Reading In Motion ’s mission is to provide at-risk children from Kindergarten through 3rd grade with the key tools required to achieve grade-level reading. The Chicago Public Schools’ Reading Instruction Framework identifies four key reading skills: word knowledge, fluency, comprehension, and writing. At Reading In Motion we teach three of these four skills through music and drama.

Reading In Motion lesson plans allow children to get out from behind their desks and use their entire bodies and minds to master reading skills.  These engaging activities are carefully tailored to the grade and developmental level of the students. A Reading In Motion teaching artist (or a Reading In Motion trained teacher) implements the curriculum during the regular school day or during special after school sessions.

In development since 2003, Benchmarks is Reading In Motion’s newest response to the urgent need for effective reading intervention in inner city schools. Designed as a four-year supplemental reading curriculum following students from Kindergarten through 3rd grade, its specific goal is to bring 100% of students to grade level by the end of 3rd grade.  Reading In Motion instructors train classroom teachers to implement the curriculum, allowing them to transform the reading performance of the school as a whole.

Like its predecessors at Reading In Motion, Benchmarks is arts-based:  its carefully crafted music- and drama-based activities inspire children to participate actively in reading exercises. Student work is split between whole group activities, independent work areas, and intensive small group work with their teacher to address each child’s specific instructional needs.

Benchmarks emphasizes teacher training as the best means for amplifying the impact of the Reading In Motion curricula.  Teachers, who know their students best, are trained in the Reading In Motion methods and have the opportunity to implement these methods as part of their daily lesson plan. 

Click here to see the Benchmarks kindergarten program.

Small Group	Whole Group

Spanish Program 

Reading In Motion has recently developed a Spanish version of its successful Benchmarks program.  The Spanish Program does not simply translate the program, but adapts the curriculum for a Spanish speaking child.  The program has been tested successfully in Kindergarten with more than 85% of students reaching grade level reading skills.  The first grade pilot will begin shortly.  Students in this program are introduced to English vocabulary during Kindergarten and 1st grade and then shifted into the English version of the Benchmarks in 2nd grade. 

The No Child Left Behind Act provides funding for selected students to receive additional tutorial assistance known as Supplemental Educational Services (SES). Reading In Motion’s SES program offers three hours per week of direct instruction in reading to both 1 st and 3 rd graders following the regular school day.

A Reading In Motion instructor works with 8 students for 20 weeks during the school year. The curriculum uses music- and drama-based activities and consists of whole and small group activities along with literacy focused independent work areas.