Join #gno Tuesday on Twitter to Celebrate Reading and Children’s Literature
March 4, 2010 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 7 Comments
Helping your kids fall in love with literature is a fun process for both parent and child.
Join the #gno Twitter party this Tuesday, March 9 from 9-11 ET (8 CT, 7 MT, and 6 PT) to chat about and celebrate reading and children’s literature!
- What: Girls’ Night Out (#gno) Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)
- When: Tuesday, March 9, 9-11 p.m. EST (8CT, 7 MT, & 6 PT)
- Where: Party with us here on our very own Custom Tweetgrid! (Use hashtags #gno and #memetales.)
- Topic: Let’s Play—Getting Our Kids to Love Books and Reading
- Who: @ajpassey @booksbyTara @carissarogers @cindyhopper @Gyldenege @inevergrewup @memetales @momtriedit @noflashcards @reneeAtShens @seanplatt @simplekids @teach_preschool @thinkmaya
- Party Favors: Click here to enter for a chance to win this week’s giveaway. Deadline: 3/10
- RSVP: Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jyl_momIF). If you would like to include your blog, please enter it next to your name. Make sure to include your twitter URL in the URL line. Please do not enter your blog URL there.
Note: Mom It Forward accepts paid sponsorships for most #gno Twitter parties. During the parties, brand sponsors provide tips, techniques, expert advice, and information on party topics. Mom It Forward is grateful for the giveaway prizes, coupons, and discounts that sponsors also provide to the Mom It Forward community in conjunction with #gno Twitter parties.
Spoonfuls of Stories—How Cheerios Is Helping Get Books to Families
October 11, 2009 by Cheerios · 2 Comments
For the past 8 years, Cheerios has been helping parents make reading with their child part of their daily routine. They do this by helping to get great children’s books into kids’ hands, and encouraging families to read together, by distributing popular and award-winning books free inside boxes of Cheerios.
Starting this month, Cheerios is again distributing 6 million children’s books inside boxes. The books, which Cheerios had specially printed in both English and Spanish, are five different titles from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. There is a cut-out window on the front of the box so you can see which book is inside and select the book you want. In addition, Cheerios is also making a financial donation to the nonprofit organization, First Book, to help get brand new books to children from low-income families—many of whom have no age-appropriate books for their children in their home. Over the past 8 years, Cheerios has distributed more than 40 million books free inside boxes and donated $3.2 million to First Book.
The Story About Kids and Reading in the U.S.
Here are some statistics about kids and reading:
- Children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school.
- Across the nation just under half of children between birth and five years (47.8%) are read to every day by their parents or other family members.
- Dr. Marilyn Adams (Beginning to Read) points out that a child with 15 minutes of read-aloud time each day from six months to six years benefits from 500 hours of “reading” exposure, three times what a first grade teacher can provide with an hour of reading instruction each day.
- 41% of fourth grade boys, and 35% of fourth grade girls read below the basic level, and in low-income urban schools this figure approaches 70%.
- For America’s poorest children, the biggest obstacle to literacy may be the scarcity of books and appropriate reading material. In fact, in a recent study of low-income neighborhoods, there was only 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.
Why Is Cheerios Doing This?
Reading with your child can be the quiet moment in the day that you and your child both look forward to the most: the opportunity to snuggle together and explore the pages of a great book. Just as important as the bonding time that reading together provides, studies continue to show that read-aloud time is important to children’s reading development. Yet, for many families, books can be expensive or are not readily available. Cheerios is committed to helping parents provide their children with a healthy, nutritional, and educational foundation. They believe good nutrition and mental development work better together. With just 1 gram of sugar and 100% natural whole grain oats, Cheerios already is a staple in many households; it’s also the first finger food for many children. Through this program, Cheerios is using its place at the family breakfast table to help make books more accessible to families, both with books inside boxes, and through the annual donation to First Book.
What You Can Do?
To help get more books to kids and make reading a priority, you can:
- Pick up a box of Cheerios with a book inside to read with your child.
- Donate directly to First Book through www.firstbook.org.
- Learn more at www.spoonfulsofstories.com.
RSVP for This Tuesday’s #gno Twitter Party Sponsored by Cheerios
October 11, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 62 Comments
What are your favorite books from your childhood? What are story time rituals you have with your kids? What are tips for helping the reluctant reader?
These are just a few of the topics we’ll cover in this week’s #gno party. Join in and chat with some great folks from Cheerios, some terrific children’s book authors and illustrators from the Spoonfuls of Stories team, as well as fantastic Mom It Forward moms.
