Featured February Teaching Resources
February Teaching Resources for Your Classroom
February is a month rich with meaning, where students honor Black History Month, celebrate love and friendship, and partake in mid-winter reflection and creativity. To help educators bring these themes to life through literacy, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has curated a collection of free, easy-to-use teaching resources designed specifically for February. This dedicated hub features inspirational activities, timely book collections, standards-aligned lessons, and practical educator tools, plus highlights from Skybrary, RIF’s trusted kids’ reading app, making it simple for teachers to craft engaging learning experiences.
February Teaching Resources and Themes
Monthly Theme: Changemakers
February invites the recognition and celebration of individuals who have sparked progress, challenged injustice, and inspired others to take action. This month’s theme encourages learners to explore what it means to create positive change in their communities and the world.
Suggested Focus Points
Understanding how ideas, actions, or movements can shape society
Celebrating creativity and innovation
The power of courage and leadership
Recognizing the impact of small, positive actions
February Book Collections
Explore our themed book collections and free accompanying reading resources.
Black History Month Collection
Invite children to discover the stories of changemakers, past, and present. As they read, they’ll notice common themes of courage, resilience, and leadership, and learn how these individuals have inspired positive change in their communities and beyond.
Rally to Read: Changemakers Collection
As part of the Rally to Read reading challenge, RIF has gathered this book collection to help children explore the theme of changemakers. These stories encourage children to learn about remarkable individuals, their experiences, and their actions that shaped the world.
Curriculum & Standards Alignment
All RIF teaching resources are designed to support Common Core State Standards, early reading development, and ongoing reading engagement. This February, students can explore changemakers and their stories while building key literacy skills:
Recognizing important details in biographies and informational texts
Comparing the lives, choices, and achievements of historical and modern changemakers
Expanding vocabulary related to leadership, creativity, and perseverance
Writing reflections, personal stories, or short essays inspired by changemakers
Engaging in collaborative conversations about community, courage, and social responsibility
Connecting social-emotional learning (SEL) concepts to real-life experiences and values
Whether you use Wit & Wisdom, EL Education, Amplify CKLA, or other similar curricula, RIF resources helps you enrich learning with adaptable units and flexible tools for your students.
Skybrary Book Feature: Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
February’s featured Skybrary book is Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, an inspiring story about a young musician who follows her passion and breaks barriers in the world of jazz.
What Students Will Learn
Recognizing important details in biographies and informational texts
How perseverance and creativity can help overcome challenges
Vocabulary related to music and performance
The life and achievements of an influential musician
Ways that music can express identity, emotion, and storytelling
Support Materials
Access the full suite of activities, guides, and resources for Little Melba and Her Big Trombone.
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is available to read on Skybrary, RIF’s trusted kids reading app. Visit the Skybrary website or download the Skybrary app from the Apple App Store, and dive into this inspiring musical story plus hundreds of additional books.
Literacy Central Teaching Resources
RIF’s Literacy Central is a curated online platform filled with free reading resources designed for educators, families, and students. It brings together lessons, activities, and book-based tools in one easy-to-use space, helping support meaningful literacy learning all month long.
Support literacy instruction through February with classroom-ready materials:
Recognizing important details in biographies and informational texts
Vocabulary builders and reading passages
Writing prompts that encourage reflection on courage, creativity, and perseverance
Well-being reflection and confidence activities
Printable worksheets and extension materials
Teaching Resource Feature: Literacy Tracker
This month’s featured educator tool is the Literacy Tracker, RIF’s free formative assessment reading tool. RIF’s Literacy Tracker is an effective way to monitor students’ reading progress and engagement. The tracker helps teachers gain insight into what students are reading, how often they’re reading, and how their skills are developing.
Use the Literacy Tracker to support:
Recognizing important details in biographies and informational texts
Reading habits and growth
Setting personal reading goals
Reflection on favorite books
Organizing data to inform instruction
Supporting conferences with students and families
Free Printable Teaching Resources
This month, check out RIF’s Black History Month Calendar. Explore a new themed activity each day this month. Click any date to access ready-to-use printables.
Enhance Classroom Reading with Read-Aloud Videos
Listening to stories read aloud boosts vocabulary, builds comprehension, and fosters joy in reading. With RIF’s collection of read-aloud videos, teachers can easily share engaging titles, authors, and ideas that complement any lesson or monthly theme.
RIF’s six-month reading initiative, Rally to Read, offers teachers additional read-alouds and free literacy resources to keep students engaged. The program highlights a different theme each month, showcases free online read-alouds from favorite authors, and provides plenty of activities to support young readers.
Rally to Read shares exciting monthly themes, free online read-alouds from your favorite authors, and numerous engaging, literacy-building reading activities.
February Webinars & Professional Learning
All year long, RIF delivers engaging webinars designed to empower educators and families with fresh ideas and practical approaches to supporting young readers. Presenters include members of the RIF team, along with distinguished guests such as authors, researchers, and university experts who share perspectives on reading engagement and best practices. All webinars are saved in our archive for easy on-demand viewing.
- February 11, 2026 | 7-8pm ET At Home Writing Strategies for Grades 3-5 | Register now
- February 25, 2026 | 7-8pm ET Beyond the Prompt: Engaging Students through Relevance | Register now
Check our schedule for all future webinars and watch past recordings here.
Tips for Social & Classroom Engagement
Classroom Ideas
Create a “Changemakers Wall” where students highlight influential figures from history and their communities
Host a Storytelling Circle featuring biographies or read-alouds about Black leaders and innovators
Use graphic organizers to compare the contributions and achievements of different changemakers
Celebrate a Classroom Inspiration Week, encouraging students to share acts of courage, creativity, and leadership