By: Shantell Berrett, Reading Horizons Reading Specialist

Along with hours of preparation and work, a new school year bears anticipation and excitement of a new beginning. It is a new chance for creating opportunities for success for both students and teachers. There are three tips that can help ensure success with Reading Horizons reading program this year.

Tip 1

Summer often leaves students in need of a refresher at the first of the new school year to remember skills learned before the break. Taking the first four to six weeks to review the phonics skills learned in Reading Horizons will help students recall and reinforce strategies that they can use throughout the school year to handle unfamiliar words and build new vocabulary. (Click here to find a scheduled outline of how to review these skills in four to six weeks.) 

Tip 2

When students learn phonetic or comprehension strategies they still may have a difficult time applying them in context reading. Be very clear and give explicit, visual instruction as to how to do that. For example, when students get to a word they don’t know they should sound it out at least twice from the beginning to the end without stopping or guessing. This creates a new habit of processing phonologically and breaks the bad habit of skipping or guessing at unfamiliar words. If the student still does not get the word after sounding it out, walk them through steps to apply decoding strategies they have learned to figure out the word.

Tip 3

Give students numerous resources and accommodations for success. Some students have better success in reading by simply allowing them to use a paper or card to cover the page so that they can focus on one line at a time. Some need to learn to ask questions and connect with a paragraph or even sentence at a time instead of a page at a time. Taking 5 minutes with each student to ask them how they feel about reading, what the page looks like, and what helps them can make a huge difference. 

Results

Creating a safe environment that allows for learning styles and struggles supports students to find ways that really help them. Giving them the right type of instruction for decoding and helping them transfer those skills is a surefire way to set them up for success.

P.S.

Don't have Reading Horizons program? Check out our Online Workshop for teaching reading and see if any of our tips could help the effectiveness of your reading program:

According to a recent report from the Annie E. Casey foundation, 68% of America’s 4th graders read below grade level last school year. The necessity of literacy skills in today’s society makes this statistic troublesome. Reading skills strongly impact students’ academic success as well as their emotional and social well-being. Poor reading skills impact students in the following ways:

1. Academically

Because reading skills are easily the most necessary skill for academic success, students that do not read at grade level will undoubtedly struggle in school. This is especially true for students after the 3rd grade. In 4th grade, teachers’ spend significantly less time helping students learn to read, and the curriculum shifts in that students must use their reading skills to stay caught up in almost every subject. For this reason reading skills must be at grade level in 4th grade- if not students’ begin to fall behind in almost every subject, not just language arts.

2. Emotionally

Poor reading skills also impact students emotionally by negatively influencing their self esteem. Struggling with a skill that many of their peers pick up naturally makes many students feel incapable and unintelligent. This is unfortunate because reading problems are rarely a result of the student’s personal effort. On average, 70% of students will learn to read regardless of instruction; however, 30% of students require an explicit, step-by-step approach to succeed with reading. This type of instruction is needed for 30% of students is because of the prevalence of language processing disorders (such as dyslexia, specific language impairment, and auditory processing disorder).

Because 70% of students should learn to read regardless of instruction, it is startling that 68% of 4th grade students are not reading at grade level. Only 30% of these students should be struggling. This exposes that there is a weakness in reading instruction. There is a clear need for teachers to improve the way they teach reading. Especially since ineffective instruction can easily hurt a student’s self-esteem by leaving them with a feeling of inadequacy.

3. Socially

Poor reading skills also impact students socially. A common finding in sociology and psychology is that students naturally become friends with peers that are similar to them in academic standing. In correlation, academic success is often tied to involvement in other positive activities and a sharp decline in truancy, drug use, and other types of experimentation.

When students are not provided with the proper instruction needed to obtain effective reading skills, it is difficult for them to make friends with peers that encourage them to make positive life decisions.

The Value of Literacy Skills

It is amazing how large of an impact reading skills play in the academic, social and emotional well-being of every individual. Those who naturally develop reading skills do not often realize the positive impact these skills play in their life. However, when we look at the risks of students who do not successfully develop reading skills, the importance of literacy and what it adds to your life becomes very obvious.

To ensure your students can enjoy a lifetime of learning and success through effective reading skills, learn more about Reading Horizons reading program for building a solid reading foundation for a future of reading success!

Because of my experiences with Reading Horizons, I frequently think about the value of literacy skills in my own life. I think about what my life would be like if I couldn’t read and write. I think about the things I would miss and the things I couldn’t accomplish without the ability to read and write.