Don’t forget to enter to win Cheerios’ giveaway this week for 10 lucky winners! Click here to check out the details. The contest ends Sunday, October 18.
- What: Cheerios is sponsoring this week’s #gno Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)
- When: Tuesday, October 13, 9-11 p.m. EST
- Where: Click here to party with us on our custom Tweetgrid. (Use hashtags #gno and #cheerios.)
- Topic: Children’s literature
- Who: @banteringblonde @cheeriosbrand @childhood @derek_author @cheeriokeeper @LeighannMMM @oohamanda, @robinglasser @karmawilson
- Party Favors: Click here to check out this week’s giveaway sponsored by Cheerios.
- RSVP: Please leave your Twitter ID in the comments to follow and be followed (on Twitter, of course!) by other #gno gals. The best format is as follows: http://twitter.com/jylmomIF.
Giveaway—Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories Gift Pack (10 Winners)
October 11, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 165 Comments
This week’s Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories giveaway has prizes the whole family can enjoy! And not only that, but there’s lots to go around!
Prizes for 10 Lucky Winners
Each of the 10 winners will receive the following:
- A box of Cheerios
- A set of the five Spoonfuls of Stories children’s books
- A $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble
This giveaway has an approximate retail value of $65.00.
Entry Requirements
To enter for a chance to win, you are required to do three things (make sure you leave a separate comment for each of your entries).
Note: Entries that do not follow all of these requirements will not be considered.
- Leave a comment here, sharing your favorite children’s story either that you liked as a child or that you love reading with your children.
- Follow @cheeriosbrand on Twitter.
- Post these messages on Facebook and/or on Twitter and leave comments here, linking to your messages:
Join #gno Tues 10/13 (9-11 ET) 2 discuss children’s lit 4 #Cheerios #SpoonfulsofStories prog RSVP http://bit.ly/cvM8S PLS RT
GIVEAWAY! Enter 2 win #Cheerios #SpoonfulsofStories gift basket! Fun 4 whole fam! 10 Winners! http://bit.ly/EpBEb PLS RT
Extra Entries
You can earn up to two extra entries for this week’s giveaway.
- Join the Mom It Forward Google Friend Connect. (See right-hand sidebar.)
- Follow @momitforward on Twitter.
The Fine Print
No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. General Mills, Cheerios, and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, October 18 at midnight PT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the e-mail. If they do not reply within 24 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to participants in the US and Canada 18 years and older.
Full disclosure: Mom It Forward, Inc. engages with clients to perform social media consulting and to provide sponsorship packages, which include giveaways.You’re Invited to the GNO Holiday Party!
December 5, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 5 Comments
Dust off your jingle bell earrings.
Put on that holiday sweater! It’s time…
…for the GNO Holiday Party.
Tuesday on Twitter at 6 p.m. Pacific (9 p.m. Eastern).
We’ll provide the Eggnog Bread Pudding and you provide…
…why, your greatest girly gossip, of course! Oh! And a gift! But not just any kind of gift. Put on your creative hats for this one, because we’re getting circusy. Think elephants.
Yep! We’re having a virtual white elephant party! You know, the crazy, bizarre type of presents given to make GNO giggle. And this is where we want you to get creative. Here are some ideas:
- Bizarre ecards? Check These Out.
- Those goofy dancing elves? Groove With These.
- How about a Christmas Joke? Giggle Here.
- Locate a listing for the weirdest gift you can find?
- Just the VOICE on this alone will win.
- Or, what about style? It’s Girl’s Night Out after all. Dress Elmo would be perfect!
- Maybe bring along the worst, longest sign-in form for some remote online network, where you can qualify to win a trip to Antartica?
These are just a few ideas to spark your creative juices! We expect some seriously funny and off the wall items… so hurry… go find your best bizarre bounty!
Finally… what is a gift without giving? Yah! We know. Virtual gifts are a little hard to open. So, here’s what we are gonna do!
- Post Your White Elephant Gift on the Mommy Gossip—GNO Group Wall on Facebook
Did you know GNO has a group page on Facebook? Have you joined? Come be part of the fun and share your white elephant gifts by posting them on the wall.- AND…We have copies of @steveouch’s new children’s book STEAMPOTVILLE! SIGNED by Steve no less (!) for 4 lucky participants (we’ll choose from the list of people that submitted white elephant gifts on the Mommy Gossip—GNO Facebook Group Wall! (And…special discount for GNO gals! See Steve’s blog for more info.)
One more thing before you get giddy about your gift, scroll down to the post directly below this and RSVP! Enjoy your weekend and we’ll “see” you at the soiree!
