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For the first time in 25 years, Read Naturally founder Candyce Ihnot has moved her reading lab to a new school. In a series of blog posts, Candyce will share “stories from the lab,” in which she describes the successes, challenges, and surprises of operating Read Naturally Live in a new setting. She’ll sprinkle each post with bits of wisdom from decades of creating Read Naturally materials and using them with the beloved students she keeps at the center of her work. In this post, Candyce shares a story that highlights the importance of checking initial placement to ensure a student is working in the correct level. Read more

For the first time in 25 years, Read Naturally founder Candyce Ihnot has moved her reading lab to a new school. In a series of blog posts, Candyce will share “stories from the lab,” in which she describes the successes, challenges, and surprises of operating Read Naturally Live in a new setting. She’ll sprinkle each post with bits of wisdom from decades of creating Read Naturally materials and using them with the beloved students she keeps at the center of her work.

In this post, Candyce describes setting up for the first day, training the students, and finally seeing that first bit of magic when they start making progress. Read more

Back when Read Naturally founder Candyce Ihnot would present at full-day seminars, she would often start by telling a story about her youngest child, Tommy. One day, Tommy came home from elementary school and angrily declared, “I hate school.” Tommy was the son of two schoolteachers—his declaration was basically blasphemous! When Candyce asked him to explain why he hated school, his lip started to quiver. He told his mom about independent reading time. “She doesn’t even know,” he said of his teacher, “I can’t read.” Read more

For the first time in 25 years, Read Naturally founder Candyce Ihnot has moved her reading lab to a new school. In a series of blog posts, Candyce will share “stories from the lab,” in which she describes the successes, challenges, and surprises of operating Read Naturally Live in a new setting. She’ll sprinkle each post with bits of wisdom from decades of creating Read Naturally materials and using them with the beloved students she keeps at the center of her work.

In this post, Candyce describes the important elements that happen before starting Read Naturally Live with students: setting up the lab, selecting, and placing students. Read more

The ability to customize story options in Read Live allows teachers to ensure the program is working as effectively as possible for each individual student. Here are some quick links with information on customizing story options. Read more

In Read Live, it’s easier than ever for teachers to customize the program for each student. Not only is each student working in an individual level, but teachers can set story options to ensure the student is using his or her time most effectively. Now that our Read Live User Guide is easily accessible online, teachers and administrators are always just a click away from finding the information they need to make these changes. Below are four useful links from the User Guide about setting individual story options. Read more

Read Naturally programs are highly motivating and therefore highly successful. Even so, some students need an extra boost to remain engaged. If you have a student or students lacking in motivation, our curriculum experts have a few suggestions. Read more

One of the most frequently accessed tools on our website is the Read Live User Guide. This is the go-to resource for Read Live users with questions about anything from changing a password to customizing story options. Until recently, this guide was in PDF format. We’re pleased to report that it’s now HTML format, making it even easier to access and navigate. Click here to check it out. Read more

Teachers love Read Naturally Strategy programs, first and foremost, because they are so effective in boosting reading achievement. An added bonus is that students work independently for most of the time. However, Read Naturally Strategy programs are not completely independent. The teacher needs to be present at crucial times in order for the strategy to work. Read more

Do your Read Naturally students conduct their cold timings independently? Teachers have different opinions on whether or not they should. Some teachers believe that, in order to get the most accurate data, a teacher should be present during the cold-timing step. Other teachers believe that students should do this step independently in order to practice self-correcting errors. While both points of view are valid, here is Read Naturally's views on cold timings: Read more