Heading Home

This weekend I am headed back to my hometown for a weekend full of old friends and family. I am sure there will be a few summer BBQs in the backyard and lots of hugs. I even have plans to meet up with a few friends that I have not spoken to in years!

My bags are already packed and ready to go, complete with an entire bag of books. No, I don't plan to read the 13 titles this weekend, although that much free time would be a welcome change. My family and I have a long tradition of swapping our books. We will each bring a dozen or so books to the table, some of our favorites and some classics, and at the end of the weekend we will all leave with new reviews and a new bundle of books.

I find that even if it is a book I had already read years ago, the swap brings with it new reviews and opinions that make a second reading all the more enjoyable. After all, in the past few years my life has changed significantly and different backgrounds and experiences can completely change the way you read a book.

Do you or your family have any traditions similar to ours? Does your community have a book swap program already in place? Let us know!

Amazing Results!

As our website continues to evolve, more and more exciting facts about Sound Reading are being posted.

We are so excited every time more data comes back to the office because we love to help children read! All of these reports show that students that were once struggling with reading will be able to catch up to their peers. They will not only be able to finish a chapter book but now they are able to enjoy it! We are excited to share these results with everyone and can promise similar results for your family or school.

We recently added more in depth analysis and results reports under the results tab. You can read more about success in Kindergarten classrooms, with Upper Elementary School students, and with Teens and Adults.

An overview of more of the studies we have performed can be found on the website as well.

Coming soon...

Thanks for checking out our blog! Keep coming back for more posts about reading, education, and Sound Reading or you can always subscribe to the blog in the right hand menu.

This summer we will have tons of great ideas of games you can play with your kids and ways to keep them excited about reading.

We'll recommend books for all ages and books for the whole family.

If you have any questions or requests please comment on any of the posts!

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July is always a great opportunity to spend time with your family and take a break from work. A weekend filled with BBQs and family is always refreshing compared to stressful days at work. What a great start to summer!

This weekend I spent hours in the sunshine with a good book in hand. I got lost in the story, imagining myself in the protagonist's shoes instead of on my own back porch. I was startled back to reality when dinner was ready and spent the entire meal eager to get back to the book. In just three days I read all 300 pages and couldn't believe that it was over!

For me, family and a good book are the best ways to relax and take a break. I look forward to every opportunity and hope that you also had the chance to get lost in a good book this weekend.

Reading Best Practices

Why do so many teachers and tutors claim to use best practices for reading instruction when they neglect the most important methods?
The National Reading Panel reviewed decades of research on reading and determined that struggling readers need a solid foundation, a foundation that extends far deeper than phonics.

Reading comprehension practices that ensure success for struggling readers must include auditory processing (making sense of spoken words) activities so students can connect printed words and meaningful spoken words. Virtually all students who struggle with reading have subtle problems with auditory processing, the leading cause of comprehension difficulties in secondary students.

Many who believe that they are following best practices in reading still neglect phonemic awareness instruction. This is sad, as a few hours working on phonemic awareness is often the fastest route to reading success. Early research showed that phonemic awareness was important for kindergarten and first grade students. Recent research, including the research Sound Reading is based on, shows that it critical for older students. The reason is simple; as words get more complex students require greater phonemic awareness to make sense of them.

Reading comprehension practice doesn’t have to be a protracted battle. There are many strategies that are useful, but only a few that stick. The first is "Stop and Think." The teacher places post-its at critical places in a story. When a student comes to a post-it he stops and thinks. Then he employs the second strategy, he "Turns and Talks" to his reading partner and they have a minute talk about the passage.

The Start of Summer

The first day of summer is one of my best memories growing up. Somehow the weather is always clear and sunny, the perfect temperature to spend the day outside doing anything but homework. It is the start of swimming races and neighborhood games of tag - the end of long days in school and hours of homework.

As books and math problems are thrown by the wayside, the basic skills students built up over the past year slowly fade away and come September, it will take weeks to catch back up. Summer reading projects aren't enough to keep kids from falling back. For a student that was already struggling in school, it is even more important to keep them from falling even farther behind.

How do you convince kids to come inside at the end of a sunny day and sit down to do homework when you can barely even get them to help with the dishes for fear they will miss part of the bike race? Parents try everything from bribing children with ice cream and equally appetizing rewards, to punishing students for not doing their summer work.

Here at Sound Reading, we found the perfect balance between work and fun. Our interactive software uses games and challenges to encourage students to learn. Our readers and activity books pair the basic listening and processing skills with actual reading practice. Not only will your child enjoy the Sound Reading program, but by the end of the summer he or she will love to read!