“What does it take to raise reading achievement in a whole school?” A classroom-teacher-turned-reading-coach recently asked this question to one of our favorite experts on literacy, Tim Shanahan. As usual, his answer was detailed, thoughtful, and full of important insights.
Read more Rarely does the fast-paced momentum of the school year allow for time to pause and look back. But as the 2015-2016 school year draws to a close, we’re going to do just that—RN Bookmark style. Here is a list of our top ten blog posts of the year.
Read more If you were asked to list some of the words your students frequently misspell, I’m sure several words would immediately come to your mind—words that you have corrected over and over again. The first words that come to my mind are the words said and they, and I would guess those words are on your list as well!
Read more Earlier this year, we offered a free resource to all Signs for Sounds users. Kristin McDaniel, an educator in California, created Signs for Sounds Level 1 Word Sorts—a great activity for students to extend their learning after completing a Signs for Sounds lesson. We offered these Word Sorts, with instructions, for free on our website. Educators couldn’t download the content quickly enough—which is why we’re now offering even more! We’re happy to report that Signs for Sounds Level 2 Word Sorts are now available to download, for free!
Read more Do you have students who confuse one letter with another letter? For example, a student might incorrectly read big for the word pig or dig. A student can easily confuse lowercase letters like b, d, p, and q. This is because each of these letters has an overall form that is identical or very similar to another letter’s form when rotated, flipped, or reversed.
Read more Checking initial placement will help ensure optimal success. After a student completes between three and six stories, you need to check to make sure the student’s level and goal are appropriate. To make this task as straightforward as possible, our curriculum experts worked hard to put together detailed guidelines, available for free on our website.
Read more A good educator finds strategies and programs that work and implements them in the classroom. A great educator begins with an effective strategy or program and then develops ways to extend the learning even further. Kristin McDaniel, a first-grade teacher in San Juan Capistrano, CA, is one of the great ones. Pleased with the results she was seeing from Read Naturally’s spelling program, Signs for Sounds, Kristin asked herself how she could capitalize on her students’ momentum. Was there a way to reinforce and solidify their understanding of the word patterns and high-frequency words featured in the program?
Read more Prior to becoming Read Naturally’s Educational Consultant, Karen Hunter was a reading specialist, special education teacher, and teacher trainer for 30 years in California. Karen is always brainstorming ways to teach valuable skills to students, and she has a knack for developing creative and motivating tools. This past year, our blog featured three posts by Karen, each one including a free resource she developed. Readers couldn’t download the content quickly enough. In case you missed them, we wanted to share them again.
Read more Where’s the best place to find free resources to help your struggling readers? We offer a multitude of them on our website—specifically in the Knowledgebase. The Knowledgebase is full of valuable resources, including downloadable materials, how-to videos, research studies, product samples, and much more. We created this data hub to give educators easy access to absolutely everything they need to turn struggling readers into successful ones.
Read more We frequently encounter homeschool educators who are interested in using our materials. Often these educators have heard positive things about how our research-based programs work for struggling readers. Although our programs weren't specifically designed for use in a homeschool setting, many can be adapted to work well in this environment.
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Share your student’s success story—nominate him or her for our Star of the Month award. Win a Barnes & Noble gift card for the student and a Read Naturally gift certificate for your class!
