# MRC Tutor Resource Guide
## Welcome

Welcome Minnesota Reading Corps Members. In efforts of making Minnesota Reading Corps information more accessible to you, Your Family Literacy Members have created a Resource Guide. Our hope is that this guide will allow you to access forms, articles, online resources and more quickly and effectively. This information is additional to the Literacy Handbook which has the most pertinent information. Please refer to the Literacy Handbook as a first source. Prior to asking the Minnesota Reading Corps staff questions, especially on information on this site, refer to the Literacy Handbook.
In this Wikibook you will find links to Minnesota Reading Corps Sites, Forms, Letters, Websites that are helpful, and research related to Literacy. We hope you take advantage of this incredible resource. You are also welcome to contribute to it.

## Table of Contents

Table of Contents
* General Minnesota Reading Corps Information
** Minnesota Reading Corps Websites
** Member Manuals
** Health Insurance Information
** Oncorps
** Media Resources
** Living on a budget
*** Tips for Living on a Living Allowance
*** Food Stamps
*** College Discounts
** Loan Forbearance and Education Award
** Professional Training Opportunities
*** Metro Training Calender
*** Professional Learning Groups
*** External Training Opportunities
* General Forms and Pre-K-3 Materials
** Civic Engagement
** Forms
** Introduction Letters
** Website Resources
* Pre-K Specific Resources
** Pre-K Training Modules
* K-3 Specific Resources
** Training Modules
* Research on Literacy Related Topics

# General Minnesota Reading Corps Materials
## Member Manuals

Pre-K Member Manual
K-3 Member Manual

## Minnesota Reading Corps Website

Minnesota Reading Corps Website
Minnesota Reading Corps Blog
Tips Navigating MRC Website
Minnesota Reading Corps Store

## Health Insurance Information

http://www.minnesotareadingcorps.org/group-resource/health-insurance-information
http://www.minnesotareadingcorps.org/group-training-module/health-insurance-tutorial

## OnCorps

Hours Planning Calender
Oncorps
Timesheet Tutorial

## Media Resources

Open House? Event where Reading Corps Information would be beneficial?
Check out the materials Minnesota Reading Corps have provided:
Reading Corps Informational Materials

## Living on a Budget
### Tips for Living on a Living Allowance

Excellent Resource! http://www.minnesotareadingcorps.org/group-resource/tips-for-living-on-living-allowance

### Food Stamps

We've included some information on Food stamps and food credits that other MRC members have found helpful http://www.americorps.gov/pdf/07_0604_OGC_foodstamps.
"Fare for All Express provides food packages at 40-50% off of the retail price. There are no income restrictions and there are locations throughout the Twin Cities metro area." -MRC STAFF. For more information, the website is www.fareforall.org

### College Discounts

Augsburg College Tuition Discount:
"Students enrolling in either the Weekend College program or one of Augsburg’s graduate programs who have volunteered with AmeriCorps and have served at least half-time for one year may receive a 25 percent tuition credit for one course each term for the duration of study." http://www.augsburg.edu/enroll/documents/AmericorpsDiscount.pdf

## Loan Forbearance and Education Award

Loan Forbearance Information
Education Award Resource
Education Award Tutorial

### W-5 Form

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw5.pdf.

## Professional Training Opportunities

For Professional Development an Excellent Opportunity to gain more hours and have a deeper understanding of education is by taking professional development seminars. Provided here are some recommended websites that provide external professional development. Minnesota Reading Corps does not pay for external professional development opportunities, however they do count towards hours. TO add them, log into Oncorps and put them in under 'Training'.

