Fluency Ideas #1

8/6/2019 Fluency Ideas #1

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FluencyIdeas

#1



Fluency Facts!Fluency is “accurate reading at a minimal rate with appropriateprosodic features and deep understanding”. (Hudson, Mercer, &

Lane-2000).!Fluency is necessary but not sufficient for reading comprehension andmotivation.!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 = smallervocabulary = limited comprehension.!Fluency forms the bridge between word identification and constructingmeaning.!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 oninstructional level passages3. Progress Monitoring- is progress being made? Done oninstructional level passages (DRA fluency)

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



AccuracyThe purpose of reading is to comprehend what is being read. Therefore, a keycomponent of reading fluency is accuracy. Students need to read most of thewords correctly in order to understand what they are reading. Here are some

activities that support the development of accuracy:

Let Me Introduce MyselfThis is a good one for the beginning of the year, but it will work anytime. Writethe following sentence starters on the board for students to copy and fill in theblanks:

My name is ______________________________________. I have ____________________brothers and____________________sisters. My favorite game is ________________________________________. My favoritefood is _________________________________. The best time I ever had was __________________________________.

Next, have students pair up with a member of their group, and read theirintroductions. Each partner should listen and hold up a finger for every mistakeand mispronounced word. When students have finished reading, tell the partnerto reveal the number of mistakes and identify them if possible. Have the partnerswitch 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 lastintroduction. Emphasize that the more they reread text, the more accurate theywill become.

Accuracy GameDiscuss that realizing when they have made mistakes is a key to improvingaccuracy. Some readers say nonsense words and keep right on reading.Emphasize that good readers are aware of what is and is not correct. To playthe accuracy game, partner group members together to make teams of 2. Giveeach team a copy of the Accuracy Game page and instruct them to cut apart thesentences (or do this yourself prior to this activity). Have them place thesentence facedown on the floor or table. Explain that each sentence contains a

mistake. Have one partner choose a sentence and practice reading it, including themistake. If a reader is unsure of how to read the sentence, he may ask you or amember of another team for help, but away from his partner. He should then readthe sentence to his partner and the other teams. The partner must listen closelyand 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



the sentence for a point. The team member who chose the sentence must identifythe mistake and say the sentence correctly. Then, it is the other team’s turn. Letstudents track points by making tally marks on a piece of paper. The game endswhen all sentences have been read. The team with the most points wins.

AutomaticityFluent readers quickly recognize words in texts and read at an appropriate rate.This skill (automaticity) allows the reader to concentrate on the meaning of thetext instead of on decoding the words. The brain is incapable of doing both at thesame time. This is why, nonfluent readers often lose track of meaning--they aretoo focused on keeping up the pace. Automaticity frees the brain, allowing it tocomprehend the text.

Read with SpeedPreparations for this activity: Determine what concept you would like to focus onfor this practice. The focus can be high frequency words, words thatdemonstrate a phonics concept, orthographic pattern (word family), letter naming,words that demonstrate a morphological concept (prefixes, suffixes, etc.). Thenwrite appropriate words in each box on the Speed Drill page or create a similarchart on large chart paper. You will also need a stopwatch.

Distribute individual Speed Drill charts or display a large chart for the group tosee. It is always a good practice to demonstrate what you are expecting yourstudents to do. When ready, have the group chorally read the words while youtime them using the stopwatch and see how long it takes to get through thespeed drill. Next, give each student a chance to read the words using the samespeed drill page but do not time them. For the third reading of the speed drill, usea stopwatch again and have students read the words chorally and see if theyhave reduced their time. You can extend this activity by creating individualizedspeed drills which target the words/sounds/concepts for each student. They caneven chart and graph their progress. Change the speed drill when necessaryafter students reach a predetermined goal.



HopscotchPreparations 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 smallobject 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 thisactivity. The focus can be high frequency words, words that demonstrate aphonics concept, orthographic pattern (word family), letter naming, words thatdemonstrate a morphological concept (prefixes, suffixes, etc.). Write anappropriate word on an index card and tape one card to each section of thehopscotch board.

To play, let each student toss the small object to a section. They then have tohop 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 finishhopping back to the beginning of the board. Each time they hop, however, theymust say the word on each section out loud. If the “hopper” is unable to identifythe word on any of the sections, he/she must exit the board and move to the endof the line for another try. The “hopper” will say the word on the section thesmall object landed on when he/she stops to pick it up.

ProsodyProsody refers to punctuation and phrasing. Fluent readers read in phrases, usingintonation and prosodic features of the text. These are your readers that readwith appropriate expression. However, this does not always happenautomatically. Therefore, doing activities in which students learn to pay attentionto punctuation marks and understand what they represent will help intransferring that to sentences and connected text quite easily.

Alphabet ProsodyPreparation for this activity: Using large index cards, write a single letter and

punctuate the letters with punctuation that has been previously taught, forexample, 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 whatthey mean to us as readers. Hold up a letter that is followed by a ! and read theletter with excitement. Ask the group to do the same with other letters followed



by a !. Then ask individual students to read a letter with excitement. Follow thesame procedure with the period and/or question mark and change voice intonationappropriately.

Next, say a sound and ask students to write the letter(s) for that sound on awhiteboard. Repeat the sound but in an excited way and ask students to writeadd the punctuation mark after the letter that makes the read know it needs tobe read with excitement. Have students say the sound with excitement as theywrite it. Repeat this with other punctuation marks.

Extension: Give the group a simple sentence to copy onto their whiteboards suchas “The cat sleeps.” Have them read it as a declarative sentence with the periodat 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 toan exclamation mark, “The cat sleeps!” and read it with excitement.

Expression BingoPreparation for this activity: Make a copy of the Expression Bingo Grid, cut apartthe Expression Bingo cards and place them in a bag.

Write the following words on the board: sad, happy, excited, and angry. Give eachstudent 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 sectionof 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 itwith the emotion listed, then ask players to place a marker on a square labeledwith the corresponding emotion. The first player to get four markers in a row inany direction should say “Bingo!”

Options:

•Use words instead of sentences for early readers.•Have students write the sentences and emotions.

Fluency Ideas #1

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