One Minute to Better Reading

The Princess LOVES to play office.  It is probably her favorite thing to do.  She has a big purse that all of her "office" supplies fit neatly into and she enjoys setting all of it up in different places throughout the house.  Her purse contains an old notebook computer (that no longer powers on), an assortment of pens and pencils, papers of all shapes and sizes (pulled out depending upon what type of office she is running) and even a post-it note pad or two.   {As a matter of fact, she enjoys playing office so much that we've begun giving an "Office in a Bag" as birthday party gifts to her friends!}

Since she enjoys "setting up" and "getting busy," you can imagine how excited she was to open up the package that contained a new reading comprehension program called One Minute Reader. She was intrigued by all of the supplies that were packaged in her little box -- a story book with 5 stories that includes Quick Quizzes, jokes, graphs to fill in AND motivational stickers, a listening CD, a TIMER! (her favorite!) and a cute little pencil that writes in blue on one end and red on the other.  These were the perfect supplies for her "office" and the perfect supplies to take her reading to an entirely new level.


Developed by Read Naturally, One Minute Reader is a "motivating system to improve reading fluency at home"  -- a fun way to improve your reading!  The goal of the One Minute Reader is to help improve reading fluency so that your child can comprehend what they are reading and learn to ENJOY reading. That's a PERFECT goal for my Princess!  She learned to read last year and I'm helping her learn to LOVE reading this year.

Before the Princess began using One Minute Reader, I watched the instructional DVD to know what to expect.  When it was her turn, the Princess listened to the instructions included on the Level 1 Reader CD and we briefly talked about the process she would use to learn.  Of the 5 non-fiction stories, she chose which one she wanted to begin reading.  (Her first pick was Nile River. go figure!)

With the pencil in hand, she pushed the button on her one minute timer and began reading.  Any word that she did not know, she underlined in blue.  (She underlined two words in her first reading of Nile River -- cities and upstream.)  When the timer beeped to signify that one minute was up, the Princess and I calculated her "cold score." Her cold score was simply how many words she got correct in the one minute reading time.

After figuring out her cold score, the Princess re-read the story -- aloud -- as she listened to it being read from the Reading CD.  (Her only complaint here was that the lady on the CD read "So Slow, Mom! Of course, the program is designed that way but I was so proud she noticed -- there was a time when she would not have.) You actually read along three different times with each reading gradually increasing in speed.  PERFECT for working on fluency! THEN she was off to read all by herself again.  This time she timed her reading using her one minute timer and underlined any missed words again.  She was SO proud as her score went up, up, up!

Once the Princess finished this step, she took a Quick Quiz (only 4 questions per story) to see how much she learned while reading. The really neat thing about the Quick Quiz is that it is designed for the students to self-check their reading comprehension.  Once your child has answered all of the questions for all of the stories in the Reader, their correct answers tell a fun joke.  {The Princess thought this was SO funny! Here's her Joke Jumble from Level 1. SPOILER ALERT:  Why is the air at the Super Bowl so cold? Because there are so many fans.}

To finish up the One Minute Reader session, the Princess read her story out loud to me.  We talked about what she had learned from reading and then marked her "hot score" on her reading graph.  The hot score shows how many words she knew at the end of the reading session.  It was the highest score of all and she was as pleased as could be!  Such a proud moment for us both.

The Princess decided she really, REALLY likes One Minute Reader and her mommy agrees.  It is the perfect motivation for getting her to stay on track with her reading.  She enjoys timing herself and seeing how much she knows.  She enjoys tracking her progress on the graph and adding stickers to show what a good job she has done.  We like it so much that we think you should definitely try it out.

You can PREVIEW a SAMPLE STORY HERE and see just how beneficial it will be for your family.  Would you like a little more information about how this program works? CHECK it out HERE. Ready to order?  Take a look at the PLACEMENT GUIDE and place your order today.  You can order one of 6 different levels for only $99.95 each HERE.  Each level contains 8 books for a total of 40 stories each.  This is a great bundle for a great price.   You even have the option of buying just one book at a time (for $12.95) if you prefer.  Either way, I know you'll be impressed with One Minute Reader by Read Naturally.

Just want to add an EDIT here to say: My Princess burned her hand tonight.  Once we got it all bandaged up and the tears stopped flowing, she said "It's my right hand, Mom.  How am I gonna do my One Minute Reader?" I told her it's a holiday week so she can let her hand rest and she replied, "But I really like it, Mom.  It's fun!" Neat stuff, huh?  Further proof that this is a GREAT PROGRAM!






~~I was given the opportunity to use One Minute Reader by Read Naturally as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew.  The opinions stated are mine and mine alone.  I was not paid to share my thoughts and feelings with you.  I encourage you to check out the  Crew Review and see what other members of the TOS Homeschool Crew thought of One Minute Reader by Read Naturally HERE.~~

  Pin It Now!