Most parents of toddlers don’t understand how their children learn to read; when I sat and read to my children, I took for granted that they would someday magically be able to read on their own. It wasn’t until I began teaching struggling readers that I appreciated how complex and challenging learning to read is for many students. Many of my students got stuck reading individual words, and they became frustrated with reading. These students—and many students in our schools today—benefit from direct, explicit instruction in pairing letters and letter combinations with sounds, also known as phonics. Becoming automatic in reading individual words frees up the mental energy necessary for readers to make sense of texts. And, since 87% of English words are either completely decodable or have just one exception, teaching beginning readers to decode automatically gives them a large bank of known words.
Read more We're thrilled to announce that our Read Naturally Live program has just taken a giant leap forward with two groundbreaking new features: Independent Placement and Data Mentor! Read Naturally Live now incorporates the latest speech recognition technology to allow students to place themselves in the Sequenced series of the program without teacher support. Students using Independent Placement will get started in Read Naturally Live with an appropriate level and goal faster than ever—and teachers will save hours of valuable time. Meanwhile, our new Data Mentor tool will analyze students' story data and make recommendations for placement adjustments to help ensure their level and goal are customized for success.
Read more Comprehension gives the act of reading a purpose and opens the door to enjoyment of reading. Indeed, deriving meaning from text is why we bother reading at all! Yet comprehension can be a struggle for any student, but often it’s especially challenging for multilingual students. What can we do to set them up for success in Read Naturally Live and Read Naturally Live—Español?
Read more Congrats to our first Star of the Month for the 2023-2024 school year, Sadie! Sadie is a positive, hard-working third grader at Wynot Public Schools in Wynot, NE. Here is what Sadie's teacher, Ms. Steffen, had to say about her:
Read more Each year, the United States celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15. This heritage month recognizes Hispanic Americans and their ancestors for their contributions to the history, culture, and achievements of our country. We at Read Naturally are honored to celebrate Hispanic Americans and their ancestors. Many Hispanic American students are multilingual learners for whom Spanish is their primary language. To meet these students’ needs, we developed Read Naturally Live—Español.
Read more We are proud to announce that Read Live is the winner of the 2023 Parent and Teacher Choice Award from HowtoLearn.com! Read Live was selected as the gold medal winner in the Reading Instruction Programs category.
Read more The start of the school year is all about getting to know your new students—their personalities, their interests, and their individual needs. Determining which students need extra support in reading, and what that support should look like, are some of the most important decisions you’ll make this year. Thankfully, we’re here to help. Educators can choose from a number of reputable assessments to screen for reading concerns. From there, Read Naturally can help you interpret the data and choose the appropriate intervention.
Read more Assessing students' needs and placing them appropriately is crucial to success in Read Live programs. Check out these short, informative videos to guide you through the process.
Read more Read Naturally’s latest phonics intervention, Word Warm-ups Live, helps students solidify the phonics skills they need in order to become fluent readers. Individualized assessment allows for differentiated instruction for each student—meeting individual needs. While all students in the class are working on phonics at the same time, each student is working on specific skills identified by the assessment. This program is highly customizable and works well in a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS).
Read more We are thrilled to announce that we are currently taking pre-orders for our latest and greatest new product, Read Naturally GATE+!
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Share your student’s success story—nominate him or her for our Star of the Month award. Win a Barnes & Noble gift card for the student and a Read Naturally gift certificate for your class!
