Together We Can Read 2010

Imagine 98 classrooms reading Bellman Visits South Carolina together! Wow! Believe it or not, it is happening today and we can hardly believe it ourselves. Here's the press release from the City of Columbia:

Kickoff Held For Together We Can Read 2010

The City of Columbia, Richland School District One, and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce are collaborating in an effort to sponsor “Together We Can Read”, a reading day program to encourage children to learn the joys of reading. This is the second year of this successful education initiative. Officials from the City of Columbia and Richland School District One, as well as local celebrities and business leaders will be reading to third grade classes throughout the community on Thursday, March 25, 2010. There are approximately 98 classrooms and 1840 third grade students in Richland District One. Almost 100 volunteers will be in the classrooms, participating on Reading Day.

"Student achievement is our No. 1 priority in Richland One and literacy is our focus this year," said Richland One Superintendent Dr. Percy Mack. ""We are very appreciative of our guest readers for making time in their busy schedules to read to our students and help promote the importance of literacy and the joy of reading. We also want to thank the City of Columbia, under the leadership of Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, for its continued support of the Together We Can Read initiative."

Bellman Visits South Carolina by Brenda Richards and Brantley Parrott, is the book the guest readers will read. The book introduces students to key places and monuments across South Carolina. Ms. Richards is a retired Richland One elementary school teacher. She is also a product of Richland One Schools. Ms. Parrott is a product of Richland One education, having attended Meadowfield Elementary, Hand Middle School, and Dreher High School.

We are thrilled to have this opportunity to work with The City of Columbia, Richland District One, and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce to provide this incredible opportunity to the Richland One Third Graders. What an exciting day!

Bear Hugs!

November 12th World of Women Day

Polo Road Elementary School invited Dawndy Mercer Plank, news anchor at WIS-TV, to read to students in honor of World of Women Day. She chose to share Bellman Visits South Carolina and Meet Bellman the Traveling Bear with them. Thank you for all of your love and support Dawndy! We are so glad that the children enjoyed meeting Bellman.

November 12th Ninety Six Primary School

What a joy to spend time with the K-2nd graders at Ninety Six Primary School. Thank you for inviting Bellman and me to your school. We hope to see all of you again soon!

November 11th Waterloo Elementary

Bellman and I recently enjoyed a delightful visit with the K-3rd graders at Waterloo Elementary. We would like to give a special thank you to Billy who gave us this wonderful drawing of Bellman with the Eiffel Tower.

Good Night!

I had a busy day of learning with the boys and girls at Waterloo Elementary. Now I am at my grandparent's house and ready for a good night's sleep.

Love,

November 5th - McCormick Elementary

Bellman and I had fun with the K-3rd graders at McCormick Elementary. They knew all about Bellman and were excited to meet him in person. We talked about many things....including the wonderful community helpers in our neighborhoods. Policemen, firemen, doctors, and teachers are all important community helpers. We enjoyed spending time with such smart boys and girls!

At the end of our talk, Justin gave Bellman this wonderful picture that he drew. Thank you Justin for making us feel so welcome at your school!

Oct 5th with the Caughman Road Comets

Caughman Road extended a repeat invitation to us....we visited with them once in the Spring and again this Fall. One of the teachers shared with us that her students were so excited to hear that we were coming back...they remembered us from last year and couldn't wait to see what Bellman would tell them about this time! We felt the same way. We were thrilled that so many students remembered us and welcomed us back with warm smiles and good 'ole bear hugs!

"I love you, Bellman!"

Visiting students and teaching them about writing, social studies, geography, and history is one of Bellman's most favorite things to do! Apparently the children like it too. At a recent school visit, several children lined up to receive a bear hug from Bellman as they left the library. Four students in a row said "I love you Bellman!" It sure made Bellman's day & ours!

September 29th Manning Primary School Literacy Night

We had a great night of visiting friends and presenting at Manning Primary School for their Parent Literacy Night. Bellman shared his books along with writing tips and ideas for parents. Bellman and I also enjoyed spending time with Mrs. Griffith's class earlier in the day.

Happy Fall Y'all!

It is exciting and hard to believe that a new school year is already upon us. We find it hard to resist the Back-to-School sales for supplies and clothes...even though technically neither one of us are heading back to school this year! Our internal clocks seem naturally regulated by the school calendar. I guess that's what happens when you teach school for 29 years and love it, and then pass that love for learning on to your daughter.

