TOS Review: Read Naturally's One Minute Reader

Once again, I must start with the fact that I love being a part of The Old Schoolhouse Review team!  We are introduced to so many products that I have never even heard of before and the review coming up falls into that category. 

This is a long one so grab a cup of coffee!

Let me begin by saying, I have two struggling readers.  They are both behind grade level and have made great progress since leaving public school but they both still struggle.  I wish I had known about this product so much earlier!!  Guess what? This program was created by a public school teacher!  Oh, how I wish our school had known about this product as well!

Here's how One Minute Reader works.....

	1. Get ready to read.Pick any story. Read the title, look at the picture, and think about what you might learn by reading the story.
	2. Time yourself reading. Set the timer for one minute, and read the story aloud until the timer goes off. If you don't know a word, underline it. Mark the last word you read when the timer went off.
	3. Mark your cold score in blue. Get your cold score by subtracting the number of words you underlined from the number of words you read in a minute. Write your score on the blue line below the story. Then go to the graph page (page 14), and fill in a blue bar on the graph up to your cold score. Put a sticker for the story you are reading under the bar.
	4. Read along with the CD. Put the CD in a CD player and advance it to the track for the story you are reading. Read aloud with the CD three times or until you learn all the words.
	5. Read alone, and raise your score. Read the story several times alone, without listening to the CD, until you can read the story well. Each time you read, time yourself for one minute and mark the last word you read when the timer goes off. (You can then read the rest of the story.) Write your scores on the green lines below the story, and watch your scores go up!
	6. Take the Quick Quiz. Circle the correct answers, and then turn to the Joke Jumble page. Copy your answers to the numbered lines. Answer the questions for all of the stories to solve the joke. This is a way for students to see if they understood what they read.
	7. Read for an adult. Read the story while an adult times you for one minute and counts the words you don't know. Finish reading the story, and then talk about what you learned.
	8. Mark your hot score in red. Get your hot score by subtracting the number of words you didn't know from the number of words you read in a minute. Write your hot score on the red line below the story. Then go to the graph page (page 14), and fill in a red bar on the graph above the blue bar, up to your hot score. This shows you how much you improved.

I received the Level 1 starter kit (as seen above) and the Level 3 book.  My 3rd grader used the Level 1 books and she absolutely loved them.  She loves to read.  She loved being able to do it independently from me as well because we normally read together.  She had such pride when she would come to me to read her story after going through steps 1-5 and could read every bit of it.  We also took the quiz together too.  Her hot scores always improved by at least 30 points and she loved trying to beat her previous scores!  She also loved trying to find the answers to the joke at the end. :)

After seeing my third grader doing these, her brother, who is in 5th grade, quickly asked if he could do some too.  So, he tried his hand at the Level 3 book we received and loved them as well!  His hot scores also improved every time by at least 30 points.  


We found this program to be awesome and really work for our family!  One Minute Reader has received several awards for their wonderful product as well!


There are six starter packs available to choose from and they   are $24.95 each.  Each starter pack includes everything you need to get started—a book of five interesting stories, an audio CD, a timer, a graphing pencil, and an instructional DVD that explains how the program works.  

You can also purchase individual books containing 5 stories each for each level at the price of $12.95 each.  

For the best value of all, bundle packages are available which include  the level starter kit plus seven more books (40 stories in all) for only $99.95—a savings of 14% compared to materials purchased separately.    

Each product comes with a 30 day money back guarantee!


You can find samples of different books from different levels here.  You can also view a complete sample of Level 3 starter kit book here.


Read Naturally offers many products to help your reader strengthen their phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.  Be sure to check out their website!

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crewmates thought of One Minute Reader and other products from Read Naturally.

**Disclaimer: I received a free sample of books in exchange for my review. The opinions here are my honest and true evaluation!