such as used yogurt cups, etc. Glue recycled materials to the vests and decorate with paint. Then let your kids show off the “beauty of recyclables” while learning what items can be recycled.
5. Make Rainsticks. Recycle old paper towel rolls by making rainsticks. Have the children close the bottom of the stick with paper and tape. Then fill with beans or rice. You can also crumple up some aluminum foil to make a louder sound. Let the children decorate the rainsticks with construction paper. Use this activity to talk about the importance of clean water and water conservation.
DR STAN GOLDBERG
In Lessons for the Living: Stories of Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Courage at the End of Life Professor emeritus Stan Goldberg, PhD, finds himself living by one number—his Gleason score of 7. Diagnosed with prostate cancer, his lucky number 7 places him on the cusp between living and dying. With this diagnosis Goldberg joined the millions of cancer patients whose mortality is suddenly up for grabs. He turns to support groups and books, but doesn’t find anything that speaks to him. For reasons unclear to him at the time, he decides to become a bedside hospice volunteer. Goldberg’s experiences volunteering are surprising, challenging, occasionally funny, and always humbling. These are not stories of sadness and despair; these patients’ tales shine a light on our capacity for beauty, insight, gratitude, and connection. With simple acts of kindness, Goldberg gains a new perspective on living with love and compassion for others. He learns not only to speak directly from his heart, but also how to be fully present for other people. In his remarkable book, Goldberg gives voice to the voiceless and shares not lessons for dying, but lessons on how to live.
Lessons for the Living: Stories of Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Courage at the End of Life - By Stan Goldberg
Death & Dying | US $14.95 CAN $17.50 | Paperback Original | ISBN: 978-1-59030-676-5 | On Sale: June 9, 2009 | Shambhala Publications, Inc.
GUARANTEACH
Guaranteach Inc., a Web-based service that delivers customized math instruction, announced today that its video library at http://guaranteach.com now surpasses 4,000 videos in the areas of Basic Math and Algebra. This innovative service presents parents and teachers with a computer-based teaching model that offers instruction to suit each student’s preferred learning style. Lessons are available in subjects from basic math to complex algebraic equations, with new videos and subjects added daily. Students can log on and can create a free trial account which will give them access to a limited number of videos at no charge. A full subscription to Guaranteach is available for $4.95 a month and this gives students access to the full library of 4,000+ videos. The library continues to grow at faster than 1,000 videos per month.
REACH OUT AND READ
Reach Out and Read Celebrates 20th Anniversary
In March 1989, Boston City Hospital pediatricians Barry Zuckerman and Robert Needlman began handing out books to their youngest patients, offering advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud, and employing volunteer readers in their waiting room. That was the birth of Reach Out and Read, one of the most successful early childhood interventions ever developed, which currently serves 25 percent of the nation’s at-risk infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. More than 20 million books have been distributed to children in the 20 years since Drs. Zuckerman and Needlman and early childhood educators Jean Nigro, Kathleen MacLean, and Kathleen Fitzgerald-Rice first developed the Reach Out and Read model: a brilliant, yet simple strategy to promote childhood literacy and school readiness. Every child who participates in Reach Out and Read (ROR) starts kindergarten with a home library of up to 10 brand-new, developmentally-appropriate books and a parent who has heard at every regular checkup about the importance of reading. Proven to improve school readiness, ROR focuses on those children at greatest risk — children living at or near poverty — during the critical years before they enter kindergarten.
Since that first Reach Out and Read book was handed out in 1989, more than 50,000 pediatricians, family practitioners, and pediatric nurse practitioners have been trained in the ROR model. Today, Reach Out and Read partners with 4,121 hospitals, clinics, health centers, and practices in all 50 states to serve more than 3.5 million children ages 6 months to 5 years old, including more than a quarter of America’s most impoverished children.
One of Reach Out and Read’s greatest strengths, especially during challenging economic times like these, continues to be its cost-effectiveness. The cost of the full, five-year ROR program is just $40 per child. Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Reach Out and Read is the model of a successful public-private partnership, drawing funding support from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Defense, 14 state governments, and individuals, corporations, and foundations nationwide.
Reach Out and Read’s National Center, Coalitions, and Sites plan to celebrate the program’s 20th Anniversary with a yearlong campaign aimed at boosting nationwide awareness of the importance of early literacy. After 20 years, Reach Out and Read’s goal remains the same: that every child grow up with books and a love of reading. Reach Out and Read’s website includes information for all parents including how to select age-appropriate children’s books, reading tips, and developmental milestones. For further information, visit www.reachoutandread.org.
ROCKETON
RocketOn will be presenting its new Virtual Storefronts at both Engage! Expo and TV of Tomorrow on March 10th & 11th. RocketOn, Inc., a venture-funded startup located in South San Francisco, is rolling out its virtual world platform by layering virtual stores all across the Web. As users browse the Web with RocketOn, they will encounter virtual stores on their favorite sites. To see these stores, simply go to www.rocketon.com and begin exploring. The virtual goods in these stores are sold for real money as well as points that users earn by participating in RocketOn. Given the $2 billion size of the virtual goods market, the revenue potential of distributed virtual stores is substantial. RocketOn is expanding this market to users browsing the web and shopping online.
SHIDONNI
Shidonni is a virtual world for children, ages 5 and up, based on the idea of drawing animals and caring for them, but with a 21st century twist. Visitors to the site receive a blank canvas where they can draw an animal and create a background for that animal to play. By providing kids with drawing tools rather than “ready made” elements, Shidonni promotes imagination, creativity and computer skills. After drawing their virtual pets, children play with them as they magically ‘come alive’. Children then care for, feed and play games that incorporate their animals as main characters. Shidonni, unlike other virtual worlds, stays away from motivations that are based on money and goods. It encourages their imagination and motivates children to create animals and backgrounds. Shidonni then rewards them for their efforts by providing special effects, such as music, design effects, and more. Earlier this week Shidonni announced on a new distribution partner and co branding partnership with BabyFirstTV, the educational TV channel for babies, toddlers and parents. As part of this unique cooperation, visitors that access Shidonni through the BabyFirstTV site, will get a unique set of BabyFirstTV characters, as drawing lessons.
VERIZON WIRELESS HOPELINE
Spring is around the corner, which means it’s time to clear out the items that have accumulated over the past year and box up the clothes our kids have outgrown or the toys they no longer use. This year, while spring cleaning, give new life to your old cell phone by recycling it through Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program. Open the junk drawers, check in your closets and please let others know if they donate their long forgotten cell phone it can mean hope and new beginnings to a survivor of domestic violence, instead of becoming another piece of electronic waste in a landfill.
HopeLine collects old wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any wireless service provider. Proceeds from the program are used to provide wireless phones and cash grants to local shelters and non-profit organizations that focus on domestic violence prevention and awareness.
There are two convenient ways to donate a phone to HopeLine:
1. Drop off your phone at any Verizon Wireless Communications Store. Find the nearest store by visiting our Store Locator at www.verizonwireless.com/storelocator.
2. Print our postage-paid label at www.verizonwireless.com/hopelinemailinglabel and adhere it to a box/envelope. Please be sure to review all shipping instructions carefully and include a return address on the label.
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND
World Wildlife Fund has created a website, http://www.earthhourkids.org/ which features lesson-plans, games and songs children can download. There is also a section for parents to email their state and federal representatives.
Filed Under: Announcements
