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As you prepare to assess students in reading this spring, take a moment to read these wise words from Read Naturally founder, Candyce Ihnot.

It's now well past February, but the remnants of Valentine's Day still linger in my couch cushions. The handmade cards are always my favorite ones to find… especially the ones wishing a "Happy Valantine's Day." I asked my first grader if he knew what makes the word Valentine so hard to spell. He guessed, "Because it's a long word," which is half right. Long words are usually multisyllabic, and multisyllabic words usually have a schwa. The schwa sound—such as the one on the first "e" in Valentine—is notorious for making words difficult to read and spell.

Congrats to our March Star of the Month for the 2023-2024 school year, Kypten! Kypten is a fourth-grade student at Gordon County Schools in Resaca, GA who is making huge strides in reading with confidence! Here is what Kypten's teacher, Mr. Marycz, had to say about him:

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!

Do you love Read Naturally programs? Leave a review on our website, and we’ll enter you to win a free set of our new GATE+ phonics program! 

Recently, a teacher who had ordered a level of GATE+ received her materials and looked through them. She was so impressed with the quality and depth of the materials that she showed her colleagues. They quickly realized they wanted the program for their classrooms too. The teacher picked up...

Imagine you’re attending a class to learn to play the guitar. The students in your class display a wide range of abilities. Some are brand new to the instrument; some know a few chords; and some already play quite well. How would you learn best in this environment? Would it work well for the teacher to instruct the group as a whole for the duration of the class? Or would it make more sense to sometimes break the class into small groups, allowing the beginners to start with the basics while the more advanced students could fine-tune their playing?

Thousands of students have learned phonics and essential beginning reading skills using Read Naturally GATE (Group And Tutoring Edition). We have spent several months updating this program to be even more powerful! This new-and-improved GATE+ is now shipping— order your copy today !...

I recently worked with a second grader who showed me a paragraph he wrote about helping the “oshin.” His thoughtful ideas were right on the mark. His spelling, however, was not. When this boy reads books about the ocean, complete with pictures and context clues, he can read the word without hesitation. But when I later showed him the word “ocean” on its own, he had no idea what it said. What’s going on here?

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.

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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