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For me, summer break means a break from the reading lab—but it doesn’t mean a break from teaching! I’ve been blessed with eleven grandchildren, six of whom are still in grade school and live very close to me. It’s great to work with them throughout the year on their reading and math, but I love the extra time I get to spend with them in the summer. As with many kids, it can be more difficult to motivate them over the break. Can any of you relate? Read more

Congrats on approaching the end of another school year! Your students have worked hard to accelerate their progress in reading this year, and avoiding the summer slide is more important than ever. Read more

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

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

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

One of the things that sets Read Naturally programs apart is our high-interest, nonfiction stories. Struggling readers need to feel motivated to read, so we try to find unique topics that will hold their interest and spark their curiosity. When we read about the work of the nonprofit APOPO, not only were we inspired by its mission, but we knew we had the makings of a great story. Since then, our Rats to the Rescue story in Read Live and Encore II Level 5.6 has become a crowd favorite. Read more

Welcome to the home stretch! For most schools across the nation, winter break is just a couple days away. We hope your students’ time at home will allow them to get lost in the pages of a book beneath a cozy blanket. Last week’s blog post offers several free activities and ideas to help your students boost their literacy skills at home. Before you send them on their way, we want to reiterate the importance of just one: Reading aloud. Read more