Care to Read

RIF Responds to the Early Literacy Needs of Our Youngest Children with "Train the Trainer" Workshops

Care to Read is RIF's early literacy program that supports children's emergent literacy skills through training and resources for childcare staff in center- and home-based childcare programs. Six workshops cover important topics in early literacy development and use children's literature to actively engage childcare staff and illustrate literacy development concepts.

Care to Read training is typically done through a "train the trainer" model that prepares participants to return to their programs and deliver the six workshops to their colleagues.

Program Goals:

• Improve the quality of child care in centers and family childcare homes by training staff to create literacy-rich environments for toddlers and preschoolers and engage them in activities that foster literacy and learning;
• Improve staff and family access to children's books and awareness of quality children's literature; and
• Motivate and prepare childcare staff to read to the children in their care and to support families in reading with their own children.

Workshop content is based on early literacy research and developmentally appropriate practices; each workshop provides resources and background in early literacy development and includes training activities, break-out sessions, post-workshop journal practice, and follow-up activities and discussions.

Six workshops cover the following topics:

• Understanding Early Language and Literacy Development: A Care to Read Overview
• Creating Literacy-Rich Environments
• Where Conversation Leads
• Reading Aloud
• Making My Mark: The Writing Connection
• Supporting Language and Literacy Every Day
  

Training participants receive all of the materials they need to conduct the workshops, including:

• Training manual with all needed workshop resources: background information, training notes, training activities, and participant handouts in reproducible format;
• A collection of children's books related to the workshops;
• Three full-color posters that depict literacy-rich environments in toddler, preschool, and family childcare settings;
• A language and literacy development chart that features timelines and developmental milestones; and
• Read with Me Videos and Guide that model good read-aloud practices and discuss the partnership between parents and teachers.
  

Training of Trainers:
RIF encourages interested early childhood/early literacy professionals (e.g., trainers, directors, coordinators, specialists, classroom teachers/family childcare providers) to gather a training group together.

RIF staff will travel to the group site to conduct the train-the-trainer workshops. Periodically, the training of trainers workshop is conducted in the Washington, D.C., area. The RIF staff also serve as resources for the workshop participants as they return to their programs to conduct training sessions and implement what they have learned.

Questions? Click here to request more information. 

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Learn More
There are three easy ways to request more information about Care to Read:

 Click here to fill out the online form, and you will be provided with more information.

 Call 1-877-RIF-READ

 Write to:
Reading Is Fundamental
Attn: Care to Read
1825 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20009

RIF and NAEYC Offer Early Literacy Posters
For the Care to Read Program, RIF and NAEYC have developed colorful posters that include practical suggestions to support children's literacy development. Posters are included with Care to Read materials, but if you would like to order additional posters, they are available for purchase in NAEYC's fall 2003 catalog.

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