Fluency Practice

One of our many interventions right now is a group working to improve their reading fluency.  Although students often think fluency means speed, it's actually much more than that.  We've been talking in this group about what good reading sounds like.  We've decided that reading with fluency means we read smoothly, with expression.  We talked about "reading like a robot" and how that often puts Mom and Dad to sleep when we read to them at night.  (Just a heads up, Mom and Dad, one of our goals is to read so well that you stay awake for the entire story!)

One of the best ways to improve fluency is to reread texts.  In our intervention group we work with a partner and a timer.  Students time their partner for one minute.  Then they repeat the process.  We've found that each time we read the passage, we get a little further and our reading becomes more fluent.  We also reread familiar poems.  One student leads the group in "swooping" under phrases as we read, rather than tapping individual words.  This helps us read smoothly.  Try some of these strategies with your child at home.