FGLRC’s Early Literacy & Related Resources Repository

The Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign (FGLRC) has had the pleasure of working with a variety of state-level agencies and education partners serving on our State Leadership Network since the inception of our campaign. Many high-quality science-of-reading-based resources are developed and readily available through these partners. FGLRC’s Early Literacy Resource Repository serves as a hub for the best of these resources intended for parents, early learning professionals, teachers, and policymakers. Resources will be updated within this repository several times annually to ensure that newly developed partner resources are featured in a timely manner.

The following Florida partners, while not all exclusively literacy-focused, provide services and resources that help support the overarching work of our campaign which focuses on birth-five school readiness, student attendance, summer learning, healthy students, and family engagement. We encourage you to become familiar with these websites, in addition to accessing their key early literacy resources within our repository.
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Educators

2024 ReadingPals Conference & Celebration with Emily Hanford

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. Visit Resource
Educators

The Academy: Innovative Learning Platform

The Academy serves as a central hub for educators, school leaders, families, and community partners seeking practical, user-friendly materials. The goal is simp...
le – 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). Visit Resource
Parents

Build Resiliency

Florida Department of Education recently launched a comprehensive new online resource — “Resiliency Florida”. This first-in-the-nation approach provides d...
ownloadable resources for parents, educators and youth-serving organizations, all focused on empowering students to persevere and overcome life’s inevitable challenges. This platform is a testament to what we can achieve together — empowering communities to thrive despite challenges.   Visit Resource
Educators

The Academy – FCRR

Need help using the evidence-based resources available at FCRR.org? Join us in The Academy! Over the last 20 years, FCRR and our friends and colleagues all over...
the world have worked hard to develop evidence-based tools and resources for you. Most of them are free. Now it’s time to use them! Here you will find free lessons and courses to get you going on the right track. Each features evidence-based resources and tools. Some were developed by FCRR. Others were developed by our friends and colleagues. We just want you to use them! We provide links and information to direct you to the original source of the material. That way, you can find even more free resources that have been developed just for you! We will continue to develop more lessons and courses, so please come back and visit us often. Together, we will make sure that all children are reading and succeeding in school! Here you will find free lessons and courses to get you going on the right track. Each features evidence-based resources and tools. Some were developed by FCRR. Others were developed by our friends and colleagues. We just want you to use them! We provide links and information to direct you to the original source of the material. That way, you can find even more free resources that have been developed just for you! We will continue to develop more lessons and courses, so please come back and visit us often. Together, we will make sure that all children are reading and succeeding in school! Visit Resource
Educators

Student Feedback Toolkit

This toolkit is for the purpose of engaging high-school students and gathering their feedback to improve school meals through Surveys and Listening Sessions.
Visit Resource
Educators

Breakfast After the Bell Myths

Learn about Breakfast After the Bell (BAB) myths, and the facts that disprove them, with this resource. For example, learn how, despite the misconception, BAB d...
oes not cause mess or reduce instructional time. Visit Resource
Educators

2024 Hunger Survey

A recent poll commissioned by No Kid Hungry Florida sheds light on the challenges Floridian families face in affording groceries, with rising food prices outpac...
ing incomes. Families are making sacrifices, like shopping at multiple locations (58%) and opting for cheaper, less convenient stores (48%), often sacrificing food quality. This financial strain hits hard for families with students in K-12 public schools, where 82% report difficulty affording groceries. This underscores the critical role of school meals in providing essential nutrition to students. Explore the full survey results to understand the impact of food insecurity in Florida. Visit Resource
Parents

The Importance of School Meals

School meals help millions of children from low-income families get the nutrition they need to learn and grow. This section covers how the National School Lunch...
Program and School Breakfast Program work, why they’re so important, and how they can be improved to reach more students through policy changes at both the federal and state level. Visit Resource
Educators

Training for Promising Literacy Practices in K-5 Out-of-School-Time Programs

Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign (FGLRC), an initiative of Florida Alliance of Children’s Council & Trusts (FACCT), offers an engaging in person trainin...
g based on FGLRC’s ‘Promising Literacy Practices in K-5 OST Programs’, a document designed for K-5 OST staff and directors.  Training participants will be guided through 21 literacy practices aligned to the 7 categories of the Florida Standards for Quality Afterschool Programs. They will partake in small group discussion and activities that support these literacy practices, and will be familiarized with supporting literacy research documents and resources. Visit Resource
Parents

BookSmart

BookSmart is a free digital library for children 3-12 years old. It showcases digital books in various languages, including English and Spanish. BookSmart can b...
e viewed as a website or downloaded as an app on any electronic device that uses iOS or Android software. It can be used: To enhance in and out of school time reading. To help parents engage in conversations around books. To provide book access and programming for out of school clubs and libraries. Be sure to use 4-character library code FACC to access our Florida library. Visit Resource
Educators

IES Practice Guide: Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding

This practice guide provides four recommendations for teaching foundational reading skills to students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. Each recommendation in...
cludes implementation steps and solutions for common obstacles. The recommendations also summarize and rate supporting evidence. This guide is geared towards teachers, administrators and other educators who want to improve their students’ foundational reading skills. Visit Resource
Educators

Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) Student Center Activities

Student Center Activities are available for use in Pre-K through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate and e...
xtend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently. Students can complete the activities in small groups, pairs or individually. Accompanying these Student Center Activities is a Teacher Resource Guide that offers important insights on differentiated instruction and how to use the Student Center materials. Visit Resource
Parents

