The Classroom ReadingKEY Vocabulary Building Program

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Attention Teachers !!
Use the ReadingKey Vocabulary Building Program alongside your current reading program for the biggest reading test score improvement your classroom has seen from one year to the next.  ReadingKEY achieves this by concentrating on what the research (No Child Left Behind) says are the most efficient strategies for improving overall reading ability and comprehension.  These strategies are ones that insure students can read their identified grade level vocabulary words accurately and fluently (also called word recognition).  ReadingKEY has conducted extensive analysis of common elementary literature and textbooks to identify the precise reading vocabulary words your students need to know for scoring in the top 10% nationally at their grade level.  Learning efficiency is increased dramatically by the use of special techniques that really get the job done for achieving solid memorization of the reading words.  Try our free vocabulary building materials below for 20-30 minutes per day for one week and you'll see why teachers and administrators alike are saying ReadingKey is absolutely the "best" program they've seen for insuring all students progress at the steady solid rate needed during the entire school year.
Teacher
Comments

Classroom ReadingKey Basics

Parent
Comments

Your program is truly the best I've come across in over 30 years of teaching.
Marie Barnett
Earle Brown Elementary
Brooklyn Center, MN

After using your program for only 6 weeks, I have seen an incredible increase in my students' reading abilities.
Kelly Turley
Seaview Elementary
San Pablo, CA

The results have been nothing short of astounding. It is high interest in nature and produces clearly measurable results.
Guy DeZarn
Patrick Henry Elementary
Alexandria, Virginia

My class is reading much better than this time last year. The other first grade teachers are now wanting to use your website.
Patti Williams
Grade 1 Teacher
Oakland Elementary
Tennessee

I can't tell you how much the program has helped my kids! I've taught for about 26 years now and I can't remember a program I've seen that was as helpful. I've told all the teachers in my school about it.
Thank you !
Cathy Purser
4th Grade Teacher
Bleckley County Elementary
Cochran, Georgia

Your program is really great. I find it more effective than the reading series we have right now. Since I work with Literacy Groups, it's more interesting colorful and effective. -
Rosita Davis
Reading Resource
Chicago Public Schools -
District 5

 For More Testimonials Click
HERE

Finally! - a reading vocabulary improvement program that has identified the specific reading words students need to master for each grade in Grades 1 through Grade 5. After extensive computer analysis of elementary textbooks for word "frequency of occurrence," we have compiled the most "intelligent" reading vocabulary list for elementary school classroom use. Words are organized from "most-common" to "least-common," thereby providing the perfect order for instruction throughout the year. By using the TampaRead's ReadingKey Program, you'll have the confidence of knowing your students are making the steady "on-schedule" progress needed in order to be reading on grade level as well as score above average when it's time for the "end of year" testing.

With over 15 years research invested, we have identified the precise reading vocabulary students need to learn in order to score in the top 10% for their grade level on national reading tests (i.e. Stanford Achievement Test - Woodcock Johnson).

For example, Grade 1 students need to master the 340 "most-common" words in reading books in order to score in the top 10% of students nationally. For comparison, students who have mastered only 220-240 words typically score at the 50th percentile on the nationally normed Stanford Achievement Test - figures derived from testing 100 students in four first grade classes in a Tampa, Florida public school. To be reading in the top 10% (90th percentile) for Grades 2 through 5, our research shows students need to master between 750-850 new words each year. Students mastering only 550-650 words for any given grade level score at approximately the 50th percentile (half the students higher and half the students lower). Understanding these numbers, and how they correspond to reading level, certainly helps clarify goals and priorities as reading instructors.

Upon understanding the "mathematics" of reading vocabulary and reading level - the next question to answer is - What is the best method of instruction? - Are there strategies available to enable students to learn these words more efficiently than traditional methods? The answer is an absolute - YES!

Part of today's reading instruction problem lies in the fact that students vary dramatically in how quickly they can learn to read. While some students are "natural" born readers who can learn (memorize new words) under almost any circumstance and with any type of instruction, the majority of students are not this fortunate. Therefore, we as educators need to acknowledge this potential for difference, and understand there can in fact be other methods of instruction that are superior for accomplishing specific goals in the "learning-to-read" process. When it comes to improving reading vocabulary quickly in students of any age, we think you'll agree there is no other program that comes close to being as effective as the TampaRead's ReadingKey Program.

So, how does the human brain learn best? Is learning just a random process that occurs at the same rate no matter what we do as instructors?

