Managing Back-to-School Stress & Finding Your Routine
A look at how to help elementary students manage back to school stress and routines.
What’s New
The Golden Ball at Camp Agape: Telling Stories to Children of Incarcerated Parents
Walking into Camp Agape is wonderful. I’m greeted with smiles and cheers of “the storyteller’s here!” People might think kids who have a parent or caregiver or two under supervision of the Vermont Correctional Department might be nothing but trouble. Will kids with troubled backgrounds stay still and listen to folk and fairy tales? They … Continued
How to Talk to Your Kids About Bullying
Here’s how to help your child thrive and survive during even the most volatile peer-pressure ridden years of their youth.
The Man Who Planted Trees: Reflection of a CLiF Summer Intern
During my time at CLiF, Duncan McDougall lent me a short story called The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jean Giono. I developed the habit of reading to my sister before bed this summer and upon exhausting her extensive Junie B. Jones collection I convinced her to let me read Giono’s story. It only took … Continued
Fun and Games: A Reading Specialist’s Strategies for Turning Game Time into Reading Time (for all ages)
Want to make learning to read even more adventurous? There are so many reading games and activities that will not only help your child to improve reading skills but that are fun to play!
I Have Steeped Myself in Books Since Childhood: An English Major’s Story
I can remember my Dad reading The Berenstain Bears to me while I slurped on veggie broth and soup noodles. I can remember my Mom reading Harry Potter to me after I’d showered and was in my pajamas. I can remember when I closed the first book I’d ever read all the way through. I … Continued
What’s On Your Bookshelf This Summer? The CLiF Team’s Summer Reads
It should come as no surprise that the staff at CLiF – where our mission is to nurture a love of reading and writing among low-income, at-risk, and rural children in New Hampshire and Vermont – loves to read! Here’s what we’ve been reading this summer. Stephanie & the Kucinskas Family’s Summer Reads When … Continued
A Reading Specialist’s Tips for Reading Around Your Home
Your home offers a treasure chest of reading enrichment opportunities.
Take the Challenge: CLiF’s Summer Reading Challenge
Did you know that today, July 13th, is National Summer Learning Day? Sponsored by the National Summer Learning Association, it’s a day of advocacy and nation-wide educational initiatives aimed at elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the school … Continued
Creative Ways to Help Your Child Fall in Love with Reading
Reading during the summer can be a bit of a battle.
SPLAT! Envisioning the Future of CLiF
Once a year, the CLiF Staff and Board of Directors get together to discuss what CLiF has done over the past year, what’s coming up, and to enjoy dinner together while taking a breather from our busy, busy lives. That happened at CLiF World HQ on Monday, and this year, we had a lot to … Continued
Reading Without Walls: Take the Challenge
If the summer shapes up to be like spring has been here in Vermont, I suggest stocking up on summer reading for the whole family. Not to belabor the point, but It’s been a wet one, and one of the few therapies for cold, wet weather is losing oneself in a great book. I googled … Continued
Creative Ways to Make Reading Fun All Summer Long!
Make reading with your child a priority over the summer months.
A Night at the Mariposa Museum Celebrating Literacy
Last night, CLiF staff, board members, past grantees and volunteers joined more than 50 folks from the Monadnock region of New Hampshire at the Mariposa Museum & World Cultures Center in Peterborough, NH to celebrate literacy and learn more about CLiF’s work promoting a love of reading and writing across the region. We all had … Continued
Behind the Scenes at CLiF
CLiF runs more than 500 literacy events, gives away $550,000 in children’s books, and serves thousands of children each year to nurture a love of reading and writing among low-income, at-risk, and rural kids (up to age 12) in Vermont and Hampshire. But how do we do it? With a little elbow grease and a … Continued
How to Help Beginning Readers: Tips from a Reading Specialist
After children have mastered pre-reading skills, the instructional focus shifts to vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency.
Shipwrecks, Flying Pigs & Talking Fruit: VT PBS Kids’ Writing Contest
What do shipwrecks, flying pigs, and talking fruit have in common? There were all featured in story submissions for the Vermont PBS Kids’ annual Writing Contest, which I had the pleasure of judging last week. Last Friday, I joined nine other writers, librarians, and members of educational non-profits at Vermont’s PBS headquarters in Colchester to … Continued
The Value of Mentors
Have you had a mentor who influenced your life? I’ve had quite a few, some through formal mentorship programs, but most have happened organically with a friend or colleague I respect who shares their experience and advice with me and acts as a sounding board when I need it. I consider my fellow writing group members … Continued