Supporting Your Child’s Learning at Home

Learning to read begins at home through everyday interactions with children, long before they attend school. Supporting literacy development as children enter e...
lementary 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. Visit Resource
Educators

Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) Reading Program Repository

The Reading Program Repository is a resource to provide a one-stop shop to support Florida Local Education Agencies (LEAs) with being good consumers of research...
when selecting reading programs that best meet the needs of their students. The collection of reading programs listed in this repository is based on LEA program selections through the High-Quality Reading Curriculum Grant. The Reading Program Repository will continue to expand, including only programs of interest to Florida LEAs. Each of the programs included in the repository have been reviewed by either the What Works Clearinghouse or Evidence for ESSA. Individuals can use a filter to pull information on specific programs to obtain quick-glance information or view a full program description. Visit Resource
Parents

Parent Guides for B.E.S.T. Standards English Language Arts

The B.E.S.T. Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) are literacy standards for Florida students that will shape their education and make Florida the most lit...
erate state in the nation. Parent Guides are available to help families learn more about the B.E.S.T. ELA Standards for students in grades kindergarten through grade 8. This resource provides suggested book lists, activities to encourage learning at home in ways that are fun for parents and children and important educational (academic) words that parents will see in their child’s grade-level standards. Visit Resource
Educators
Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign

Science of Reading (Defining Guide)

This eBook from The Reading League provides a firm definition of what the science of reading is, what it is not, and how all stakeholders can understand its pot...
ential to transform reading instruction. Digital copy citation: 1st within text citation: (The Reading League [TRL], 2022) Subsequent text citations: (TRL, 2022). To purchase a hard copy of this book, click here. Visit Resource
Stakeholders

The Florida Gap Map

To ensure children are prepared for an increasingly complex workforce, they must have a strong foundation. The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Business All...
iance for Early Learning Project has been working to promote the importance of quality early learning and raise awareness among business leaders. A child’s future success may also be impacted by where they live. Research shows many students living in high poverty areas have fewer resources and may perform at lower academic levels than children living in higher socioeconomic income areas. The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Prosperity Project is uniting business leaders behind the effort to create equity of opportunity and end generational poverty in Florida one zip code at a time. The Florida Gap Map brings together the important work of the Florida Prosperity Project and the Florida Business Alliance for Early Learning Project. This online tool gives business and community leaders throughout Florida important information on the schools in their community. Visit Resource
Stakeholders

ExcelinEd Policy

From kindergarten through third grade, children are learning to read. Then in fourth grade, they transition to use reading to learn. A comprehensive state early...
literacy policy can ensure all students enter fourth grade with the foundational reading skills they need to learn, graduate and succeed. ExcelinEd’s  comprehensive early literacy policy empowers students with the ability to read and opens doors and opportunities each student deserves. This policy toolkit offers resources and tools to support states working to advance a comprehensive early literacy policy. Visit Resource
Parents

New Worlds Reading Initiative

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. Visit Resource
Stakeholders

University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning

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

Approved Early Literacy Courses

Pursuant to Section 402.305(2)(d)5., F.S., all child care personnel must complete a single course of training in early literacy and language development of chil...
dren ages birth through five years that is a minimum of five clock hours or .5 CEUs. Early literacy training must be completed within 12 months of date of employment in the child care industry. Proof of completion may be documented on a certificate of course completion, classroom transcript, or diploma. Visit Resource
Educators

Child Care Training Course Catalog

This catalog contains early childhood courses, which can be found throughout Florida. Training course topics include; behavioral and social-emotional developmen...
t, child welfare, developmentally appropriate practices, early intervention, rules and regulations, supporting special needs, and much more. Visit Resource
Parents

Transition to Kindergarten

Transition to Kindergarten resources are provided for families to ensure that their child(ren) start kindergarten ready to learn and continues to thrive during ...
the school year. Visit Resource
Parents

Parents’ Pages

Parent’s Pages, the Division of Early Learning monthly newsletter, includes resourceful information that encourages fun, learning and family bonding.
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Educators

Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards and Professional Competencies

Florida adopted the Florida Early Learning and Development Standards, Birth to Kindergarten in December 2017. The standards and benchmarks reflect the knowledge...
and skills that a child on a developmental progression should know and be able to do at the end of an age-related timeframe. Visit Resource
Parents

First Teacher books

The Division of Early Learning’s First Teacher books offer guidance on child development and how to encourage children to explore, learn and grow. Each Fi...
rst Teacher book includes a Language and Literacy Domain for ages birth to four-year-olds. Visit Resource
Parents

Early Literacy Tips for Families

Tip sheet to encourage family engagement and build literacy skills.
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Stakeholders

Rural Food Insecurity: Research Brief and Report

Share Our Strength and Feeding America partnered on a qualitative research study and broader report examining food insecurity in rural communities across the Un...
ited States. Visit Resource
Educators

Innovative Breakfast Delivery Options

The most effective ways to boost school breakfast participation are by using Breakfast After the Bell models. Learn how each Breakfast After the Bell model is s...
tructured, and the percentage increase school breakfast programs can experience by adopting these models. Visit Resource
Educators

Schools as Nutrition Hubs

Schools operating as Nutrition Hubs help children access the nutrition they need throughout the year by operating all available federal child nutrition programs...
— school breakfast, lunch, supper, and summer meals. This model helps ensure that all children benefit from the nutrition they need so that they can thrive educationally and physically. Visit Resource