Thank you to the Pre-K Students at Celia Clinton Elementary!

Thank you to all of my pre-k friends at Celia Clinton Elementary for my new spotted friend! I love it!
Love,
Sparkles

Sparkles in the News

Sparkles was recently in the Greenwood Courier (AR) and the Greater Tulsa Reporter (OK).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxGreenwood Democrat, March 18, 2009

xxxxxxGreater Tulsa Reporter, Mid-March to Mid-April 2009 Issue

Note from Adam

Received these two nice notes from Adam and his mom, Heather. Adam was the winner of Michelle Brownlow's My Semblance of Sanity blog contest a couple of weeks ago and received lots of goodies from Sparkles. Adam is also a Sproutlet and enjoys watching Sparkles and Spanner's fire safety tips on PBS KIDS Sprout.

Dear FireFighter Dayna~

Thank you very much for 'my mail'. As you can see, I got so surprised to see a package for ME from Sparkles. 'Mama, she even signed it for ME & Brother!!!' I love it when dogs 'talk' to me!

Love,
Adam

Dear Dayna~

We listen/read along with Sparkles about every other day. The package was such a fun present for them and we had to put up the fire alarm RIGHT away so that the firemen 'know where to find my boys'. (Because the one we had already, is NOT the same Mama.) I'm enclosing some pics...1) Adam learning the package is from Sparkles, 2) Dad & Adam reading THE MAIL, 3) Working on his 'firemap'the next morning, still in jammies 'cuz it's 'portant'. Dayna, your strategies work. REALLY work. Because they are simplewords the kids already know. Taught by a dog that is 'real' and not pretend. She has a human that loves her and '
she shows me how I'm soso brave.' You are making a difference and it does matter. Because that means that if something ever happens, my boys will know the words/actions they need to use. Even if I have to remind them, I won't have to teach it to them in the moment.

Heather













Thank you Adam and Heather for sending the nice notes and great pictures!

Firefighter Dayna, Sparkles and Spanner

Updated Event List

April 16th

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Authors and Coffee

6:30 P.M.

Hastings Hardback Cafe

Russellville, Arkansas

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April 17th

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North Little Rock Schools

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April 18th

Arkansas Literary Festival

1:00 P.M.

Historic Arkansas Museum

Little Rock, Arkansas

April 23rd

National Volunteer Fire Council Booth

2:00-5:00 P.M.

Fire Department Instructor's Conference

Indianapolis, Indiana

April 25th

IFSTA Booth

9:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.

Fire Department Instructor's Conference

Indianapolis, Indiana

June 6-9

NFPA Conference

Chicago, Illinois

August 24-28

Fire Rescue International

Dallas, Texas

September or October
Showcase on the Mall

Event Sponsored by the Congressional Fire Services Institute

Home Safety Council Education Pavilion

Washington, DC

Sparkles on "Jakezilla" Blog

Jake~ You and your mom are so cool! Thank you so much for adding my fire safety message to your blog! I just love Sproutlets who are Jr. Firefighters and help me and Firefighter Dayna spread the fire safety message!

Be sure to visit Jake's mom's blog HERE and look for a contest coming really soon on their blog!

Drawing from Amber-Mae, Chloe, Faith and Melissa in Malaysia Arrives

Amber-Mae, Chloe, Faith and Melissa, we love you! Thank you so much for the awesome drawing of me and for your Limited Edition DVD, "Stop" (The proceeds from "Stop" help PAWS dogs and cats for adoption). Visit their page HERE. And if you want to see something really cute, check out Amber's visit to the vet.

Mom loves the drawing and sit hanging right where we can see it when we sit at the computer. : )

If you would like to send us your drawing of Sparkles, we will feature here on our blog!

Sparkles on the My Semblance of Sanity "Mommy Blog"

This morning, I'm on my very first "Mommy Blog", My Semblance of Sanity, by Michelle Brownlow. Michelle is helping us reach thousands of moms and their families across the country with the fire safety message. Thanks, Michelle!

Be sure to check out Michelle's blog and you can have a chance to win a "Limited Edition" of my book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog. This book is a very special "Limited Edition" and is signed by Firefighter Dayna, Firefighter Michael, and "pawed" by me! You will also receive a First Alert Smoke Alarm, an audio book (made by three generations of firefighters and me) and a Rush and Rescue Firetruck. Does that sound like fun or what? Sparkles

Check out the March/April issue of FIDO Friendly Magazine

Hey boys and girls! Check out the March/April issue of FIDO Friendly magazine. Click HERE to see a page on the web that mentions the "Features." These features mention Sparkles. I can't wait until this issue hits the stands in Arkansas! Sparkles

Check out the Little Rock Family Magazine Facebook Page

I made new friends from the Little Rock Family magazine! My new friend, Waynette, contacted Firefighter Dayna and me for a story they are running in the April issue about the Arkansas Literary Festival (we'll be at the festival on the 18th of April). She also put the cover of our book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog on their Facebook page. Cool!