### Metro Training Calender

http://www.minnesotareadingcorps.org/metro-training
2010 - 2011 Certificate of Attendance

### Professional Learning Groups

http://www.minnesotareadingcorps.org/group-announcement/professional-learning-groups-begin

### External Training Opportunities

Your Internal Coach has the authority to approve the training opportunity. The information about how to count these hours are found on pages 43-46 of your Literacy Handbook. 10% of your total hours for training outside MRC provided training can be External Training Opportunities. Therefore, as a full time member, you can earn up to 170 hours with external training, as a part time member, you can earn up to 90 hours.
Resources for Child Caring: http://www.resourcesforchildcaring.org/index.cfm - You can either click on the training calendar or For Child Care Providers and professional development opportunities.
MNAEYC-MNSACA: http://www.mnaeyc-mnsaca.org/ - Professional Development
Northeast Metro 916: http://www.nemetro.k12.mn.us/202420617111923357/site/default.asp?2024Nav=%7C&NodeID=266 - Great resource for the classes to get the hours in for the required areas in teacher re licensing.
Free Webinars-http://www.edutopia.org/webinar 1) Talk to your Internal Coach and see if the proposed topic could be beneficial for your professional development. If your coach approves, 2) Register for and attend the webinar. 3) On your timesheet, the hour would be marked under "Training." More information about External Trainings can be found in your member handbook.

# Research on Literacy Related Topics

Center on the Developing Child: Harvard University
Article about Social Emotional Development
Article about Repeated Read Aloud
This is a summary of an article called The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3 by Hart and Risley. It gives incredible insite as to why children from lower SES families are less likely to be successful students, and how we can help change this current trend as an org focused on literacy.
Look here for a summary of research from many different sources outlining the effects books have on children, the achievement gap, and possible solutions.
A 2010 report on the impact access to printed material has on children's school success.
Volume reading and it's affects on reading fluency
A poll by the Pearson Foundation finds that the majority of Americans are unaware of the realities that impoverished families face, and the obstacles that these families' lack of access to books creates for children.
Tracking the unique effects of print exposure in children: Associations with vocabulary, general knowledge, and spelling.
The amount of reading children do really matters in developing their skills as readers. Anderson’s 1988 study showed that time spent reading books was the best predictor of a child’s growth as a reader from the second to the fifth grade. This finding was confirmed by Cunningham and Stanovich a decade later using a somewhat different methodology.
Here are some summaries of some of the research that led to the recomendation that students read an hour a night:
1. Students who read 65 minutes a day will be reading 4,356 words each year while some of our most proficient students read upwards of more than 12 million words a year. Students who read ~15 minutes a day will read 1,146,000 words each year. Our poorest readers only read a little over 100,000 words each year.
2. Anderson, R. C.,Wilson, P.T.,& Fielding, L.G. (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 285-303.
3. Students who have gaps in their vocabulary or background knowledge due to lower socio-economic status or reduced parent interaction have to make up for lost time in order to be on par with average readers.
4. Follow the path: reluctant reader = low performing student = 100,000 annual word reader. Behind one year? Between 1 and 4 million words are needed to make up that single lost year. That equates to 15 min per night plus 15 more to make up for the one year they are behind, but that 30 minutes a night does not give them a competitive edge with the higher performing students, which means that future academic opportunities will not be available to them. Double the time and they still are not going to be competitive with top students, but they will begin truly closing the gap in ways that ensures that the gap does not again.
5. 100,000 words a year? x 10 years of education = 1,000,000. 4,000,000 words a year x 10 years of education = 40,000,000. Reading volume is highly correlated with school success.
6. Allington (1994) and Stanovich (1986) emphasized that the home environment played a large part in the amount of reading practice done by children. Krashen asserted that access to books and time to read could bridge the gap between different types of readers.
7. Allington, R.L. (1977). If they don’t read much, how they ever gonna get good? Journal of Reading, 21, 57-61.
8. We have found that even when performance is statistically equated for reading comprehension and general ability, reading volume is still a very powerful predictor of vocabulary and knowledge differences. Thus, we believe that reading volume is not simply an indirect indicator of ability; it is actually a potentially separable, independent source of cognitive differences.
9. Those who read well are likely to read more, thus setting an upward spiral into motion. Second, we should provide all children, regardless of their achievement levels, with as many reading experiences as possible. Indeed, this becomes doubly imperative for precisely those children whose verbal abilities are most in need of bolstering, for it is the very act of reading that can build those capacities.An encouraging message for teachers of low-achieving students is implicit here.We often despair of changing our students’ abilities, but there is at least one partially malleable habit that will itself develop abilities—reading!

