Fluency Ideas #1

!Fluency is accurate reading at a minimal rate with appropriate prosodic features and deep understanding. (Hudson, Mercer, & Lane-2000). !Fluency is necessary but not sufficient for reading comprehension and motivation. !Some students are fluent enough! !More instructional time should be devoted to developing students vocabulary and comprehension strategies. !Comprehension is limited by labored, inefficient reading. !Comprehension is limited by inaccurate reading. !Lack of fluency = lack of motivation = fewer words read = smaller vocabulary = limited comprehension. !Fluency forms the bridge between word identification and constructing meaning. !Three roles for fluency assessments: 1. Benchmark/Screening- which students may need assistance? Done on grade level passages (TPRI) 2. Diagnosing- is fluency a skill strength or need? Done on instructional level passages 3. Progress Monitoring- is progress being made? Done on instructional level passages (DRA fluency)

Fluency Facts

Source: Putting Reading Fluency in Perspective by Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, PhD. (Gibson, Hasbrouck and Associates)

The purpose of reading is to comprehend what is being read. Therefore, a key component of reading fluency is accuracy. Students need to read most of the words correctly in order to understand what they are reading. Here are some activities that support the development of accuracy: Let Me Introduce Myself This is a good one for the beginning of the year, but it will work anytime. Write the following sentence starters on the board for students to copy and fill in the blanks: My name is ______________________________________. I have ____________________brothers and ____________________sisters. My favorite game is ________________________________________. My favorite food is _________________________________. The best time I ever had was __________________________________. Next, have students pair up with a member of their group, and read their introductions. Each partner should listen and hold up a finger for every mistake and mispronounced word. When students have finished reading, tell the partner to reveal the number of mistakes and identify them if possible. Have the partner switch roles. Repeat the process so students have a chance to pair up with each group member. Ask students if they made fewer mistakes by the last introduction. Emphasize that the more they reread text, the more accurate they will become. Accuracy Game Discuss that realizing when they have made mistakes is a key to improving accuracy. Some readers say nonsense words and keep right on reading. Emphasize that good readers are aware of what is and is not correct. To play the accuracy game, partner group members together to make teams of 2. Give each team a copy of the Accuracy Game page and instruct them to cut apart the sentences (or do this yourself prior to this activity). Have them place the sentence facedown on the floor or table. Explain that each sentence contains a mistake. Have one partner choose a sentence and practice reading it, including the mistake. If a reader is unsure of how to read the sentence, he may ask you or a member of another team for help, but away from his partner. He should then read the sentence to his partner and the other teams. The partner must listen closely and find the error. If the partner identifies the mistake, his team gets one point. If the partner does not find the mistake, another team gets the chance to correct

Accuracy

the sentence for a point. The team member who chose the sentence must identify the mistake and say the sentence correctly. Then, it is the other teams turn. Let students track points by making tally marks on a piece of paper. The game ends when all sentences have been read. The team with the most points wins.

Fluent readers quickly recognize words in texts and read at an appropriate rate. This skill (automaticity) allows the reader to concentrate on the meaning of the text instead of on decoding the words. The brain is incapable of doing both at the same time. This is why, nonfluent readers often lose track of meaning--they are too focused on keeping up the pace. Automaticity frees the brain, allowing it to comprehend the text. Read with Speed Preparations for this activity: Determine what concept you would like to focus on for this practice. The focus can be high frequency words, words that demonstrate a phonics concept, orthographic pattern (word family), letter naming, words that demonstrate a morphological concept (prefixes, suffixes, etc.). Then write appropriate words in each box on the Speed Drill page or create a similar chart on large chart paper. You will also need a stopwatch. Distribute individual Speed Drill charts or display a large chart for the group to see. It is always a good practice to demonstrate what you are expecting your students to do. When ready, have the group chorally read the words while you time them using the stopwatch and see how long it takes to get through the speed drill. Next, give each student a chance to read the words using the same speed drill page but do not time them. For the third reading of the speed drill, use a stopwatch again and have students read the words chorally and see if they have reduced their time. You can extend this activity by creating individualized speed drills which target the words/sounds/concepts for each student. They can even chart and graph their progress. Change the speed drill when necessary after students reach a predetermined goal.

Automaticity

Hopscotch Preparations for this activity: Use colorful tape to create a hopscotch board on your floor or draw one on a shower curtain/tablecloth. You will need a small object for students to use as a marker such as a small rock, small beanbag-type object, or block. Determine what concept you would like to focus on for this activity. The focus can be high frequency words, words that demonstrate a phonics concept, orthographic pattern (word family), letter naming, words that demonstrate a morphological concept (prefixes, suffixes, etc.). Write an appropriate word on an index card and tape one card to each section of the hopscotch board. To play, let each student toss the small object to a section. They then have to hop on each of the other remaining sections, turn around at the end, and hop back to the section with their small object which they will now pick up and finish hopping back to the beginning of the board. Each time they hop, however, they must say the word on each section out loud. If the hopper is unable to identify the word on any of the sections, he/she must exit the board and move to the end of the line for another try. The hopper will say the word on the section the small object landed on when he/she stops to pick it up.

Prosody refers to punctuation and phrasing. Fluent readers read in phrases, using intonation and prosodic features of the text. These are your readers that read with appropriate expression. However, this does not always happen automatically. Therefore, doing activities in which students learn to pay attention to punctuation marks and understand what they represent will help in transferring that to sentences and connected text quite easily. Alphabet Prosody Preparation for this activity: Using large index cards, write a single letter and punctuate the letters with punctuation that has been previously taught, for example, A!, B? or C. You will also need white boards and markers. Discuss the purpose of a period, question mark and/or exclamation mark and what they mean to us as readers. Hold up a letter that is followed by a ! and read the letter with excitement. Ask the group to do the same with other letters followed

Prosody

by a !. Then ask individual students to read a letter with excitement. Follow the same procedure with the period and/or question mark and change voice intonation appropriately. Next, say a sound and ask students to write the letter(s) for that sound on a whiteboard. Repeat the sound but in an excited way and ask students to write add the punctuation mark after the letter that makes the read know it needs to be read with excitement. Have students say the sound with excitement as they write it. Repeat this with other punctuation marks. Extension: Give the group a simple sentence to copy onto their whiteboards such as The cat sleeps. Have them read it as a declarative sentence with the period at the end. Then have them change the period to a question mark and read the sentence again, The cat sleeps? Finally, have them change the question mark to an exclamation mark, The cat sleeps! and read it with excitement. Expression Bingo Preparation for this activity: Make a copy of the Expression Bingo Grid, cut apart the Expression Bingo cards and place them in a bag. Write the following words on the board: sad, happy, excited, and angry. Give each student a Expression Bingo Grid along with buttons or chips to use as markers. Next, have the students write excited, happy, sad, and angry in each section of their grid in random order. They should use each word four times. To play, reach into the bag and pull out a card. Have a student volunteer read it with the emotion listed, then ask players to place a marker on a square labeled with the corresponding emotion. The first player to get four markers in a row in any direction should say Bingo! Options: Use words instead of sentences for early readers. Have students write the sentences and emotions.