Join Us for the Fifth Annual "Build a Bunny Bag Bee!"

We will have the FIFTH ANNUAL Build a Bunny Bag Bee at AES on April 5th  at 3:52 p.m. in the AES Music Room!   We will have activities available for everyone to help create our Read and Sing to Your Bunny Bags for the newborn babies at Atchison Hospital.  We have distributed up to 541 Bunny Bags to newborn families during the past five years!!

In case you weren't aware of the project, any child born at Atchison Hospital receives a wonderful bag that includes the fantastic book, "Read To Your Bunny," that is provided by a collaborative grant with USD 409,  ANEA and KNEA!  The newborns also receive a hand-crafted bunny created by the Atchison Hospital Auxiliary, AAARSP, Meadowlark 4-H Club, First Christian Church, USD 409 employees, and an amazing CD of recorded songs and poems performed by AES students and staff.  

It is our hope that this collaborative community effort will instill in families the importance of developing early literacy skills, through reading and music, from the very beginning of their lives together. Our project also crosses all backgrounds, giving EVERY child born at Atchison Hospital a wonderful opportunity for academic success.  

Depending on how many "Bunny Volunteers" attend, we have often been able to complete most of the work for the year within 30 to 45 minutes at most.

Here are some of the different activities that you can assist with:

Folding informational flyers

Placing labels on bags

Filling up the bags with all the materials

Copying CD's, cutting out CD inserts, writing on the CD's

Etc...

As you can tell, there is an activity just for YOU!!! 

To help with planning, please let me know of your attendance at your earliest convenience.  You may attend the activity for however long you have time available.

This program is a collaborative community project that includes the support of the Atchison National Education Association, AES CARE's Cadre, Atchison "DREAM Team," Atchison First Christian Church, Atchison High School Honor Society, Atchison Hospital Auxiliary, Atchison Kiwanis, Atchison Area Association of Retired School Personnel, BOOK (Believing in Opportunities for Our Kids) Project, Farmerette FCE Club, Kansas National Education Association,  Meadowlark 4-H Club and the Unified School District 409.  What an AMAZING TEAM!!!

Enjoy your day and thank you for your consideration...  We "hop" to see you on April 5th!  

Giving Bunny Bags Makes a Difference!

Over 463 Read and Sing to Your Bunny Bags have been provided to families of Atchison County during the past three years. All newborn families are given the Bunny Bag to help their family begin a lifetime in literacy in reading and music.  Thank you for your continued support of this important community project for our newborn families...

Our Beginnings...

Written by Donna McCloskey, B.O.O.K. program coordinator 

Published in the Atchison Daily Globe - October 31st, 2013

Kristen Franz and her new daughter Miley Nicole were the lucky recipients of the first Read and Sing to Your Bunny bag at the Atchison Hospital on October 15. The bag contains the book Read to Your Bunny, a book of Mother Goose rhymes, a CD of children’s songs and poetry recorded by AES students and staff, a cloth bunny made by the Atchison Hospital Auxiliary volunteers, and information about the importance of reading and singing with your baby every day to promote early literacy and vocabulary development.

The Read and Sing to Your Bunny Project will provide these bags to the parents of every newborn at the Atchison Hospital. The purpose of this project is to help parents begin to build a library of books and music to share with their children. Research has shown that reading, singing, talking and playing with babies significantly increases their vocabulary and provides early literacy skills that will help them be successful in school. 

The Bunny Project is a cooperative effort sponsored by the Atchison National Education Association, Atchison Elementary School’s CARE Cadre, Atchison Area Association of Retired School Personnel, Atchison Hospital Auxiliary, the BOOK Program (Believing in Opportunities for Our Kids), Unified School District 409, and the Atchison County Extension.

“This cooperative community effort can make a real difference for kids,” said Donna McCloskey, BOOK Family Resource Coordinator. “It’s great to see the community come together to support families this way!”

“Our Atchison Elementary School students and staff truly enjoyed creating the music recording, “Sing to Your Bunny!”  It has also been a great experience working together with so many community organizations to see this early literacy project come to fruition,” said Brad Weaver, Atchison Elementary School music educator and ANEA co-president.