Tuesday Tips and Tricks: Fluency

Tomorrow (Wednesday, 2/1), your child is bringing home his or her scores on the benchmark test we took last week.  There are scores for sight words, fluency, and the benchmark test.  Sight words and the test are self-explanatory, but what exactly is fluency and why is it important?

Fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression.  Fluency is an important piece in the comprehension puzzle.  The ultimate goal of reading instruction is comprehension.  Students should be able to independently comprehend what they read.  Fluency leads to better comprehension.  When students spend all of their time and energy decoding words, they forget what they are reading about.  Their reading is too choppy and stunted to amount to much meaning.  Fluent readers are able to focus all of their energy on understanding and remembering the story. 

If you would like to help your child improve his or her fluency, try these activities:

• Repeated readings:  Have your child read the same passage over multiple times.  Time the reader each time and keep track of their times.  This gives young students a visual representation of their progress.
• Reader's theaters/plays:  Put on a family play or skit.  Have your student read his or her lines over to practice for the play.
• Fry Instant Phrases:  Download the phrases here and have your child read them multiple times.  You can try the timing technique so you and your child can see the improvement.
• Re-read a favorite book:  Reading the same text increases speed, word automaticity, and fluency.

For more information on fluency, visit Reading Rockets.  This website has a child-friendly rubric you and your child can use together to assess his or her reading fluency.