How To Improve Fluency in Reading

How to Increase Reading Fluency

Fluency is such an important but often missed component to solid reading instruction. I'll share a few tips to improve fluency in readers that you can apply today! We know that Fluency is the ability to read a text correctly, quickly, and with expression. Fluency is imperative because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.We also know that good readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words, they can think more about on what the text means. Use these five reading fluency activities to increase their independent ability.  These reading strategies can be incorporated in ANY elementary classroom.

Fluency Activities for Reading Instruction

How to work on strengthening our students fluency in an engaging way?

Tip One:

Read Aloud To Students Daily to Improve Fluency in Struggling Readers

The number one tip I have is that we should increase they amount we are reading to our students each and every day. By reading aloud, with expression and automaticity, we are modeling for our students what a good reader sounds like. Presenting reading in a way that is fun and meaningful, is a powerful tool. Students need to see reading what reading for pleasure looks like. I like to pick fun and engaging books that fit a natural teaching theme. I just want to be sure the book I pick is intentional to the skill or standard I am trying to teach! I try to read to my students before each subject I teach. I find some way to tie the text together with the content area I am teaching. This way, I am reading aloud to my students at least two to three times a day! I try to read aloud for each subject or content area each day. The more we model for our students what good readers sound like, think and remember, the more our students will gain the necessary skills they need in order to be successful. Through reading aloud, teachers can model how fluent readers read using expression. Be sure to pay close attention to the punctuation so that students can see how punctuation can change the way we read. 

Tip Two:

Provide Shared Reading Experiences for Students

Shared reading is a powerful instructional strategy in the balanced literacy framework. In shared reading, EVERYONE has a copy of the same text. Text can also be displayed using document camera or each student has an individual copy of the text. The teacher models how the text should sound while reading while students read a long. This can be a very quick , daily practice that shouldn’t take too long. I would start with a poem or make a “shared reading notebook”. Students can glue their poem into the notebook and read along.

http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/shared_reading

Tip Three:

Use Fluency Activities During Reading Instruction

I Say, You Point

Students gain fluency in this skill because they are looking for patterns in the word while reading. They hear the word, find it and point/circle. Fluency activities for this are included in ALL grade levels of  my intervention binders. 

Tip Four:

Frontload Vocabulary In Reading Lessons

This is a great instructional reading strategy to use during small group instruction. Before reading a text,  pick 2-3 words that students may not know or understand. Teach the words prior to reading the story so that when students come to the word in the text, they are not struggling with it in context. You do not want to front load EVERY word they do not know, just a few. This helps students from struggling with understand the words meaning while reading. 

Tip Five:

Have Students Try Partner Reading

The student reads aloud in tandem with an accomplished reader. At a student signal, the helping reader stops reading, while the student continues on.

BONUS TIP:

Use Listening Center 

In elementary school, it is important students are exposed to a variety of texts. Reading fluency will increase if you increase the amount of time that students are being read to.  Through a listening center, we are able to address this. The teacher can pick engaging texts that spark student interest.  The added component is a great tool to model what a fluent reader sounds like.

Free Fluency Rubric 

Click HERE To get the free fluency rubric 

My students really enjoy the fast reads during our small group reading instruction and use them with a partner every week! We've included fast reads in every intervention binder. 

Use these tips to improve fluency in reading instruction in your elementary classroom.

How to Make Your Students Fall In Love With Reading

Hey Friends! Sometimes in the crazy chaos life world of the classroom we forget the purpose of why we are there. Is it to make our students have the most AR points in the school? Is it to get the best prize in the school? No. The reason the students are there is to develop a love of learning and master the standards set by the state that you live in.  So how do you do both? How do you make sure that students make the progress on the districts program that they've purchased, master the standards AND love to read?

Create A Warm and Desirable Space

Creating a classroom library can be challenging. Research suggests that we should focus on creating a space that is inviting to the students and comfortable. For my library, I used a teal shag rug. It's lasted for nearly four years! The space was open so that I could always see the students and monitor what they were doing. The library was colorful so the students were engaged with the browsing process. You can read more about how I manage my classroom library here.

 Let Children Decide What To Read

I have my books organized by theme. I do this for a very specific reason. Fountas and Pinnell ( as well as many other reading researchers) suggest that in order to create a classroom library that fosters a love of reading, we should sort our books by theme rather than level. This allows students to "explore" books by their interest.  Children can then explore books that are appealing to them. Books that they desire to read and not books that they have to read or feel like they have to read because of a certain level.

Teachers should teach students how to pick a "just right book". First, students should look for a book that looks appealing to them or sparks their interest. Students should look for a book that they WANT to read. Next students should read the first page of the book and determine if the book is too difficult or too easy for them. If the student has a hard time reading more than five words, the student should pick a different book. In the primary grades, I would let me students browse through harder books. I would tell them "Browse for a bit, then find a keeper". This way, they are still exploring the books they WANT and then moving onto a just right book at the end.

  Independent reading shouldn't be something students have to do, it should be something they want to do. We do this by fostering a love of reading and peaking a students interests. If a student is very interested in sharks, find books about sharks. No matter the age .  For example, this book is for older readers.

I have an extensive classroom library and while it drives my husband crazy every time we (he) packs it up,  the students love it. The purpose for this is that we never know what books our students will like. When parents tell me "Johnny doesn't like to read", I try to respond with, "He hasn't found the right book yet".  When kids find the "right" book, it makes all the difference! For example, as a mom, I didn't particularly want my kids reading books like "Captain Underpants" and stuff like that, however, a child that "doesn't like to read", was READING. So I had to learn, to let go, and let it be. 

By building relationships with your students and discovering their interests,  you will  be able to determine what kind of books are right for that particular student. Creating a large classroom library is an important key to making this all work because you just never know what interest your  students will have. 

 I know this can be expensive. We are thrift store junkies! My family loves to hunt for books for the classroom with me. We hit up garage sales, thrift stores, Goodwill, and teachers who are leaving the profession for books. I have a list of common high interest books here. 

These library labels are easy to manage and ink friendly.

I do keep a separate guided reading section of my library. This is mostly for me and instructional purposes.  This allows students to read on their instructional level during guided reading time.

Display Books Around The Classroom

Displaying books around the classroom will peak students interest in what the books are about. I change these books out often and specifically use books at at different in culture and theme. This way, students are naturally curious about the topic before they ever start to read it! It's a win- win!

Read Aloud to Students

As a first grade and second grade teacher, I read to my students all the time!  When I moved to fourth grade, I wasn't sure if they would "like" to be read to, but, I wanted to make them like it. HA! It worked! The older kids STILL want to be read to. They loved it just as much as the younger kids. I was able to pick more complex text and with advance story lines. Through read aloud, you have the opportunity to model for students how to read while thinking AND get students excited about the text.  Select texts on purpose that purposely relate to the skill or standard you are teaching. Read them with enthusiasm, you are on a stage! Be careful not just to read a book to read a book, remember to always set a purpose for the reading.  One skill that is typically apparent in every book we read is making connections. The students like hearing about our real life experiences and getting to know us outside of the classroom. Through connections in read alouds, students are able to see a different side of their teacher. This is a very powerful teachable moment.
The important idea is that elementary students K-5 still need to be read to. The idea that this strategy for just K-2 is just not supported by research. Reading aloud allows you to teach a standard, while helping students develop a love of reading.



By peaking students interest, finding the right books, modeling how fun reading can be and creating an inviting space for students to read in, you will have readers who WANT to read in no time!