Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

    The Reading is Fundamental Organization website (www.rif.org) is a literacy website that aims to promote awareness of the importance and urgency to teach literacy skills to children. The website also commonly known as RIF, offers literacy resources for educators, parents, and volunteers that can help produce effective results in students.    
    RIF is the largest children's literacy non-profit organization. The proceeds go to ensuring children have the resources that they need to become successful and literate. The organization began in 1966 by founder Margaret McNamara. As a tutor, she realized that her students did not have access to books and resources that would help them succeed. Today, RIF has given 415 million books away to over 40 million children in the United States.
    Although Guam is not a part of the fifty states that RIF donates books to, the website offers an abundance of resources that can help teachers, parents, and anyone who would like to promote literacy to children on the island. The website provides research articles about effective programs that work in helping students read, videos that showcase real classrooms with teachers who are implementing effective reading strategies, and calendars with activities for each day, including leveled passages. These resources are only a few of the many included on the website.
    One of the features that can greatly help teachers who would like to learn how to work with their students to improve literacy are the videos on the website. The videos provide visuals on how to bring effective literacy strategies to life in the classroom. The teachers featured in the videos explain the effectiveness of these strategies and the results they noticed after implementation. These videos can also be utilized during professional developments in which teachers work together to improve student achievement.
    RIF also provides parent resources that are easy to access, including supplemental worksheets for books. The resources also include coloring pages that help young children learn the alphabet, worksheets that go along with various stories, parent handouts, and many others. RIF has also established a partnership with Bee Line Reader and is offering a free version that gives viewers access to colored reading passages. These passages can help struggling readers and can assist fluent readers who may have attention deficits or visual impairments.
    RIF is a go to website for those who are searching for effective strategies or resources that can help them in the classroom, at home, or in the community. Teachers and parents can greatly benefit from this website. The ready to use resources can help make teaching children literacy skills easy and enjoyable.