Research in neuroscience has shed fascinating light on techniques that greatly enhance the ability of the human mind to learn new information (especially in children who are not natural readers). It is our job as educators to know what these techniques are and to put them into use in the classroom.

The Foundation of ReadingKey

Studies of human memory have found that the mind can generally retain seven "chunks" of information at a time in its short term memory. If we practice this information in a variety of ways, before moving onto something new, then memorization (transfer into the long-term memory) will occur with much greater speed. ReadingKey teaches 24 - 28 words per week in its program for Grades 2 - 5. This works out to 6-7 words per day - the perfect number for the short-term memory to work with.

Below is a summary of the primary memorization techniques which make ReadingKey a superior program for improving reading skills in students of all ages.

ReadingKey's Main Points

1. Precise Vocabulary
15 years of research has gone into identifying the precise reading words students must learn for each Grade (from Grade 1 through Grade 5).    Students who master all words for their grade level will typically score in the top 10% on any standardized test, including their end of year testing as required by the No Child Left Behind Act (To "pass" the typical end of year school testing, students typically need to only score above the lower 25%).
2. Common Sense Organization
Grade level words are organized from most-common to least-common thereby providing the perfect order for instruction throughout the year.
3. Vowel Sound Categories
Words are further divided into small groups along daily vowel-sound or reading rule categories. Since students typically have difficulty with vowel sound memorization, this organization strategy allowed the vowel sound to remain in the student's short term memory for greatly increased mastery of the list words.
4. Color Coding
Vowel sounds are color-coded in each word so students can easily identify where the vowel sound is located (long vowels blue - short vowels are red - other vowel sounds green).
5. Memorization Techniques
Rather than use the common and inefficient "word family" technique used by the majority of reading programs (bat-sat-hat-rat-mat-etc), ReadingKEY uses a technique that is far more effective and one that can be used when attempting to decode practically all unknown words. This very powerful memorization technique is called - "STOP AT THE VOWEL SOUND" and is simply having the student first read up to the colored vowel sound and no further. When this can be done correctly, we then move to our other highly motivational and entertaining memorization techniques including - "COPYCAT" and "BOO BOO CATCHER."
More on these steps in the upcoming video, however, "COPYCAT" is basically a fun 3 minute exercise where students mimic everything said by the teacher (used to give the repetition needed for memorization). BOO BOO CATCHER is a highly motivational exercise in which the teacher reads the daily list words slowly, but makes an error on one or two words. Students are to raise their hand when a mistake is made.
5. Timed Reading
Get out the stopwatch! Time 5-10 students on how fast they can say the list words without making a mistake and write their times on the board. Not only is this a significant contributor to permanent memorization, but it is extremely fun and motivation for the students !!
6. Follow-up Vocabulary Worksheet
After completing the 15-20 minutes of classroom learning techniques just described, the teacher then passes out the corresponding vocabulary worksheet for additional "quiet" practice. Students do 3 challenging activities (including sentence writing) to further stimulate memorization and provide the teacher with a much needed 15 minute break after expending all this wonderful and worthwhile energy).

Free Classroom Reading Program
Materials Below
Click Acrobat link to download the first nine weeks Classroom Reading Wall Program. Directions are at the top of each list. GET READY TO HAVE SOME FUN - Your're students will love it!!
Download time is 30 seconds with broadband
connection. Easy to follow directions are
at the top of each page.

Grade 1
Program 		Grade 2
Program		 Grade 3
Program		 Grade 4
Program		 Grade 5
Program

For more information
on our ReadingKEY ordering options -
click the "Order Program" button below


To learn more and try our
Student Vocabulary Building Program
in a one-on-one tutoring setting click HERE

I used it (Hooked on Phonics) for 2 days and put it back in the box and went back to the ReadingKey Program.
Fatimah Mahammad
Home School Mom
Stockton, California

I have tried both Sylvan Learning Center and the TampaRead's (ReadingKey) Program and this program has been much more successful.
Candra Crouse
Indianapolis, Indiana

I must say that TampaRead's (ReadingKey) has Hooked on Phonics beat... I am soooo pleased with this program..
Debbie - Sacramento, California

I love this program. My children are already excited about using it. I home school 1st, 3rd and 6th grade children and haven't seen a better program out there.
Cheryl Gaudreau
Merrimack, New Hampshire

We are a home schooling family of nine children, the last three of which have been using the program for the last two months... After just this short time, I see what to me is an amazing difference. Not only that, but they are enjoying it tremendously.
Cynthia Hon
Marion, Indiana

For More Testimonials ClickHERE