2019 marks 15 years of Reading Is Fundamental’s (RIF) partnership with Kappa Kappa Gamma.  Through our work together, the women of KKG have raised more than $1.2 million in support of Reading Is Fundamental’s mission to give every child the opportunity to own a book and experience the life-changing power of reading. That’s more than 400,000 books for kids! Together, we can help every child aspire to be a reader!

Reading Is Fundamental is excited to highlight a guest blog from the Salt Lake City School District, a program site which benefitted from a partnership between RIF and the Panda Cares Foundation. Read on to learn how students at Riley Elementary felt about getting getting new books through the generous support of the Panda Cares Foundation. 

From stocking libraries in Bronx affordable housing communities and partnering with schools in Houston to support children affected by Hurricane Harvey, to hosting our first National Reading Coalition and being selected as Tina Fey’s charity of choice at Variety Magazine’s Power of Women event, RIF continues to reach children with new books, digital tools and programmatic support. Thanks to you we are making a difference in the lives of children every single day.

The holidays can be stressful for families but they’re also a great opportunity to spend time for those closest to you. Spending time reading with your children is a great reason to turn off the television, cuddle up, and relax. Try some of these fun literacy activities to bust holiday stress!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

As we enter the holiday season, I wanted to take this opportunity to give thanks to all of you that are committed, as Reading Is Fundamental is, to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to read. 

1. Read aloud to your child every day
●    Read to babies even before they can talk
●    Let your child see and touch the book
●    Play with voices and the sounds of words

Reading with a child is an important part of developing reading skills. Reading a book aloud, taking turns reading, acting out a book, and discussing a book are all critical elements to engage a child in the reading process. Reading together starts children on a path to obtain the necessary reading skills to become proficient, interested, and hopefully lifelong readers. Here are some basic tips to consider when reading with one child or many.

We recently caught up with Dr. Maryanne Wolf about her book Reader Come Home, which discusses the challenges of being a reader in the Digital Age. This is the second in a series of interviews with Dr. Wolfe. The first interview was around her book Proust and the Squid.

RIF teamed up with longtime philanthropic partner and literacy advocate, Macy’s, to create literacy impact by supporting ten book celebration events in communities across the country, ReadBoston, hosted one of the book celebrations. ReadBoston is a comprehensive early literacy program, reaching children from low-income families to encourage lifelong reading success.

RIF is committed to partnering with communities across the country to join us in creating a more literate America, one child at a time. Over the past year, RIF has teamed up with B&B Urban, a New York City-based affordable and supportive housing developer working to build new, high-quality, energy efficient, and affordable housing for NYC residents, with a significant percentage devoted to formerly homeless families and other populations with special needs.

September heralds a new school year and with it, the thoughts of many parents turn to their children’s education, and another year of preparing them for their future. Reading and access to books and other educational resources are considered a critical part of any child’s education. In fact, a strong foundation in literacy is so essential to any individual realizing their full potential that it is at the center of a growing national discussion; is literacy a fundamental right?

RIF is joining forces with Macy’s for the fifteenth year to provide books, digital literacy tools and educational resources to children nationwide through Thanks for Sharing, Macy’s annual customer loyalty program.

Since the beginning of RIF and Macy’s partnership, more than 12 million children in over 860 communities across the country have been supported through free books, engagement activities and literacy resources, illustrating Macy’s deep dedication to children’s literacy. In the past year alone, 7 million children have been reached by free online literacy resources available on RIF’s digital destination for supplemental materials, Literacy Central, funded by the generosity of Macy’s.

RIF recently caught up with PAWS and THINK! author Miranda Mittleman about her passion for children’s literacy. Read on to learn how Miranda has paired her lifelong love of poetry with her desire to make an impact on children’s literacy.

How can middle schoolers be great readers AND writers? RIF caught up with Katie Padden a middle school English and Language Arts teacher in rural Burgettstown, PA to get the inside scoop. Read on to learn why Katie thinks reading and writing go together like peanut butter and jelly!

RIF recently caught up with Lulu Delacre about her work in children’s literature. This interview covers two books. The first is Golden Tales: Myths, Legends, and Folktales from Latin America, for which she was both author and illustrator. The second is a new book by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, entitled Turning Pages, for which Ms. Delacre is the illustrator.

We recently caught up with Jon Lasser about his new book Grow Happy. This is part of a series on Social Emotional Learning from Magination Press.

In celebration of Children’s Book Week RIF is ready to help you create a home library. Follow the RIF-approved tips below to create a dynamic, at-home reading experience.

RIF is excited to team up with Shaunda Wasik, a 3^rd and 4^th grade  teacher from Farmington, Minnesota. Shaunda reviewed RIF’s reading intervention in program and wants to give YOU the full scoop!

We recently caught up with Professor Bers from Tufts University about her new book Coding as a Playground. This is an ideal book for reading educators looking to integrate computer coding into the early literacy classroom.