Articles by Meredith Scott
I watched this YouTube video compiling all the advertisements from the COVID-19 era; I invoke it as I try to think of the best words to describe this time and to start this blog post! As a parent of a tween, working full-time from home, I shift quickly between appreciating togetherness, community, and family, and … Continued
CLiF’s wonderful roster of authors/illustrators/comics/storytellers have created content to use until CLiF can get them safely back to in-person presentations. We will keep it updated! Marek Bennett:– Comics at home and beyond– Comics Workshop “HOW TO” videos– “How to Draw Freeman Colby“– Marek’s new book – Sharjah Sketchbook about art, education, immigration & more in … Continued
Lists, resources, activities, guidance abound in this time of supporting kids learning at home. According to Room to Read, the recent data published by UNESCO, 102 countries have closed primary through secondary schools nationwide. This represents more than 849.4 million primary and secondary students enrolled in those closed schools. Additionally, 11 countries have localized school … Continued
Could a silver lining of the current news cycle be that adults are being offered an opportunity to talk to kids about so many difficult topics? According to the Askable Adult Campaign, kids need more adults to whom they can ask honest questions. Adults also need to cultivate their own curiosity, so they can build … Continued
Book Recommendations / If you're a parent and...
Mid-February: Halfway through sixth grade feels like three roller coaster rides – friend relationships, interests, and school – all at different highs and lows, and changing every day! One big change in our household has been a noticeable decline in reading for pleasure; reading time replaced with more resting and relaxing on top of at … Continued
Year of the Book / CLiF Spotlight
Hard to believe we are almost half way through the school year – 10 schools halfway through their CLiF Year of the Book and for ten more their follow-up momentum year. In the next half of the year, schools will welcome CLiF presenters author/illustrator Jason Chin, author/genealogist Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, author Sandra Neil Wallace, author/illustrator Marty … Continued
Happy 2020 from your friends at CLiF. Compiled here, new research and insights for everyone working to improve success in and love of kids’ reading and writing. Get more program ideas from our website. For everyone: – Mississippi was the only state to see improvement in reading assessments, four things they are doing– Why children … Continued
FOR EVERYONE Acknowledging our implicit bias and helping students recognize theirs Banning books for prisoners Books and bikes – making both fun from Virginia to Texas Practice your handwriting – it is good for your brain! Connected Teaching for classrooms, workplaces, and communities More on the opportunity/achievement gap(s) Research: Urgent Call to Improved Reading and … Continued
Presenter Profiles / If you're a parent and...
In the past six months, I have been lucky enough to share a unique experience with students in North Bennington, VT, and in Franconia, NH. I attended the first CLiF presentations given by new CliF presenters Liza Woodruff and Gina Perry. Both of these dynamic women write and illustrate picture books. Both of their presentations … Continued
At CLiF’s recent Rural Library Conference, attending librarians submitted their “hottest” book for kids and middle readers. Kids, picture books The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems (6 librarians picked this book as the hottest): “everyone loves pigeon!” and Elephant and Piggie: “Always popular, fun to read!” We Don’t Eat Our Classmates … Continued
Thank you to the 80+ librarians who joined CLiF at the Briggs Opera House/Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction for the Rural Library Conference.
Here is the second of our two-part blog post where my eleven-year-old daughter and I read and review the same books. We agreed to answer four questions about each book without showing the other person. In this first installation, we reviewed four books from the New Hampshire State Library’s recommended books. Two picture books from … Continued
Book Recommendations / If you're a parent and...
I’m very lucky that my eleven-year-old daughter likes to read. Ironically, I struggle to get her to read in the summer, which seems like the natural time to take a break with a book. So I offered to accept her challenge to read some of the books she was reading. The result: a two-part blog … Continued
Such excitement around the end of the school year – bring on summer! I can’t wait for slower starts to the morning, eating dinner outside, swimming/hiking/biking, and hopefully enjoying some unstructured time! The amount of things, small and large, that happen in schools between returning from April vacation and ending the year is staggering – … Continued
Middle school – how the pendulum swings between wanting independence and needing guidance and tenderness, even in terms of school work. Recently, my daughter invited me to read her fifth grade persuasive writing assignment for Humanities. Every child picked a borrower from kiva.org and argued why that person should receive a loan from the class. … Continued
General / If you're a parent and...
As the first full week back at school (maybe not even a full week thanks to weather) finishes up, I am still trying to clean up from the holidays, to adjust to the winter schedule, and to think about the year ahead. A tall order for most parents (for everyone really!) when we still need … Continued
For me, there is nothing better than giving the perfect gift, something you know the person will love whether it is useful, hilarious, beautiful, luxurious, or reassuring [For the record, my best gift in recent memory was an underwater metal detector for my sister.]. This does not always make gift-giving easy though; I can easily … Continued
Recently I went to a reading by my brother at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and tagged along to dinner with him and the other presenting authors. We got into a discussion of what it means to be cool – everyone had a slightly different definition but, in general, it was agreed that someone cool … Continued
CLiF has served over 350,000 children since 1998.