Without literacy skills I could not do my job. I would lose a lot of communication with the people that could use our reading program to help others improve their literacy skills.

Also without literacy skills I wouldn’t be able to do the things I most enjoy. Two of my favorite things to do are to read books and write in my journal. The enjoyment I find in my life outside of work would decline without my literacy skills.

I would lose a lot without having literacy skills. However, through much thought I have decided the thing I value above all else in regards to literacy is the ability to learn more. Every time I find a new interest or desire to improve one of my abilities, I always start by reading an article or book on the topic. Imagining a life where I couldn’t learn more about the things I’m interested in sounds paralyzing.

With the internet, libraries and book stores there is so much information that is almost instantly available. However, without literacy skills, the ability to teach yourself almost anything you desire vanishes. Realizing that over the past few months has greatly increased my gratitude for the ability I possess to read and write.

As I learn about the people our company interacts with daily that do not get to enjoy the benefits of literacy skills, my gratitude grows. But not only have I learned to appreciate the ability to read and write through working for Reading Horizons, I also have learned that there is so much that can be done to help these individuals that want to improve their literacy skills.

One way Reading Horizons works to increase the literacy skills of individuals is through sponsoring its charitable program: Lemons for Literacy. This program uses an online vocabulary game to sponsor individuals and organizations with literacy materials. The more people play the vocabulary game, the more people will be provided with the materials that can help them improve their literacy skills.

Play Lemons for Literacy to engage in fun, charity, and learning! --> Lemons for Literacy Vocabulary Game

Thank you to everyone who participated in Heidi’s webinar! Heidi did a wonderful job compiling research on effective teaching strategies for reading instruction and thoroughly related those findings back to Reading Horizons new v5 reading program.

Feel free to ask your questions or share your thoughts on the webinar in the comment section of this blog post. Thanks again for your participation!

If you missed the presentation, a link to the recording will be provided here in the near future!

When someone uses the term “reading” it is likely that an image of a book comes to mind. However, with the technological advances over the past few years, reading skills are now needed to participate in an ever increasing amount of mediums outside that of books. Technology has undoubtedly changed what people read, how they read, and when they read. The internet provides a gateway to almost every type of information at anytime and with immediate access.

With such a large impact on reading, it is interesting to consider the influence technology plays in the reading development of students learning to read or working to improve reading. Children use technology from a young age, frequently before they even enter school, and this can have both a positive and negative impact on reading development.

Today I read an article from the Washington Post which said that 2/3’s of students do not read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. If that statistic is accurate it is obvious that reading instruction is lacking and is in need of improvement. One way to improve instruction is by applying relevant technologies.

One must be careful when incorporating technology into the classroom because many technologies excuse and almost embrace poor spelling and grammar, such as: text messaging, social media, and video games. However, there are also several technologies that work to enhance learning. There have been several products released recently that work to specifically help students enhance reading abilities. These technologies offer unique benefits and can easily find a fitting place in the classroom.

One of the benefits I have seen students have with the software component of Reading Horizons is that of independence. Independence is a motivating emotion that provides students with self esteem and self worth. By learning from a software program rather than by an instructor, students feel they have learned something on their own and without help. This is especially beneficial to older students and adult learners that may feel instruction from others is condescending.

Software instruction can also be beneficial because of its ability to cater to each individual student. By tracking progress Reading Horizons reading program can instantly adjust to student ability.

Another technology that can be used to enhance classroom instruction is the Intel Reader®, used to assist those with visual and learning disabilities on reading tasks. With the use of earphones the student can listen to printed instructions and test questions being read to them. However, it does not help students overcome reading difficulties. I think it’s a perfect resource for students which are blind and cannot read the material on their own but I don't agree with its use by dyslexic students.

Dyslexic students can overcome reading difficulties so I think it is important for them to receive proper instruction and overcome that difficulty rather than rely on a gadget to assist them and never gain reading skills for themselves.

Amazon.com recently released the Kindle reading device. The Kindle allows users to have texts read to them, read books and texts, and take digital notes on reading materials. I read an article of a teacher who incorporated the Kindle into her reading instruction for struggling readers and she liked the note taking capabilities because it helped her know if students truly understood what they were reading and helped her get a glimpse into their thinking processes.

It will also be interesting to see if the iPad increases reading rates with its larger screen, ease of use, and access to reading material.

There is clearly room for technology in the classroom but teachers need to carefully decide on options that will enhance reading instruction, not distract from it.

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