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If you’ve ever had questions about how certain phonics sounds should be pronounced, our Audio Examples of Phonics Sounds page is your new best friend. This page includes an audio demo of the phonics sounds and patterns you and your students will come across in phonics instruction and assessment. It’s also a handy guide to interpreting those breves (˘), and macrons (−). Read more

America has been celebrating Disability Pride Month every July ever since passing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. Recognizing and celebrating individuals with disabilities should be an everyday, every-month practice, but we appreciate having a calendar month dedicated to this work—especially since helping students with disabilities and learning differences is a big part of what we do here at Read Naturally. Read more

If there’s one book series my second grader is crazy about, it’s Dog Man. You might know a kid or two who shares this obsession. The books are graphic novels in which bathroom humor, slime fights, and a time-traveling hot dog stand feature prominently. How do I feel about my son’s literature choices? Initially, I’ll admit, I struggled. Read more

In 1997, Congress asked the National Reading Panel to do the following four things:
1) Review all the research available (more than 100,000 reading studies) on how children learn to read.
2) Determine the most effective evidence-based methods for teaching children to read.
3) Describe which methods of reading instruction are ready for use in the classroom and recommend ways of getting this information into schools.
4) Suggest a plan for additional research in reading development and instruction (adapted from nichd.nih.gov). Read more

Signs for Sounds is a phonics-based spelling program that aligns with the Science of Reading. This program teaches phonics elements and builds mastery in encoding and decoding words with these elements. It also builds mastery in encoding and decoding high-frequency words that do not follow regular phonics patterns. Read more

Since 1967, International Children's Book Day has been celebrated on or around Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday on April 2. Here are some ways to celebrate. Read more

Every year since 1987, March has been designated by presidential proclamation as Women’s History Month. This annual celebration of women’s contributions to American history began as Women’s History Week in 1978, and today countries like Canada and Australia also honor women and... Read more

Have you ever heard comments like this? They’ve been popping up lately in online discussion forums, and surprisingly, they’re not sparking much debate. Is reading fluency just a natural byproduct of decoding development? If only it were that simple! Fluency is one of the five... Read more

February is Black History Month, a celebration of the achievements of Black Americans. It began as Negro History Week in 1926, when Carter G. Woodson, a Black historian, was instrumental in founding an organization that promoted the achievements of Black Americans. A week of celebrations, performances, and lectures grew into a monthlong opportunity to honor famous Black Americans and their contributions to American society.   Read more

Many elementary classrooms incorporate fluency work into their ELA block—and those that don’t probably should. With few exceptions, all students learning to read will benefit from fluency instruction, and fluency directly correlates with comprehension. The research on this is clear. When it comes to older students who are reading below grade level or struggling with comprehension, educators have less guidance. Is it still valuable to work on fluency with these students, when their peers have moved on? Read more