Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign
2020 Spring Edition Newsletter
A message from the FGLRC Team
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Our FGLRC team is sending positive thoughts for your health and safety as we wrap up the school year and launch into a very unique summer. Given the unprecedented times we find ourselves in, we wanted to take a minute to commend all the work that our local communities are doing! Every day you are needing to rethink your best intended plans to promptly address and accommodate local priorities and regulations, online options and the overall safety and well-being of your children, families and community. Keep up the great work – we will get through this together! Now is the time for us to support each other like never before. Most of us are faced with personal and professional changes related to the pandemic, so kindness, patience and understanding, along with being informed and proactive can help everyone. Please take time for your own self-care and we look forward to connecting with you, albeit virtually, over the summer months. We hope you enjoy our Spring Edition of FGLRC News and ask you share it widely with your local GLR partners!

Sincerely,

Jenn & Kristi
Flashback to FGLRC Annual Meeting
While it seems like a lifetime ago, and was possibly the last week people traveled prior to Covid-19, our FGLRC Annual Meeting held on February 25-26 at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando gathered over 100 local GLR leads and key partners to share local best practices and learn from some our favorite GLR consultants and partner agencies! Special thanks to all of our local presenters as well as our special guests including: Melinda Webster, Florida Office of Early Learning; Ron Fairchild, Campaign for Grade Level Reading; Dr. Melissa Baralt, FIU; Dr. Paige Pullen, UF Lastinger Center; and Kelly Kulsrud, Lectio.

So that everyone can benefit from the wealth of information shared at this meeting, we are making our public FGLRC Dropbox link available here . You’ll not only find all of the presentations from the FGRLC 2020 Annual Meeting, but you’ll also have access to our FGLRC Policy Documents, Public Service Announcements, EduCare materials, and Early Literacy Tip Sheets!  We look forward to planning future FGLRC meetings of this kind, so that all the impressive GLR work happening at the local, state and national level is shared and potentially replicated for maximum impact! 
In addition to our two-day FGLRC Annual Meeting, a pre-conference to the Beyond School Hours (BSH) National Education Conference, FGLRC also sponsored a literacy presentation during the coinciding 21 st CCLC national meeting, plus a keynote address featuring author and philanthropist James Patterson. Special thanks to UF Lastinger for helping FGLRC secure Mr. Patterson, the world’s best-selling author!
FGLRC's Projects in Progress
In partnership with University of Florida Lastinger Center , FGLRC has recently launched a new series of fifteen Early Literacy Tip Sheets for teachers and parents. Please share these widely along with Lastinger’s full menu of Distance Learning Resources . 
Additionally, FGLRC will be debuting another partnership project with Lastinger called ‘Sound Beginnings’ in Fall of 2020. This 2-hour training showcasing early language development best practices for infant/toddlers will be launched with the help of a statewide cadre of infant/toddler trainers. A thoughtfully designed Sound Beginnings power-point presentation and instructors' manual will be provided to identified Sound Beginnings Ambassadors who will then offer this complimentary training to local providers and parents. Ambassador qualifications and commitments will be announced by late summer and we’ll be asking for your local assistance in recruiting infant/toddler specialist from cross-agency partners statewide, so stay tuned!
FGLRC’s EduCare Text Messaging Service will be expanding this summer to serve parents and caregivers for children ages 1 month through 9 years of age with messaging around Health & Wellness as well as Literacy & Learning.  Additionally, there will be a Spanish version of EduCare available later this year! Special thanks to the following GLR communities who provided volunteer review teams to assist us in reviewing the text message content: Jacksonville, Emerald Coast, Osceola, Broward, Miami, and Indian River. This text service is designed to provide parents and caregivers with two informative messages per week, timed to their child’s age. Additional links are embedded in some messages, directing subscribers to our FGLRC Mobile Library where they can access more detailed information including videos, tip sheets, and articles. Please share this service with your local parents and providers. If you’d like a virtual presentation on how to promote EduCare to your local GLR community members and parents, please contact Jenn Faber , FGLRC Director.
Debuting in July of 2019, our partnership project with DCF Child Care Licensing and FSU Florida Center for Interactive Media, the 5-hour online literacy training module ‘ Supporting Literacy in School-Age Programs ’ has been completed by over 865 school-age practitioners! Please continue promoting the ‘Supporting Literacy in School-Age Programs’ (SLSA) Module to your local summer camp and afterschool providers.  If you would like a shipment of SLSA postcard advertisements to disseminate to your local providers, please contact Kristi Biffar with the number of postcards needed along with your address. This online course costs only $10 and participants can earn 5 hours of in-service hours or 0.5 CEUs upon completion.
No Small Matter has gone virtual and the NSM Florida Funds are still available to sponsor this documentary screening! Thanks to our GLR local community leads who are actively planning screening events, and thanks to our statewide partners who are helping promote across the state of Florida, including; Florida Children’s Council, Florida Children’s Forum, The Association of Early Learning Coalitions, The Children’s Movement of Florida, Florida Kiwanis, FLAEYC, The Ounce of Prevention Florida Fund, Healthy Families Florida, Florida Family Child Care Home Association, Florida Head Start Association, Prevent Child Abuse Florida, and 4 Generations Institute. FGLRC has approved 35 NSM Florida Fund applications. This powerful early learning advocacy tool is available in short clips of 10-15 minutes, in a mid-length version of 45 minutes, and in the full-length version of 75 minutes. If you are interested in learning more about how you can bring the No Small Matter documentary to your local GLR and community partners, please contact Jenn Faber for details. 
FGLRC is proud to be a premier partner to the 65 th Annual FLAEYC Conference this October 13-18. Whether in person or online, sponsorship of the keynote and workshops presented by Dana Winters of the Fred Rogers Center will be provided by FGLRC! As the Director of Simple Interactions and Academic Programs for the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media, Dana Winters, Ph.D. seeks to apply and advance the legacy of Fred Rogers in serving children and their helpers. Through projects involving children’s helpers across many diverse settings, including child care, school systems, community programs, residential care, and children’s hospitals, she communicates and reflects what is simple and deep about work in service of children and their families.
FGLRC Network Briefs

