Museum Updates Rocky’s House Media Kit

Rocky’s House Media Kit

Journalists can find information about the Rocky’s House, download photos, press releases, and more below!


PRESS AND MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Mississippi Children’s Museum:

Angela Mitchell
Director of External Affairs
angela@mcm.ms
601.709.8354


ABOUT ROCKY’S HOUSE

Rocky’s House: The Traveling Exhibit will be at the Mississippi Children’s Museum in Jackson Now-March 20 before beginning its statewide tour across Mississippi.

In early 2022, the beloved mascot and literacy advocate, Rocky the Reader, will begin touring the state of Mississippi in a brand-new traveling exhibit called Rocky’s House. Rocky’s House, an extension of the Talk From the Start advocacy campaign, is designed to raise awareness that talking to and with children from birth is essential to literary success.

Rocky’s House will introduce caregivers and children to a cast of characters representing the diverse population of Mississippi. These characters, known as Rocky’s friends, as well as Rocky himself, will guide guests through three primary methods of language and literacy development — playing, talking, and reading. Not only will visitors have an opportunity to learn about these methods, but they will also have a chance to play them into practice!

The centerpiece of the Rocky’s House traveling exhibit will be Rocky’s home, a place both familiar to our own homes, yet distinctly canine and colorful. Visitors can read a book, ask questions, and put their own stories into motion through puppets. Step out the backdoor of Rocky’s home and you will find yourself in Rocky’s big backyard, filled with books small enough to read in your hands and large enough to literally step into their stories.

The three featured books in Rocky’s big backyard are Play with Me, Talk with Me, and Read with Me. Each book is designed to foster the form of language and literacy development mentioned in its title. In Play with Me, guests can join Rocky’s friends, Cody and Mateo, as they practice one of the most fun methods of talking from the start — playing pretend! With a set of costumes and boundless imagination, caregivers and children can live out their stories, real and imagined, with prompts encouraging dialogue.

Within the other two larger-than-life books, guests can experience conversation and literacy games exclusive to the Rocky’s House traveling exhibit. In Talk with Me, Mei and Ella welcome visitors to play with blocks, images, and American Sign Language to engage with the world in new ways. In Read with Me, Rocky’s best friend, Kareem, will invite guests to cast a line and catch fish, which will ask engaging questions about stories they have read.

Each of these experiences will be filled with practical tips and wisdom, which caregivers can easily apply at home to give children in all stages of development the support needed for literary success.

Talk from the Start, a partnership between the Mississippi Children’s Museum and the Barksdale Reading Institute, and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will be a tremendous step forward in empowering Mississippians to talk to and with their children to promote and strengthen literary success in our state for generations to come.


PRESS RELEASES


MISSISSIPPI CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

The mission of MCM is to create unparalleled experiences to inspire excellence and a lifelong joy of learning.

The museum accomplishes this mission through hands-on and engaging exhibits and programs focusing on literacy, the arts, science, health and nutrition–the keys to helping our children mature into healthy and productive adult learners.

BARKSDALE READING INSTITUTE

The Barksdale Reading Institute works to improve the overall quality of public education in Mississippi through strategic literacy initiatives and providing professional development to teachers and administrators.

BRI was founded in 2000 by Jim and Sally Barksdale, who, after researching the state of education in America, became convinced that reading is the most fundamental skill that every child must master in order to become successful.


DOWNLOAD LOGOS AND PHOTOS

Photos Courtesy of: Mississippi Children’s Museum


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