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.