As you likely know, FGLRC coordinates the three interconnected networks highlighted below, and seeks to align the efforts of all participating partners to our overarching systems building goal of early grade success and third grade reading proficiency. While Covid-19 has kept many in our networks busy establishing new priorities, adapting projects and working tirelessly to meet new community and educational needs, FGLRC staff and consultants have been able to continue progress on the following priority projects.

  • The FGLRC Community Leaders Network continues to network, share and learn from each other through a variety of digital means these days, including virtual meetings, webinars, news updates, and social media. See our GLR Community Spotlights further down in the newsletter to see what’s happening around the state!

  • In addition to the great work happening in our existing twenty GLR communities, FGLRC is thrilled to also see the positive progress to join our Florida Campaign in at least eighteen additional counties. School Ready Southwest Florida has been meeting regularly and is positioned to submit their Letter of Intent in June, representing a multi-county region including Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee. Additionally, Florida Panhandle GLR supporters convened on a May 20th Zoom call with FGLRC to discuss the regional design of adding the ten counties represented by the Early Learning Coalitions of Emerald Coast, Santa Rosa and Northwest Florida. We also have had recent engagement in GLR activities in Marion, Osceola and Seminole Counties and look forward to our 2020 expansion of the Florida Campaign.

Join our over 200 followers on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on all of our FGLRC communities! Can you help us get to 300?


  • The FGLRC State Leadership Network, consisting of over twenty state agency CEOs and EDs and key education partners, will help guide the work of a DOE Partners Project – Community Analysis of Early Grade Success. In collaboration with DOE, FGLRC is exploring a partnership project to identify community efforts that have demonstrated success at improving third-grade reading proficiency. Of particular interest are higher-achieving communities that are demographically similar to other communities that are lagging in reading proficiency. Conducting analysis of the approaches and supports provided in early learning and K-3 may inform best practices that can be shared across communities and be instructive to state-level efforts to improve reading achievement. During this project, the FGLRC State Leadership Network will provide expert review of our approach and learnings, as well as identifying state system enhancements that can increase reading proficiency. We look forward to having more to report by the Fall of 2020. 

  • The Business Alliance for Early Learning (BAEL), a partnership between the Florida Chamber Foundation and FGLRC, has hosted two recent webinars focusing on the priority issue of early learning. Over 300 business leaders joined the April webinar featuring: Florida Department of Education Chancellor Eric Hall, Business Alliance for Early Learning Chair Kim Reckley, Florida Grade Level Reading Campaign Director Jenn Faber, and Florida Chamber Chief Economist Dr. Jerry Parrish. All speakers shined some light on the vision for Florida’s earliest learners during COVID-19 recovery. The May BAEL webinar featured Representative Vance Aloupis and Madeleine Thakur of The Children’s Movement of Florida, Erin Smeltzer of the Association of Florida ELCs, Chris Duggan of FLAEYC, and Ellyn Okrent of the Florence Fuller Child Development Center. FGLRC looks forward to working with the BAEL Steering Committee to bring more webinars and relevant information on early learning to business leaders throughout Florida. 
Resources and Research
FGLRC has compiled a group of helpful resources for our GLR communities and their partners.
A team of researchers at Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University collected ideas and created the VPK Learning Center Activities for use in preschool classrooms, as well as the Student Center Activities for use in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
Florida Department of Education and the Florida Office of Early Learning have compiled a list of resources and tools to support families as they shift to digital spaces while home with their youngest learners.
REL Southeast has developed Family Activities videos which include easy-to-follow plans to help parents support their child's foundational reading skills at home. Supporting Reading Foundations at Home includes videos and activities designed for families about how to support children’s reading foundations. They also have a blog that provides additional supporting information on the Family Activities and videos.
COVID-19 Resources and Information
Upcoming Webinars
  • June 18th – 10:30am: Introduction to Lectio Institute 2020 (Register Here)
  • Available to all official GLR Communities who have not yet participated in a Lectio Institute or those who have participated and would like to send an additional group of GLR community partners to attend.