Thanks for helping us spread the fire safety message Waynette and everyone at Little Rock Family magazine! High paw!

I just received this picture from Justin Maynard, and I was so excited to get this picture, my tail has been wagging non-stop! Justin's mom wrote on my Facebook Page: "A happy reader and fan of Sparkles, Justin Maynard. He wants to meet Sparkles and give him a big puppy hug!" Justin, I would love to have a big puppy hug and would love to meet you someday! I have my paws crossed! Love, Sparkles

Cards for Sparkles

Thank you to all of the children that sent in these wonderful cards to Sparkles! Click on the photo below to watch a slideshow of the cards.

From Movies

Sparkles has a new fan

Thanks to Seth for this picture that he sent me! His mom reviewed my new book and I was so excited that he sent this picture!

A Big Shoutout to Celia Clinton Elementary Students!

Yesterday Firefighter Dayna and received a note from Principal Tanya Davis, on the acts of two very brave Celia Clinton Elementary students. Wow! The students at Celia Clinton rock!

Here's the scoop. Recently, the Tulsa Rotary Club purchased my book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, a children’s fire safety book, for each of Davis’ students (thank you Tulsa Rotary Club members!). Firefighter Dayna and I made the trip to share my book and fire safety messages at the school. We had so much fun!

Here is Principal Davis’ note:

“The other day one of our Kindergarten student’s house caught fire in the middle of the night. She and her father both escaped. The father spent a few days in ICU for smoke inhalation on a ventilator. After a few days out, she came back to school and I had the chance to talk with her. I asked her how she got out of the house. She said, "I crawled on the floor just like Sparkles taught me to." She got down on the floor and demonstrated it to me right in the office floor. She said "smoke was everywhere and I stayed low to get away from it." I knew you would want to hear that!

Then, I was walking down the hallway on Monday and one of my third graders came running up to me and said, "Mrs. Davis, my microwave caught on fire and I grabbed my brothers and sisters and we got out of the house because we saw smoke." She took a quick breath and then said, "Sparkles taught us to get out quick, so we ran outside. My mom couldn't find us because we were all outside." She said "Firefighter Dayna and Sparkles would be very proud of us." I told her I would email you and let you know about this.”

Wow! I am so happy that the children and their families are safe! Props to Principal Davis for sharing this fire safety story! I'd like to give a big shout out to the students that knew what to do! You guys rock!

Keep up the great work and remember to practice fire safety everyday!

Love,

Sparkles

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See Sparkles in Action! Read the complete updated story HERE.

Here are three news stories from Tulsa stations:

Video #1
Video #2
Video #3

An article in the Tulsa World appeared on November 25th. It may be read HERE or by clicking on the picture below.

A few pictures from the event on November 24 may be seen HERE.

Blogs have been posting stories as well and some may be found at the following locations:
Author Cheryl Rainfield's Blog
The Dalmatian Location
Kid Tested, Librarian Approved Blog

Notes from students at Celia Clinton may be found throughout the blog. More newscast videos and pictures coming soon.

For more information on Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog and her work in helping keep children and their caregivers fire safe, please visit her Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog's Website.

DogSport Magazine

Today has been the most EXCITING day ever! We just received a note from DogSport Magazine. The magazine wants to write a book review for our children's fire safety book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog and an article about Sparkles' efforts in teaching fire safety.

DogSport Magazine reaches over 6,550 committed dog sport competitors across North America.

Thank you DogSport Magazine for helping spread the fire safety message and for recognizing Sparkles and her love for helping teach fire safety!

Sparkles is on Facebook!

Hi kids!

You can now visit me on my Facebook page! See pictures and videos of me at work and at play.

Love,

Sparkles

Thank You Video to the Tulsa Rotary Club

Thank you to the Students at Celia Clinton Elementary from Firefighter Dayna and Sparkles

New Pix

Sparkles loves checking out her thank you cards from the students at Celia Clinton Elementary!

She has a special surprise for the students there coming really soon!

Sparkles Friend, Chief, Receives His New Trading Cards

Sparkles friend, Chief, received his new RFD #1 fire safety trading cards today. He was really excited!

Sparkles' Blog Receives it's First Blog Award

Today we were contacted by dogtime.com that Sparkles' blog has won their "Best in Show" award. The "Best in Show" badge is awarded to blogs and news sites that provide their visitors with high quality pet content.

