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The fact that so many students love working in Read Naturally programs brings us great joy. But we are most delighted when students no longer need our programs. The whole point of a Read Naturally intervention is to one day exit the program as a fluent and confident reader. The sooner this day comes for a student, the better! Read more

Our March Star of the Month is Ramsey, a fifth grader at Lucy S. Herring school in Asheville, North Carolina. Ramsey has made significant progress since starting Read Live and is truly excelling according to her teacher, Ms. Burgess. Here is what Ms. Burgess shared about Ramsey: Read more

Students learning to read are inherently motivated by their own successes as they become more fluent. When their teachers acknowledge this success as well, it often gives them an extra push to work even harder. These little boosts can help them improve even more quickly.  Read more

Regardless of where kids are on their reading journey, there are countless ways to boost their literacy this spring. Here are some easy ideas for kids to try at home or for teachers to incorporate into the classroom. The free printables in this post will also make a great packet to send home over spring break! Read more

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 free resources to parents. Read more

Our February Star of the Month is Sofie, a 7th grader at Augusta Middle School in Augusta, Wisconsin. Sofie started Read Naturally this past September and has already made significant progress that's reflected in her benchmark assessment scores. Here is what her teacher, Ms. Planert, shared... Read more

Valentine’s Day, a holiday about love, seems to instead fill a large portion of the population with dread. If romance isn’t your thing, you feel doomed. If you’re unpartnered, you feel left out. If you’re a teacher, you’re bracing yourself for a day of mayhem and over-sugared students. And if you’re a parent of school-aged children, your living space is suddenly littered with dozens of valentines your children need to address. Does anyone actually love this holiday? Read more

Do you have students who seem more focused on rate than on overall reading improvement? As students build fluency, it’s natural for them to them to try to read faster. When they become too focused on speed, however, they often lose accuracy and expression. Read more

In their daily lives, most adults read silently far more frequently than they read aloud. The same is true of older students. Silent reading comprehension is, after all, the skill needed to perform well on tests and in academics in general. Does this mean teachers of older students should stop spending time on oral reading fluency? Literacy expert Dr. Tim Shanahan addresses this question in his blog post, Fluency Instruction for Older Kids, Really? We completely agree with his response—and so does the research. Read more

I'll never forget the time my middle child, at age four, found a flashcard with the word “flabbergasted” on it. I read the card to him and told him the meaning of the word. He started bringing the card everywhere he went and belly laughing whenever he showed it to someone. Some nights, he even slept with it under his pillow. Read more