  • June 30th – 10:30am: Lectio Executive Coaching Session (Part 1)
  • Limited to past participants of 2017-2019 Lectio Institutes. This webinar link will be sent directly to all past participants of FGLRC’s Lectio Institutes.

  • July 13-17: GLR Week Webinars (Coming Soon!)
  • Stay tuned for our Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign Webinar showcasing Florida’s work! This webinar will be part of the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Virtual GLR Week. More information coming soon!

  • July 28th – 10:30am: Sylvan Learning Florida Pilot (Register Here)
  • Available to all GLR Communities interested in learning more about the SylvanSync Florida Pilot scheduled for the 20-21 school year.

  • August 13th – 10:30am: Lectio Executive Coaching Session (Part 2)
  • Limited to past participants of 2017-2019 Lectio Institutes. This webinar link will be sent directly to all past participants of FGLRC’s Lectio Institutes.
Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign Community Spotlight!
Early Learning Coalition of Seminole, representing a newly forming GLR community in Seminole County 

Have you seen those videos on your timeline of celebrities reading children’s books? Well, the Early Learning Coalition of Seminole (ELC) has taken to its social media platforms to do something similar. They’ve recruited their local #Covid19UnsungHeroes, comprised of first responders, early educators, and health care workers to volunteer and make short and fun recordings of themselves reading children’s books. The campaign is called “Reading Time With the Coalition” and the videos are now being shared all over the ELC’s Facebook,
YouTube, and Instagram pages!

With more young children learning from home, the ELC wanted to make an effort to reach
and support all children, no matter where they are learning. Plus, it can’t be easy for so many parents to suddenly become full-time homeschool teachers while balancing their own work. And so, the Coalition has joined the wave to promote early literacy from anywhere and any device, at any time, while using friendly and familiar faces from the community. The outpouring of support has come from all around the community, from the City of Longwood Fire Department and local police departments to preschool teachers.
You can check out the videos, which are added twice a week, on any of the Coalition’s social media platforms by searching @seminoleearlylearning. And see some of the most popular Scholastic books for young children being read in a fun and enthralling way, that kids just love!
Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign Community Spotlight! Pinellas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
In the midst of COVID-19, the Pinellas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading has taken on projects to address both literacy and basic needs of their families, respecting the CDC guidelines. From the beginning, Juvenile Welfare Board worked with Feeding Tampa Bay to establish BreakSpot Grab & Go sites across the county, where families could access breakfasts and lunches. Combined with Pinellas County School and Boys & Girls’ Club, 44 sites were established. 

Our ReadStrong Pinellas literacy outreach program created Grab and Go Bags, including free books for young reads, reading tips, and information on how to access the myON digital library . To date, ReadStrong has given out over 3,000 bags at food distribution sites across Pinellas County. At the Barbara S. Ponce Public Library- where over 400 meals are distributed weekly- a special event was held on May 8 th , where age-appropriate Grab and Go Bags were handed out to each child along with meals. This collaboration with their Campaign partners, spotlighted in the media, is an example of how they leverage opportunities that nourish both children’s bodies and minds.
Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign Community Spotlight! The Learning Alliance - Indian River Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
Coronavirus has changed everything, but The Learning Alliance's Kindergarten Readiness Collaborative is ensuring that books and educational activities are available to every child during this time of uncertainty.
 
KRC Family Engagement Specialists Nikki Boswell and Maria Pantoja have been delivering literacy survival kits to families living in pockets of high-poverty where students are typically under-performing to make sure Indian River County low-income families have the supplies they need during the COVID-19 crisis to close the reading achievement gap.
 
While the coronavirus has shut down schools, children of school age are still receiving instruction. These little ones – birth to age 5 – are falling through the cracks. The KRC Family Engagement Specialists are dropping off books and activities to support the families who don’t have internet access or home libraries, so that children will continue to learn during this time. 
 
Each kit contains books, school supplies, and activities explicitly selected for the recipient in consideration of the child’s learning needs. After dropping off the learning kit at the door, Nikki and Maria call each family to discuss the “learning activities,” answer questions, and offer suggestions on how to extend learning opportunities using the materials provided and other items readily available at home. They are delivering 100 kits per month, with a new kit delivery planned for each month. It’s hard to tell who is more excited about the deliveries – the parents or the children!
News from the National Campaign for Grade-Level Reading

  • Join the New Community Learning for Impact and Improvement Platform (CLIP) Want to access a trove of great GLR resources to support your local Campaign? Want to read Florida’s 95 submissions on ‘What’s Working’ in Florida communities? Interested in connecting with others like you in the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading across the state and nation. To get started immediately, click here to create your account!

  • Join GLR Week 2020 Save the dates of July 13-17, 2020 for the national campaign’s GLR Week which will be offered virtually. GLR Week conference details will be shared by CGLR in June.
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For more information on the Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign
 visit www.FloridaGLR.net or contact GLR Director Jenn Faber at jfaber@floridacsc.org .