NEW: RIF’s Sustainable Futures Center

RIF is excited to share about its newest online resource center. Our own Erin Bailey, RIF’s Director of Content and Programs, shares about this exciting new set of resources that we hope families, educators and students will find useful and impactful! Read more and then start exploring the center today: RIF.ORG/SUSTAINABLE-FUTURES

At RIF we are always looking to provide resources that are timely and relevant to support children’s literacy and learning. At the forefront are topics surrounding the environment and sustainability. However, talking to children about these topics may feel overwhelming. That’s why we’re so proud we have partnered with global climate innovator, Trane Technologies to provide educators, families, and children with meaningful and practicable reading resources and tools to learn more about the environment and how to sustain it. “We need as many creative young minds as possible involved in making the future more sustainable and that requires educating students about the concepts and exciting their imaginations about what’s possible in terms of solutions. That’s why we are so proud to support partners like RIF, who are helping to build tomorrow’s sustainability change-makers,” said Deidra Parrish Williams, Trane Technologies’ Leader of Global Corporate Citizenship

The Sustainable Futures Center offers curated book collections and related resources in the areas of (1) Plants and Animals, (2) Natural Resources, (3) Environmental Justice, and (4) Careers in STEM. The Plants and Animals section enables children to engage with their natural curiosities about living things and learn how they can help protect them. The Natural Resources section focuses on natural processes such as how volcanoes erupt and the way they shape the Earth. As part of nature, we understand that humans play an integral role in conservation efforts and the Environmental Justice section provides stories relating to equity and access, sustainability, and protective measures. Finally, the Careers in STEM section offers children opportunities to explore careers in sustainability and STEM-related fields.

The Tips & Tools section of the center offers materials to support teaching about the environment and sustainability such as through Curricular Resources, suggested STEM Projects, and Conferences that promote science in education. Also, if you are interested in learning how to implement a literature-based approach to the engineering design process, be sure to register for our upcoming April 27th “Every Book is an Engineering Book” webinar, part of our “Every Book Count” webinar series! Through this interactive webinar, educators will learn how to use storybooks from their classroom libraries to help students to identify problems a character faces, design solutions, and engage in the engineering design process. Materials to support this innovative approach to literacy are available in the Tips & Tools section as well and our webinar will be archived for future use.

Our children are our future, and now it is more important than ever to share books on this topic and talk to them about the environment and efforts they can take to make our future sustainable. At RIF, we hope that the resources we have created and curated can support you as you empower the child(ren) in your life to read today and be a leader tomorrow!