Read Naturally Software Edition (SE) 1 Steps

Step 1: Select a Story
To select a story to read, students click the picture for the story and then click the Open Story button. Each level includes 24 stories, but SE makes them available 12 stories at a time.

Step 2: Prior Knowledge
Students write a sentence telling what they already knows about the topic of the story.

Step 3: Cold Timing
The computer times the students reading aloud for one minute. As they read, they should click difficult words—words they stop in front of, skip, or stumble on—the three Ss. SE subtracts the number of errors from the total number of words read to get their cold timing score. A graph shows their cold timing score as a blue bar.

Step 4: Read Along
Students read along quietly while the computer plays a recording of the story. Subvocalizing with the recording ensures that they actually read along and helps them learn proper pronunication, expression, and phrasing. SE includes three recordings of the story, each one slightly faster than the previous one. Teachers can customize the read along step for each student by adjusting the number of read alongs and selecting the reading speeds.

Step 5: Practice
Students practice reading the story without the recording several times until able to read at the predetermined goal rate. The computer times each practice.

Step 6: Answer Questions
Students answers up to nine questions about the story. For most of the levels, the questions follow a specific pattern, which can help you detect when students have trouble with particular types of questions. SE corrects the multiple-choice questions. The teacher corrects the open-ended questions during the Pass step (step 8).

Step 7: Retell
In the sequenced levels, students retell what they learned from the story, writing for a specific length of time set by the teacher.

Note: Students working in the phonics levels skip this step.

Step 8: Pass
Students read the story to the teacher to ensure that they can read the story at their goal rate. To pass a story, students must reach their goal, make no more than three errors, read with good expression, and answer the questions correctly.

The teacher and student view the results together. If the student passes, a graph shows their pass timing score as a red bar above their cold timing score. If they do not pass, they may have to repeat one or more steps and then try to pass again.

Note: Students working in the phonics levels also practice and pass word lists that feature specific sounds and letter patterns.