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Plenty of research confirms that schools with positive climates, in which the students have strong social-emotional skills, are ideal learning environments. Teachers and parents don’t need research to believe this—it’s common sense that when people are shown kindness as opposed to hostility, they’re far more apt to succeed in school and beyond.

Yet another school year is drawing to a close, which means it’s time for our annual State of the Blog address. Each year, we highlight the Top 10 RN Bookmark posts from August through May. This is a great way for teachers to catch up on salient content they may have missed during the hustle and bustle of the school year. It’s also a great way for us to learn what resonates most with our readers, so that we can offer you more of this content in the future.

A large, nationally representative survey recently conducted by Scholastic found that 94% of preK through Grade 12 teachers and principals believe students should have time for independent reading. Most teachers believe that, when students are given the time to read and enjoy books of their choice, engagement increases and a greater love of reading is fostered. However, just 36% of teachers say they actually set aside this time every day. In classrooms where independent reading does occur, students read for an average of 22 minutes.

Though we’ve had a very good year, I have some ideas for making things even better next year. (Don’t all of us teachers begin to think of next year even before the current year ends?)

If your students’ parents are anything like me, they’re currently trying to figure out how to avoid a summer full of that dreaded declaration: “I’m bored!” Some parents intend to sign their children up for ALL THE THINGS in order to eliminate the possibility of boredom altogether. Is this a good idea?

Congratulations, Portia P. from Timonium, MD, on being named Read Naturally's Star of the Month for April, 2017. Portia is a fourth-grade student at Harford Day School.

Do speech therapists and reading interventionists work together in your school? Students benefit greatly when these specialists collaborate, and Read Naturally’s phonemic awareness program, Funēmics®, is an ideal tool to facilitate the partnership.

For Read Live students who have been making progress each day for the entire school year, a three-month summer break isn’t ideal. Best-case scenario: They’ll read a lot on their own and continue to make progress. Worst-case scenario: They won’t read at all, and they’ll lose some valuable gains. The worst-case scenario is, unfortunately, more common. But of course, it’s not going to happen to your students! That’s because your students can continue to use Read Live over the summer—for free.

As students learn to read more fluently, many develop a passion for writing. Stories are inspiring and life-changing for students of all ages—and at some point, many of them wonder, “Could I do that, too? Could I write something that other people will enjoy?”

Rachel is a slow keyboarder who needs additional time to type her predictions and retells. Timothy is an ELL student who will benefit most from one read along in Spanish and three in English. James is an older student who needs just one read along and who wants to finish the story each time he practices. Anna is struggling with phonics and needs 75 seconds, as opposed to one minute, for word list timings. Can Read Live accommodate all of these students’ unique needs?

Make Your Student a STAR!

Read Naturally Star of the Month​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!

pointer Submit a Star-of-the-Month entry

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