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The renewed enthusiasm over the past few years for phonics instruction has been heartening. I have believed in, and therefore taught, phonics skills since the beginning of my teaching career in 1970. (In fact, I am the proud owner of a well-worn 1967 edition of A Guide to Teaching Phonics, by June Orton.) Phonemic awareness and basic phonics skills are essential foundations on which students build toward the ultimate goal of reading: comprehension. So, through the phonics wars and beyond I continued to teach phonics to my students (and I still do today). Read more

We are thrilled to share that Read Naturally's curriculum directors have recently been featured in two high-quality educational publications accessed by tens of thousands of educators nationwide. Our Director of Curriculum, Karen McKenna, wrote an article for THE Journal entitled 5 Ways to Add Elements of the Science of Reading to a Balanced Literacy Program. Our Assistant Director of Curriculum, Sarah Jane Schonour, wrote an article for SmartBrief Education entitled Providing Literacy Intervention, Support Within MTSS. Read more

Whenever I’m grappling with a difficult question, I remember the wise words of my favorite teacher. “Maybe this is not an either/or situation,” she once told me. “Maybe it’s a both, and.” In a world that often urges us to take sides and to feel only one way about something, it can be helpful to remember that a productive way forward frequently lies somewhere in the both, and. This wisdom can be applied to many situations, including… yes… effective reading intervention. Read more