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With production costs covered, the next step was to promote and communicate The Reading Pig. We are absolutely delighted to share with you that Desert Lab Studio, also a Tucson, AZ based company stepped up and agreed to be our technology partner.
Desert Lab Studio, LLC, headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, employs a creative professional team known for delivering high-end, reliable technology solutions related to product design, application development, web design, internet marketing, and business consulting.
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In the early vision for this project, we declared that ALL proceeds would be dedicated to children’s literacy. This proved to be easier said than done as there are hard costs to consider in getting a book to market. We are grateful for the generous financial support from Pima Federal Credit Union in making this project a reality.
As a financial cooperative, Pima Federal Credit Union thrives by offering great value to their members, and they believe their value promise – Smart. Simple. Personal. – will benefit you and your family. Pima Federal Credit Union’s company culture is built on the simple notion that a great financial institution is about relationships and not transactions.
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Early in 2015, Teachers Change Brains Media was formed. This is a non-profit publishing entity that manages all of Dr. Clement’s book activity.
Legendary Teacher Stories – How to Catch a Swamp Frog. September 2014
Legendary Leadership Lessons – The Reading Pig. September 2015
Legendary Leadership Lesson – Raise the Bar & Then. March 2018
The Teachers Change Brains Foundation is from where Legendary Teacher Day was begun.
https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-I.-Clement/e/B014C9LYOU
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Reed Daly, aka – The Reading Pig would like to make special mention for a special person. From the sidelines, our special friend is an active supporter of education and children’s literacy. Her impact across the Tucson educational community is well established at many levels. So much so that Dr. Clement invited our ‘friend’ to write a foreword for the book…..
My dear friend, Nic Clement, is a retired public school superintendent who is still a teacher at heart and in spirit. He speaks and writes about education – eloquently, informatively, persistently, in all forms, at all levels, all the time. For over twenty years, I have heard and read his presentations. I am still in awe of his knowledge, his dedication and his respect for learning. His books are about teaching, his support and admiration of teachers, and his coaching of teachers. His audience is universal with a special emphasis on those who need to value teachers, not just value education. You are encouraged to support learning in all its many facets and venues.
It wasn’t until the mid-1990s’s that the U. S. Department of Education accepted that early childhood learning was not only possible but critically important. They finally began supporting professional teachers specializing in pre-kindergarten learning. Early literacy matters.
When you are an infant you are lucky that your mom or dad reads to you because you are learning to hear words and to recognize your parent’s face and voice. You get cuddles and cooing and pictures to look at and recognize.
When you are one, you are really lucky that your parents read to you because you learn to associate sounds with facial expressions and familiar meanings and to make similar sounds yourself. You start to hold books and realize they contain stories and pictures for you to enjoy.
When you are two years old, you are really, really lucky that someone reads to you because you can see the words on a page and that they convey the story or poem you like. You start to say your own words, answer questions about the story, turn the pages, even ask your mom or dad to read it again, and again, and again because it is familiar and you like it a lot.
When you are three, you are really, really, really lucky that parents or other family members and baby-sitters read to you because you get to hear stories about wonderful people, fabulous places and interesting things. You may learn to recite whole phrases, detect rhyme and ask questions about what is going on in the book.
When you are four, you are really, really, really, really lucky because you can begin to read words in a book all by yourself, anytime, anywhere, for any reasons and enjoy the stories that go with the pictures. You may even read aloud to your cat or dog or your stuffed animal.
When you are five, you are really, really, really, really, really lucky to have all this reading experience because you have heard and learned the meaning of thousands more words than a child who has not been read to and usually hears only the word “no”.
You are way ahead on your learning curve. Think about how much more you know, can learn, can do at five and for the rest of your life just because you were read to early on and learned to read by yourself.
Learning to read later is more difficult and so is teaching it. “The Reading Pig” tells such a story with humor without dismissing its importance. I hope all readers have a chance to enjoy the tale, reflect on its message, share the experience with others, and then take time to say “Thank-You” to a teacher.
Thank you, Nic.
—Emily L. Meschter
Editor’s note: In 2012, Emily Meschter was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the University of Arizona, College of Education for her long and distinguished career as a philanthropist and supporter of education.
Emily remains invested in The Reading Pig book series. Emily recently donated generously to cover the production costs of The Reading Pig Goes to the Desert. As such, the book will go to market debt free with initial royalties being available immediately to children’s literacy programs.
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Driving the project from behind, bound and determined to get The Reading Pig to market safe and sound, the creative folks at Max Femur Media have been nothing short of relentless in their effort to make this project a reality. In early 2015, the folks at Max Femur declared that ALL of the proceeds on this project would go to Children’s Literacy. Not a ‘cent’ to ANYONE else for any other reason, thus clearing the way for all proceeds to go directly to the designated beneficiary – Children’s Literacy. Well, easier said than done……
Through the spring and into the summer of 2015, Max Femur shopped high and low for partners to make The Reading Pig a reality. After some traditional door knocking, first into the ‘pig-pen’ was Pima Federal Credit Union with a generous underwriting to cover production costs.
Following up that act of community partnership, Simply Bits raised their hand and said, YES! They too, entered the pig-pen with the desire to help. Their generosity is being enjoyed by you at this very moment as the creator and host of thereadingpig.com.
In the meantime, Max Femur Media is busy getting “Reed Daly” ready for yet another two-day outing at the Tucson Festival of Books in March of 2018.
http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/
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