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In my fourth-grade classroom, I sometimes felt like a circus ringmaster, trying to manage multiple groups of students at different ability levels while making sure that all 24 students were engaged in a productive activity. Anyone who has stepped inside a classroom has seen the evidence of... 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

After analyzing over 30 years of Read Naturally data, we know this for sure: The more stories students pass, the more they improve. The quickest path to reading competency is to successfully complete as many stories as possible. And yet, you probably have a few students who prefer to work at a leisurely pace--unconcerned with how many stories they're passing each week. How can you motivate these students to pick up the pace? Read more

We're closing in on winter break, so naturally your students are calm, on-task, and doing their best learning... right?

More likely, they seem to have entered "break mode" a few days ago. We know how these things go. That's why we've pulled together some recommendations to: 1) get you through the rest of 2024, and 2) keep your students reading over the break. Read more

In both Read Naturally Live, Word Warm-ups Live, and Read Naturally Live—Español, students can complete most steps independently, giving teachers the flexibility to support multiple students at once. This design is especially helpful for ensuring every student receives individualized support while working through the program at their own pace. However, there are specific moments built into the process to make sure students get essential one-on-one time with the teacher. If you’re new to Read Live, you may be wondering how this works in practice. Let’s explore some common questions. Read more

With over 30 years of experience in reading intervention, if there’s one thing we at Read Naturally know for sure, it’s that more practice leads to more progress. In Read Live, that means completing as many stories as possible. Especially for struggling readers who don’t enjoy reading, it’s important to foster the motivation to do that. Read more

Pulling students out of class for reading intervention can trigger a variety of emotions— embarrassment, annoyance, even indignation. For the middle-school boys in Jennifer Melton’s Tier 3 reading intervention group at Crest Middle School last year, being pulled out of PE likely added a touch of FOMO to the mix. Read more

Ready or not, school is starting soon. For many teachers, that means you’re just getting used to waking up later, feeling rested, and hopefully enjoying some travel. But in the back of your mind you’re also thinking about your classroom, your students, and your lesson plans. Read more

I think most parents and teachers would agree that bribery isn’t always a bad thing. Nobody wants to resort to it, of course, but having an emergency pack of Lifesavers to dole out to the kids when the going gets tough is sometimes, well, life saving. The problem with bribery is that it can work well in the short term, but it’s often not the best path to long-term growth. Read more

Students taking high-stakes tests must have the capacity to read for extended periods of time. Whether they’re reading a series of questions, or reading to comprehend a lengthy passage, endurance is crucial to their success. How can we help build reading stamina? Read more