Elementary Matters: word sort

Fluency is a big buzzword these days.

I've seen it used for reading stories, decoding, and even math facts!

A Few Thoughts About Fluency: After extensive training on helping children read, we've narrowed fluency down to these 4 parts.

Since I attended my second session of the LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training a few weeks ago, I've thought a lot about reading fluency.

A Few Thoughts About Fluency and a Freebie: After extensive training on helping children read, we've narrowed fluency down to these 4 parts.

LETRS training was one of the best PD training ever!

Studies indicate a direct relation between fluency and comprehension.

No surprises there, it makes sense that struggling readers would struggle with comprehension. If they have a hard time figuring out the words, it's not very likely they will put together the meaning easily.

The experts define reading fluency with 4 phrases:

1. automaticity in word recognition

2. accurate word recognition

3. rate (speed) of reading

4. prosody, or expression

So, how do we build fluency?

Practice both phonetic patterns as well as sight words. Feel free to download my short a/ long a practice freebie by clicking the graphic above or click here: Vowel Word Work Freebie (You'll need to sign up for my emails, which means you'll get plenty more freebies!)

Practice reading phrases and sentences a few words at a time. (Phrasing)

Practice reading simple paragraphs with expression.

Oral Reading with a partner. (using text of appropriate difficulty... "just right" text! 95 - 100% accuracy)

Monitored Independent Reading

This full resource has all 5 vowel patterns: long and short vowels, with real words as well as nonsense words. Vowel Word Work: Word Sort and Fluency Practice