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 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 Independent placement allows newly enrolled Read Live students to complete the placement process independently--saving teachers valuable time! Independent Placement uses speech recognition technology to analyze students' fluency as they read placement stories. Based on this data, the program assigns students an appropriate level and goal so they can begin working in Read Live as efficiently as possible. If you intend to take advantage of this amazing new feature, here are some tips:
Read more Congratulations to Olivia, our first Star of the Month for the 2025-2026 school year! Olivia is now a fifth grader at McAuliffe Elementary School in Riverside, CA. She has made amazing progress in Read Naturally programs over the last few years.
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