Thank you dogtime.com!

Sparkles now "Tweeting" on Twitter

Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog is now on Twitter. Twitter is a great way to answer one simple question: What are you doing?

For those of you on Twitter, you may follow Sparkles at http://twitter.com/sparklestfsd

Sparkles on Doggies.com Blog

A huge thank you to Beth the Doglady at Doggies.com for sharing my story on the Doggies.com blog!

You may read the story HERE.

Hot Off the Press!

Today we were contacted by the good folks at Fido Friendly Magazine. They will be including Sparkles' story in an upcoming issue. Needless to say, we are really very excited (cover to the right is the current issue)!
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Just to give you an idea of the excitement of it all, on the Fido Friendly Magazine website, Hal Abrams from Animal Radio (America's most-listened-to pet show) said of the publication, "Let me just say that I read a lot of publications- you have the to if you're in the biz.... yours [Fido Friendly Magazine] is hands' down the best animal publication out there."
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Thank you so much for the good folks at Fido Friendly Magazine for helping spread Sparkles' story of her love for helping share fire safety!

Thank you to Beth the Dog Lady at Doggies.com!

I am so excited! Today mom got a note from the "Beth the Dog Lady" from Doggies.com. I will be on her blog January 7th! Thank you so much to Beth and Doggies.com. This is exciting!

New Activity Sheet

Here's the latest fire safety activity sheet. Click on the picture below and print out your own copy of the activity sheet. Have fun!

Attention kids, parents, teachers and fire departments. Have you checked out Sparkles the Fire Safety Dogs' fun fire safety activity and coloring pages? Check them out! We're adding new ones all of the time! Just click on the picture of Sparkles to see more!

Please feel free to add this button to help spread the fire safety message. Together, we can help keep children and their caregivers fire safe!

Sparkles and her Tulsa World Newspaper

Hi boys and girls!

The mailman brought my very own copy of the Tulsa World newspaper today and I was so excited to read the article about my visit to Celia Clinton Elementary School.

Thank you to my new friend Sara for the great article! To read Sara's article, click HERE.

Remember to practice fire safety everyday!
Love,
Sparkles

Pictures from Celia Clinton Presentation

Hi boys and girls!

I had SO MUCH fun at Celia Clinton and couldn't wait to share the pictures that I got today!



Love,
Sparkles

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxPrincipal Tanya Davis and Sparkles

Book Reviews From Brenda, Robin and Dioselina

Today Sparkles received some book reviews and she'd like to thank Brenda, Robin and Dioselina for sending them in!

"I like the book a lot. It showed me a lot of stuff . Like if I was in a real fire and a smoke alarm would make noise like beep beep beep and would tell you fire fire fire a fire becuse my smoke alarm does that too. well got to run bye bye. "

Brenda, Age 10
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Brenda! Thank you so much for your really nice book review! I am so excited that you liked the book and learned what to do in case of fire. When you hear the sound of your smoke alarm, remember to crawl out of bed and get out of the house as fast as you can, crawling low. I hope that you and your family made an escape map and have a meeting place. A meeting place can be a tree, a mailbox or even a fence. Keep safe and remember to practice fire safety everyday!

Love, Sparkles
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"Dear Sparkles,

I learned a lot from you. How you would crawl down like that its a safer way to get away from a fire. And it was great that you made a book. And it was very smart to tell us not to touch a door with the palm of our hand. "

Sincerly,
Robin, age 9
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Robin! You really remembered your fire safety! Great job! You are right when you said that you shouldn't touch the door with the palm of your hand. Touch it with the back of your hand. If the door is not hot, you can go through it crawling low (remember to get out as fast as you can!) and if the door is hot, you can go out the window. Remember how important it is to practice your plan with your family so that you will know what to do if there is an fire. Thanks again for the great book review! You rock! Love, Sparkles
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"I like the book of sparkles the fire safety dog. That was a good book for the little kids. I like how you went to school and teach the children about fire safety. I like how you crawl down and show the kids. I like how you was and that little bed it was a cute bed. That was a cute story. I like that book because you went to teach just like a teacher. I like the book so much. To a cute dog name sparkles the super teacher. He is a sweet dog and a smart dog. He is a super dog. He is a smart teacher he is a cool dog and a sweet dog. He is a safety dog and taking good care of his friend and people. He is a good friend for me. I like sparkles for a sweet daycare dog for the whole town because he is a super dog."

Dioselina, age 10
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Dioselina!
Wow, you really made my day. Sparkles loves being a fire safety dog and helping keep people safe. It was really nice of you to say all of the very sweet things about her. Thank you so much for your note and remember to practice fire safety everyday! Love, Firefighter Dayna and Sparkles

Book Reviews from Ron, Kayla, Patricia, Alan, Aaron and Rebeca

Hi Boys and Girls!

