For Families and Educators

For Educators

Purposes

• Gain parental support for overseeing consistent practice at home by building an understanding of the relationship between practice time and reading achievement.
• Empower parents and caretakers with 10 simple activities to guide their children’s reading practice at home.
• Teach parents how to build their children’s reading confidence (i.e., self-efficacies for reading).
• Involve elementary students in rich literacy experiences and in the review of workshop content for adult participants.
• For middle school families, teach “invisible” mental strategies that will help encourage their struggling middle school readers.

Our staff at Volunteer Florida Foundation schedules and coordinates Families Building Better Readers and Mysteries in the Middle workshops across the State. Dr. Martin, lead trainer and developer of the programs, continues to conduct regional train the trainer workshops. The training workshops are supplemented by the FBBR Trainer’s Manual and Mysteries in the Middle Trainer Script. These training manuals guide educators in successfully implementing the workshops in their local schools and communities. Instructional plans are also provided for a parallel children’s workshop for the elementary program. If you are interested in more information regarding becoming a certified field trainer, please contact us at or 1-800-825-3786. Or Register Here to join Dr. Martin for a dynamic training session in 2008.

All materials are copyrighted, but permission for free use is granted to schools by the Florida Department of Education. All training materials and family guides are available on our website. To access the materials or request free print copies of the materials, please sign-in to our Members Only area.

There is an opportunity to request one of our Master Trainers to visit your elementary, middle, or high school to lead a family workshop. To invite a Master Trainer to your school, please submit a formal request online in our Members Only area.

The value of FBBR was recognized by the 2004 State Legislature in Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 364 that provides participation in FBBR as one of the options for supplemental services required of third grade students scoring Level 1 on the FCAT.

Section 1008.25, (7)(b)t.b., Florida Statutes, passed by the 2004 Legislature, provides that participation in FBBR is one of the options for supplemental services required of third grade students who scored Level 1 on the FCAT and have no good cause exemption from additional practice in reading. FBBR gives parents a no-cost, convenient option beyond before and after school tutoring or securing a tutor with specialized reading training.