NAEP’s Reading Challenge & Hands-On Magnetic Solutions
March is National Reading Month, and according to the latest report from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), American public schools have some homework to do when it comes to reading instruction. Also known as The Nation’s Report Card, NAEP is the largest nationally representative test of student learning.
The test, designed to provide meaningful results to improve education policy and practice, is conducted with fourth and eighth graders every two years.
The latest results highlight the continuation of a decline in reading scores that began around 2015, with 2024 marking the largest share of eighth graders below NAEP’s basic standard in the history of the assessment. No U.S. state improved its eighth grade scores, and just one state, Louisiana, showed improvement in fourth grade scores.
Given that districts and teachers are deeply dedicated to providing the very best instruction possible and are committed to preparing their students for academic success, we expect to see them putting budget, training, time, and energy into improving their reading initiatives in the coming months and years.
This will include an even stronger focus on the science of reading and a willingness to invest in high quality materials to serve their students – and improve their scores. Many districts have indicated a desire to turn the page, so to speak, on screen-based reading instruction and return to hands-on materials that engage students on multiple levels.
Below are some of our best-selling, reusable, magnetic teaching tools perfect for providing hands-on reading instruction in a whole class, small group, or center setting. Lift the print right off the page and put it into students’ hands with products such as:
Designed specifically for little fingers, the flexible foam in our Foam Fun Magnet Letters sets is chunky and easy to handle, making them the perfect, tactile tool for activities such as letter identification, letter-sound correspondence (phonics), and word building.
Teachers can challenge students to find the magnet letter matching the one the teacher writes on the board and place it on their Magnetic Dry Erase Board, build simple C-V-C words on their boards, swap out letter magnets to explore word families, and more.
Make your Elkonin boxes more exciting, with magnets! Draw an Elkonin box template on a piece of paper or download and print one for free from us! Using our Metal Rimmed Counting Chips & Magnetic Wands, students place a magnetic chip in each section of the box, as they say aloud each sound. Then, they verbally repeat each sound in the word, using the Wand to remove the chip as the sound is spoken.
Foundational literacy skills really stick with the Fun with Letters Magnet Activity Set, featuring 144 flexible upper and lowercase magnet tiles including color coded vowels and consonants!
Using the included magnetic lapboard, students can practice word building/spelling by encoding each sound, as they place each separate magnet. They can also explore blends and digraphs, practice sight words, and even build their own names…all at their desks.
Students can practice reading fluency, sentence building, and language conventions with this set of 10 Large Magnetic Sentence Strips.
Start by breaking a single sentence into several chunks, one chunk on each strip. (You can even cut the strips with scissors if you wish.) Next, demonstrate reading the strips aloud individually and then stringing them together using the proper pauses and intonation.
Finally, have your students practice reading the strips aloud. Pass the strips out to your students and have them practice reading them to a partner, or ask students to write their own sentences and place them on the board.
Visit our website’s English & Language Arts category and our blogs for other engaging literacy centers, reading tools and activities, and tips. Click to learn more about the latest NAEP test scores: www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5270880/math-reading-covid-naep
Tags: alphabet magnets , classroom magnet products , classroom magnets , Dowling Magnets , literacy magnets , Magnetic letters , magnetic sentence strips , magnets for learning , reading magnets , sentence magnets
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