We are working on our information for Fall 2009 and plan to start mailing info packets to local schools this week. If you are interested in having Brenda and Bellman visit your school, please schedule your visit as soon as possible. We are thrilled to already have dates on the calendar, and we are looking forward to a busy fall. We will enjoy seeing many familiar faces as we revisit several schools, and then we always look forward to making new friends as well.

We have posted our Fall 2009 School Visits Info. This information will also be permanently posted and regularly updated on the Contact Us page of our website. We hope your new school year has gotten off to a great start, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Brenda

Community Helpers

When Bellman and I present at a school, we often discuss the importance of living in a community. There are many community helpers in our community. Here is a picture of Bellman with one of his favorite community helpers, a doctor. Thank you to all of the doctors that help all of us feel better when we are sick. Thank you for taking such good care of us! Brenda and Bellman

Springfield Elementary, Greenwood SC

In early May, I had the opportunity to visit with a very special class at Springfield Elementary in Greenwood, SC. Bellman and I had a lot of fun! We hope to visit this school again next year. Brenda and Bellman

Updates on School Visits

Now that it is summer, we're finally catching our breath! Bellman was a busy bear at the end of the school year. He enjoyed several fabulous school visits and then took off on more travels. You know Bellman, he loves to travel! Sometimes it is so hard to pin him down!

In April, he enjoyed two visits to Caughman Road Elementary School in Columbia, SC. He spent time with the Community of Learners and the Caughman Road Comets. He shared two of his books and helped Brenda talk about the writing process that they went through to produce his books. While talking about Social Studies standards, he shared pictuers of some of his favorite community helpers!

Best of all, he got a lot of Bear Hugs while he was there, AND he had the chance to meet Mrs. McGill's bear, Benjamin. Thank you for inviting us to your school! Brenda and Bellman

March 17th - Celebration Day with Ms. Mitchell's Mavericks

Today was a special day for Bellman! It was our Celebration Day in Ms. Mitchell's class. We have been part of an exciting collaboration with Ms. Mitchell's 2nd grade class at Horrell Hill Elementary and Dr. Powers-Costello's class of Early Childhood majors at USC. We have been working together for about 7 weeks exploring our community, as well as, our state and other countries. This project involved a lot of one-on-one time between the USC students and the 2nd graders. It has also involved a lot of time with Bellman and his books. The project has now expanded into a Social Studies Buddies collaboration with a class at Forest Lake Elementary. The children always enjoy when Bellman comes to visit and Bellman enjoys it too! He gets lots of hugs from all of his special friends! One of the moms surprised us with this cake. Isn't it great?! It tasted as good as it looks. One of the children offered a piece of cake to Bellman, but Bellman said "No thanks; I'm "stuffed"!"

Brenda

Read Across America Week

Today I celebrated Read Across America at Forest Lake Elementary School. The Forest Lake Today News Show interviewed me about being an author. I dressed up like the Cat in the Hat (the main character from my favorite Dr. Seuss book)! Anything that I can do to encourage children to pick up a book and read! Bellman and the Cat in the Hat were the stars of the show.

Later today, I was a guest at Lexington Elementary School. I enjoyed visiting one of their Kindergarten classes. What a delightful group of children! They became friends with Bellman through Meet Bellman the Traveling Bear. We discussed writing our own stories, and I encouraged them to be authors too.

Brenda

Rivelon Elementary School

Books and Breakfast at Rivelon Elementary School in Orangeburg was a lot of fun! The children were great listeners! I was able to read Meet Bellman The Traveling Bear to the students and parents who came and they seemed to enjoy meeting him! My Uncle Tommy Eklund was there, too! He used to be the principal at Rivelon many years ago, and he enjoyed being back with the kids! It meant a lot to me to have him come and be a cheerleader for Bellman and me!

Brenda

February 17, 2009 - School Visits

Today I was able to share Bellman with a 1st grade class at Forest Lake Elementary and a 2nd grade class at Horrell Hill Elementary School in Columbia. I really enjoy these school visits because it gives me the opportunity to interact with students again. It was fun to hear their thoughts as we studied Social Studies and learned about Bellman the Traveling Bear. I hope to schedule more school visits soon.

Brenda

February 9, 2009 - Forest Lake Elementary

One of the first places that I wanted to go to share our Bellman Books was my old school, Forest Lake Elementary. My teacher friends were encouraging and excited to have the books to use in their classrooms.

Brenda