Parents are a child’s first teacher and we want to help them to be the very best first teacher possible. As part of Just Read, Florida!, we are proud to announce our newest addition – I’m a Reader! kit designed to help parents prepare their child to be ready-to-read and excited by learning.

I’m a Reader! kits are distributed in Florida hospitals to the parent(s) of every newborn child. Since its inception, Florida hospital staff, auxiliary, and other volunteers have helped distribute over 200,000 kits.

The kits include copies of the following:

• Reading is essential at every stage of a child’s life, and parents are the front line. We must give them the tools to positively impact the reading skills of a child at the earliest stages of life. -Jeb Bush

  Sunrise Skill Builder, a booklet, which provides parents with guidelines about the intellectual, physical, and social development stages for infants through early childhood:
  
  
• Clifford’s Animal Sounds;
  
  
• application for a library card;
  
  
• bookmark promoting adult literacy programs;
  
  
• and a Hallmark “Welcome to the World” card signed by Governor Jeb Bush and First Lady Columba Bush, with a special message about reading.

This kit is provided through a partnership effort of the Governor’s Family Literacy Initiative, businesses and state agencies supporting reading. Appreciation is extended to Scholastic, Inc., Florida Lottery, the Florida Hospital Association, the Association of Florida Healthcare Auxiliaries/Volunteers, the Department of State, the Florida Literacy Coalition, the Florida Education Foundation, United Way of Florida – Success by Six, the Partnership for School Readiness, Mail Unlimited, and Hallmark Cards.

Development of the kit is aligned with Governor Bush’s commitment to have all children reading at grade level by 2012. The Just Read, Florida! program of the Florida Department of Education supports this goal. For more information on Just Read, Florida! please visit www.justreadflorida.org.

For more information on the I’m a Reader! kits call the Governor’s Family Literacy Initiative at (850) 413-0910.