2024 ReadingPals Conference & Celebration with Emily Hanford

by | Nov 4, 2024

Renowned journalist and producer, Emily Hanford, whose hit podcast Sold a Story (Sold a Story en español) was one of the most-shared shows on Apple Podcasts in 2023, gave the keynote address. Emily’s work has helped change practice and policy on literacy across the country. She shared stories and insights to shift our perspective on how children are being taught to read in the U.S., and what volunteers, parents/caregivers, teachers, and community partners need to know to make the greatest impact.

ReadingPals provides volunteer mentors for students from pre-K to 3rd grade who may need extra help—operating across 15 Florida regions. Over the last 12 years, nearly 30,000 students have received a ReadingPals mentor and a share of 530,000 donated books.

The Academy: Innovative Learning Platform

The Academy: Innovative Learning Platform

by | Oct 7, 2024

The Academy serves as a central hub for educators, school leaders, families, and community partners seeking practical, user-friendly materials. The goal is simple – to encourage widespread use of these free valuable tools in classrooms, schools, homes, and other settings-anywhere that children are learning. Access a variety of brief lessons and longer courses designed to help you use the many free, evidence-based materials highlighted on fcrr.org. Each resource was made with you in mind. The Academy will help you use them. Literacy coaches, school leaders, and providers can also use these lessons in their own coaching and professional learning sessions with their teachers or literacy events with families and community members. The Academy houses everything you need to provide face-to-face professional learning opportunities in your school, district, and community. These long courses are designed to foster expertise in reading instruction, literacy coaching, and literacy leadership, and may even contribute towards endorsements or recertification (training and state approval may be required to access some courses).

Supporting Your Child’s Learning at Home

Supporting Your Child’s Learning at Home

by | Sep 6, 2022

Learning to read begins at home through everyday interactions with children, long before they attend
school. Supporting literacy development as children enter elementary school and progress through grades positively affects their reading ability. The Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (REL-SE) provides family activities with easy-to-follow instructions to help children practice foundational reading skills at home for students in kindergarten through grade 3. This resource provides short family videos for tips and support on how to use the activities to help children grow as readers. Using the family activities at home can help children develop language, link sounds to letters, blend letters and word parts to read and write the words and ultimately read for understanding.

New Worlds Reading Initiative

New Worlds Reading Initiative

by | Jul 14, 2022

New Worlds Reading is Florida’s free at-home literacy program to help eligible VPK through 5th grade students in Florida bolster literacy skills, build reading confidence, and foster a lifelong love of reading. Each month, eligible kids receive a free book tailored to their interests with resources and activities for caregivers and children to use together. The UF Lastinger Center for Learning administers the program and selected Scholastic as a partner. Books are selected in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education and are available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and braille. For more information, visit newworldsreading.com.

University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning

University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning

by | Jul 14, 2022

The UF Lastinger Center for Learning improves the quality of teaching, learning, and caregiving. We research, develop, and scale equitable educational innovations for adults and children that put all learners on trajectories for lifelong success. We provide professional development in early learning, literacy, and mathematics.