The natural tendency when trying to learn a new song is to begin singing along – some students will feel more comfortable singing along “in their head” while others will sing along quietly. Either of these is completely acceptable however their voice will not be registered through the microphone and they will not receive a star for singing. The “Listen” mode is for the students to become familiar with the lyrics before singing the Tune. 

A student gets “stuck” on Listen 3 if they have not clicked on and listened to all of the vocabulary “Words to Learn” for the Song Lesson they are working on. To move on to Sing 1, students must find and click on all of the vocabulary “Words to Learn” (making sure that they have all turned green on the top of the screen).

To exit a Song Lesson, For Windows: press ‘CTRL+Shift +R’. For Mac: “Command+Shift+ R”. For Tablets: If you hard press, for 15 seconds, on the Tune into READING Logo on the tablet, the system will take you back to the song folder.

Once returned to the Song Folder, the student can select and try a different Song Lesson. If the student chooses to escape the current song to seek another, they will not receive minute credit for the song they get out of.

Be sure to encourage students to begin with Song Lessons worth fewer points as these are shorter and easier to sing. Students will complete the majority of songs in their assigned Song Folder before moving on to the next level. However, we do not want students to become discouraged if they inadvertently select a Song Lesson that is too difficult for them, particularly when they first begin using the program.

Some students may not master the pronunciation of all words in all songs. The program is not designed to measure pronunciation accuracy. The focus of the program is to use the power of music, its rhythm, tempo, and pitch, to help students develop their reading fluency skills at their instructional reading level. If a student is consistently struggling with reading the lyrics at the level they’ve been assigned, this may indicate that the reading level is too difficult.

This could also indicate that the student is struggling with sound blending and/or decoding at the phonics level and alternative interventions should be considered that focus on addressing these needs. TUNE into Reading targets the areas of fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension and may not be the best intervention match for students who are in need of phonics instruction.

The stars are based on how well the student sings a song, specifically how well they can match the pitch and the rhythm of the melody. Students are not being scored or awarded points based on how well they sing. The stars are used as visual motivators to help students stay engaged and have fun!

No. The repeated practice within the protocol is designed to provide students with the repeated exposure that research indicates is essential to developing and improving automatic recall which in turn improves reading fluency.

If a student takes a quiz and does not receive a passing score, the program gives the student 3 opportunities to redo the song and pass the quiz before it completely disappears from their library.

If a student’s reading level is adjusted, due to being promoted or demoted by the system or if the reading level is manually adjusted by a staff member, their points goal gets reset and their points earned go back to zero. Students will, however, keep any stars they earn from singing.

A student’s goal changes if a student’s reading level changes due to being promoted or demoted by the system or if the reading level is manually adjusted by a staff member. Each reading level has a specific goal based on the point value of the songs that make up each Song Folder.