One Minute Reader is a product created by Read Naturally, a company founded by a former special education teacher and her husband. They provide different, structured intervention programs aimed at helping children succeed at reading. Their programs develop and support the five essential components of reading , with the One Minute Reader being primarily focused on building reading fluency.
Reading fluency is the ability to read without having to stop and decode each word. A fluent reader will be able to read without pausing every couple of words to figure out what the next word says. Fluency is important, because if a child can read fluently, they can spend less time thinking about what each word says, and more time focusing on what the passage they are reading is about (comprehension). As a former teacher of struggling readers myself, I can tell you that students who were able to read fluently were typically stronger readers than those who could not AND they usually enjoyed reading more. Think about it, how much fun is it to read when it takes a significant amount of time just to sound out each word?
The Read Naturally approach combines elements of teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring to improve reading efficiency. The One Minute Reader does this by having students repeatedly read the same passage over a period of time, both out loud by themselves, then out loud with an audio CD, and finally, out loud to an adult, while keeping track of their reading rate at the same time!
The One Minute Reader starter pack came with a book, a timer, an audio CD and a colored pencil for keeping track of the score. A few of the things I really like about this program are that it doesn’t take a long period of time (my son spent just a few minutes on it each day) and it really is something your older child can do on their own! One Minute Reader includes six different levels, and there are sample stories you can use to determine which level will be best for your child. My son, who has grown tremendously in his reading ability in the past year yet still struggles with fluency, used Level 3 (the purple book).
Now, my son is not a HUGE fan of reading, so ANY extra reading we have to do is pretty much always met with groans! However, when we got this package, he thought the timer was cool, and liked that this was something short that he could do on his own (there are very easy to understand instructions printed on the first page of the book). Plus, the passages in the books are also short (around 200 words or so at this level) and very high interest. This is important because many kids who struggle with reading need a story they will LIKE if they are going to read it willingly. The book I received had stories about a fire, the dust bowl, and Titanic’s sister ship!
On the first day, he read the story by himself and took his “cold” score. This is the number of words he read, minus the number of words he missed, and he recorded it on a graph at the back of the book. The next day he read the story with the CD and again recorded his score, and, yes, he did better. The day after that he read it a few more times himself, then read it with me, and we recorded his “hot” score in red on his graph. After the three days, his score went up by about 70 words!! The book also includes a short quiz students take when they are done, to help build comprehension, and a puzzle they complete as they work through the book. There is also a glossary at the end of the book to explain any unfamiliar words or expressions.
Now, for the important question, did this practice spill over into my son’s every day reading? Because, of course, if it doesn’t then what good is it? Well, I can tell you that I have seen improvement in my son’s day-to-day reading as well. As he becomes more confident, he stumbles less and is now reading entire paragraphs without having to decode. In my classroom, I saw similar improvement with students who used programs like One Minute Reader as well.
This program has won numerous awards, including the Mom’s Choice Award, and the iParenting Media Award. One Minute Reader even has a website where you can get more information about how the program works, see videos, and find out about their risk-free 30 day trial offer!
One Minute Reader starter packs cost $24.95. A “bundle”, which would include the timer, the colored pencil, and 8 books with audio CD’s costs $99.95, and you can buy individual books with CD’s for $12.95.
I really like this program, and I think the cost is reasonable for what you get, but I have to say, I don’t have an extra $100.00 in my budget for this. I would, however, consider getting a few of the individual books to use with my son. If you bought a few at a time, it wouldn’t be too much of an expense. You can check out One Minute Reader and more Read Naturally products at the company website here:
http://www.readnaturally.com/index.htm
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