This parent-teacher conference season, we hope you have the pleasure of sharing great news about your students’ growth in reading. Many parents will wonder how they can help foster this growth at home. We have developed several handouts and programs specifically for this purpose, and conferences are a great time to offer these resources to parents.

First, we encourage you to inform parents of Read Live students that the program is also accessible from home—for free. The One Minute Reader Live component of Read Live is an independent reading program that is ideal for use at home. This program uses the same system as Read Naturally Live, but students can work in it independently. They do not need an adult present to pass stories, score quizzes, or monitor levels and goals, so parents do not need to be trained in the program. Here is a form to supply parents with the necessary Read Live login information, along with easy-to-follow steps to ensure success at home. Students can start using One Minute Reader Live at home now and keep it up during the summer to avoid the infamous summer slide. 

You may also want to offer parents a copy of our “fluency at home” letter, which explains how parents can use the Read Naturally Strategy of teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring with their children in any setting. The principles of the Read Naturally Strategy can be easily incorporated into bedtime stories, internet research, or any reading parents and children do together. Note that this letter was written for parents of students using Encore II, but you are free to modify it for any Read Naturally Strategy program.  

Parents who are interested in more detailed descriptions of Read Naturally’s home programs will benefit from the information in the following links. Our at-home programs include:

  • One Minute Reader Home
    One Minute Reader Home utilizes the Read Naturally Strategy to improve fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. This engaging program allows students to work independently and remain motivated by exciting reading passages, instant feedback, cool progress graphs, and more. This flyer explains the program in more detail. The One Minute Reader Home program is available for parents to purchase for just $8/month, but Read Live students have access to this program for free.
     
  • Splat-o-Nym Vocabulary iPad App
    Vocabulary acquisition is a key component to literacy, and it has never been more fun. Students play a vocabulary word game that includes over 7,000 synonym questions, 1,000 antonym questions, and 600 meaning-from-context questions. A Lightning Round provides an exciting review. Levels 1 through 4 are included in the free version of the app, and parents can purchase all 24 levels for just $4.99.

If there are additional ways we can support you in your communication with parents, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We hope your spring parent-teacher conferences are as uplifting as the season itself!