## Parent Resources

Tips for Parents to Engage their Children in Reading. MRC members may be able to use these tips with their students as well
When Kids Hate To Read
Reading Tips from Kids
Encouraging Your Child to Read
How Can I Improve My Child's Reading: This advice for parents details what they can do to help preschoolers become readers, and help school-age children improve their reading skills.
Tips For Encouraging Kids to Read: These tips are based on information given by teachers and parents and then summarized into seven helpful tips

# General Forms and PreK-3 Grade Resources
## Civic Engagement

How to Submit Civic Engagement

## Forms

Book Report Form
Leave of Absence Form
Meal Reimbursement Form
Mileage Reimbursement Form
Parking Reimbursement Form
Group Recording Form
Individual Progress Monitoring Form
Intervention & Integrity Check List
Literacy Home Visit Form
Literacy Rich Daily Schedule
Printable Monthly Calenders
Repeated Read Aloud-Integrity Checklist & Lesson Plan
Standard Assessment Instructions
Student Progress Graph

## Introduction Letters

K-3 Family Introduction Letter
Somali Introduction Letter to Parents
Spanish Introduction Letter to Parents
Hmong Introduction Letter to Parents

## Benchmarking How-to

Instructions for Reporting Benchmark Data

## Website Resources

http://www.readingrockets.org – An excellent place for literacy calendars, tips for reading for families, Packets to send home with families and more.
http://www.rif.org/- Reading is Fundamental provides several resources from Printable Parent Guides, Read Along Stories for Kids, Literacy Games and More.
http://nieer.org/ - National Institute for Early Education Research website
http://www.nea.org/grants/13005.htm - National Education Association website. This page has a step-by-step how-to on creating a reading event in your classroom or school
http://www.nea.org/grants/13026.htm - National Education Association website page offering parent resources in eleven languages from the Reading Rocket website.
http://en.childrenslibrary.org/ - International Digital Children's Library has thousands of online children's books in 54 different languages.

# Pre-K Specific Resources

PreK Family Introduction Letter
Zaner-Bloser Auditory Script
What Works: An Introductory Teacher Guide for Early Language & Literacy Instruction
Transitions
The Multilingual Classroom: Joys, Challenges, and Techniques
Resource & Activities to Support Tier 1 Instruction
Phonics Songs from IGDI training
Literacy Challenge Powerpoint

## PreK Training Modules

Partner Reading Error Correction
Transition Song: Beginning sounds are fun to rhyme
Transition Song: Letters on the Bus
Transition Song: Letters, Letters, Letters Have Names
Transition Song: We are going to rhyme with our namesTransition Song: What is It?

# K-3 Specific Resources

Introducing Yourself to Students
Benchmarking Score Sheets & Student Demographic Info Template
Tutor Log Tutoring Schedule Template
Word Blending Lists
Student Incentive Form, Award Certificate
Standard Assessment Instructions
Repeated Reading Chart
Letter to Teachers
Exit Letter for Families

## K-3 Training Modules

Repeated Reading With Comprehension Strategy Practice
Phoneme Segmenting-Single
Phoneme Blending-Single
Module Pencil-Tap
Newscaster
Letter Sound Correspondence
Duet Reading
Blending Words-Single
Assessment-Nonsense PE-1
Assessment Nonsense PE-2
Assessment Nonsense PE-3
Assessment LSF Practice Example 1
Assessment LSF Practice Example 2
Assessment LSF Practice Example 3

# Yearly Planned Activities
## Autumn
### Read for the Record

Read for the Record

#### Sample Activities for the 2010 Read for the Record
### Conferences
## Resources and Ideas for Creating your own Activities and Events

Great Children's Books and Authors: Have a local author come to your school to read a book and answer questions about being an author. Use that same book in the classroom, find vocabulary words from it, and create art projects associated with the book.