Today I received five book reviews from Ron, Kayla, Patricia, Alan and Aaron! Wow! That is a record! Thank you to everyone at Celia Clinton for sending them in. Keep them coming!

Love,
Sparkles

Here are the book reviews that I received today:

"Thank you for coming to our school to teach us fire saftey skills. I wish that you can come back to our school again to teach us fire safety skills. The book [Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog] that you gave me , I learned to crawl on my knees when there is a fire in the house and you always have a meeting place by the mailbox or by a the fence."

Ron, age 9
Celia Clinton Elementary

Thank you Ron for your great review! It sounds like you really learned alot and that you sure know your fire safety. Keep it up and great job! Love, Sparkles
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"Thank you four coming to our school. wish that my dog can do what you can do. That is just amazing my dogs are to wild to do that. I learned from the book [Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog] is that having a fire alarm is important. Dayna I think that sparkles is glad to have you as a mom and I like your book very much so thank you. "

Kayla, age 9
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Kayla! Your note really made me happy! I love being Sparkles mom and it makes me happy that you noticed how much she loves helping me teach fire safety. It's her favorite thing to do! You are correct, having a smoke alarm is really important and helps keep you and your family safe. Remember to test it once a month and change your batteries twice a year : )
Love, Firefighter Dayna P.S. Sparkles says for me to tell you way to !
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"Sparkles the part I like of your book [Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog] is were you teach the people about fire safety. The thing I learned is that you stop drop and roll. I appreciate you teaching us how to be firesafe. Keep teaching people fire safety Sparkles."

Patricia, age 9
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Patricia! Thank you so much for your note! I am so glad that you not only learned alot about fire safety, but that you mentioned that you appreciate it. That was so nice! Since you learned so much, maybe you can help me spread the fire safety message with your friends and family. That would be so awesome! Love, Sparkles
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"I learned that whenever theres a fire you should touch the door with your hand backwards. Whenever you see smoke , always crawl on the ground. When youre on fire stop,drop and roll. I also learned to find a meeting place. For me the best place for a meeting place is a tree.'

Alan, age 10
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Alan! Sounds like you really learned alot while I was at your school. That is so exciting! You are right, if your smoke alarm goes off, crawl to the door and feel with the back of your hand if it is hot or not. If it is not hot, open it carefully and crawl low getting out as fast as you can. If the door is hot, remember to go out your window : ) I am soooo excited that you found a meeting place! That REALLY makes my day! You're awesome! Love, Sparkles

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"Sparkles I like becaues sparkles help kids have fire safety. Sparkles the safety dog is a
great book my mom and dad love it. I love that sparkles can do things and fire safety. I
did know that people can do more in fire safedy."

Aaron, Age 10
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Aaron! I am so happy that you wrote me a book review and I am really happy that your mom and dad and you love my book. That makes my tail wag so fast! I love helping Firefighter Dayna teach fire safety. You can help me too by telling your friends and family to practice fire safety everyday! Thank you so much for your note! Love, Sparkles
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"I liked the picture when Sparkles was crawling low to demonstrate to us how to crawl low. And I learned that not to touch a doorknob when your house is on fire because you can burn your hand. Also I liked the picture when Sparkles was in the bed LOL!!! I wanted to ask a question do fire safety dogs go to fires or is it to dangerous for them to go? Well thank you for reading my note hope I here from you guys!!!"

Rebeca, age 9
Celia Clinton Elementary

Hi Rebeca!
Thank you so much for writing a book review! The picture of Sparkles crawling low is one of my favorite pictures too! She loves showing how to get low and go, get out and go to a meeting place! Remember, if your smoke alarm goes off, crawl to the door on your hands and knees and feel the door with the back of your hand if it is hot or not (and you remembered how important it was to use the back of your hand~ you really know your fire safety! That's awesome!). I'm so glad that you remembered that if the door is not hot to open it carefully and crawl low getting out as fast as you can. And remember, if the door is hot, go out your window. You make an awesome Jr. Firefighter!
Love, Firefighter Dayna and Sparkles

Book Review from Nisea, Age 9

"Thank you for coming to my school and telling us about your beautiful dog sparkles my mom loved her nails. I liked the book [Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog] because it taught me what I have to do if there was a real fire. Oh, and to change my batteries in my smoke alarm. Your book taught me a lot of things. I enjoyed you coming, thanks."

Nisea, 9

Celia Clinton Elementary School

Thank you for your book review, Nisea! I emailed you a special surprise for sending me a review!

Love, Sparkles