How can we make a difference for our students in the area of reading?  What programs do we choose?  How do we know these approaches will reach each student where they are?  How can I help my students’ parents understand what they are supposed to do to support their child in the area of reading?  These are all questions that educators reflect on regularly.  Many pre-service teachers, and even seasoned teachers, are ill-prepared to address the reading needs of their students.  How can we address so many different and complex reading concerns efficiently and effectively?

The Science of Reading is currently a popular catch phrase.  However, if you dig down into what the Science of Reading is, you will find that many educators have been implementing many of these strategies for years.  As Joan Sedita (2020) outlined in her popular The Keys to Literacy Blog, the Science of Reading is a research-based approach to teaching reading.  She notes that teachers are seeking strategies that will allow them to “do right by the students they teach,” leading to more scientific, research-based strategies being employed in moving forward to support student reading, especially those students who struggle with these skills (Sedita, 2020, p. 2). The Science of Reading is simply using research-based approaches to guide reading instruction.
 
Word Warm-Ups Live and Read Naturally Live (2021) follow the Science of Reading implicitly.  Using a research-based approach based on Scarborough’s Reading Rope (Brainspring, 2021), Word Warm-ups Live focuses on the lower rope strand (phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition) while Read Naturally Live systematically addresses the needs of each learner based on the upper rope of Scarborough’s Reading Rope (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge).  It is necessary to implement both rope strands to develop the reader fully (Brainspring, 2021). From following the lower strand beginning with word recognition while moving on to the upper rope of language comprehension, Word Warm-Ups Live and Read Naturally Live intentionally, and systematically, provide robust opportunities for students to master all reading skills.  Students can use these programs to build their fluency skills through developing phonics skills and automaticity in decoding skills while moving forward: learning to implement background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, verbal reasoning, and finally literacy knowledge.  These skills are interwoven through programs that provide appealing activities, including engaging non-fiction passages, that involve even the most reluctant reader, giving him/her the opportunity to intentionally move through a research-based, step-by-step process that prepares the student to read an appropriate reading level story while strategically practicing fluency skills that will lead to higher levels of comprehension.  Through teacher guidance, independent practice, progress monitoring, and strong teacher facilitation, students’ reading skills grow with ease just as outlined by Sedita (2020) in her literacy blogs.
 
When teaching reading, we must be strategic and intentional in all we do.  This has been proven necessary through research (Sedita, 2020).  The Word Warm-Ups Live and Read Naturally Live programs are strategic and intentional, following the Science of Reading.  This is apparent from the first step of implementing phonics that leads to mastering decoding skills on to learning vocabulary and predicting the story content.  Each of these steps then lead to reading fluency through a practice of modeled reading, practicing the passage, and progress monitoring, finally advancing to high levels of comprehension while gaining a true understanding of the meaning of the story and expressing that understanding.  Each of these programs are research based and explicit in its intent.  These programs have made a difference for numerous struggling readers.  For teachers looking for an approach to support students, Read Naturally (2021) has taken out the guess work for teachers everywhere.
 
Looking for more support to connect the Science of Reading  to Word Warm-Ups Live and Read Naturally Live?  Visit Joan Sedita’s blog (2020) at https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/science-of-reading-in-the-news/ to access a list of current articles, podcasts, and blog posts related to the Science of Reading or visit Read Naturally at www.readnaturally.com.  There, you will clearly see how reading research and Word Warm-Ups Live and Read Naturally Live align.  
 
We must never stop searching for strategies to help our students thrive.  Reading is the foundation of all learning.  When a student cannot read proficiently, they cannot learn appropriately—frustration ensues and students feel defeated.  As educators, we can never allow this to occur.  It is only through research-based strategies, like those found in in these programs, that we are assured that our students can be reached and goals can be accomplished.
 

References

Brainspring. (2021, March 21). The orchestra of the reading rope harmony. Orton-Gillingham Weekly. https://brainspring.com/ortongillinghamweekly/harmony-scarboroughs-reading-rope/

Sedita, J. (2020, January 17). Science of reading in the news. The Keys to Literacy Blog. https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/science-of-reading-in-the-news/

Read Naturally. (2021, July). https://www.readnaturally.com