Isaac Dickson Elementary School
A Community of Engaged, Active, Hands-On Learners
- Isaac Dickson Elementary School
- Parent Links
- Fluency Reading Activities
Ms. Garner's 1st Grade
Page Navigation
-
Fluency Reading Activities
Increasing Your Child’s Fluency at Home
Research has found that an important element for reading success is the ability to read
fluently. Fluent reading is automatic and is accurate. A fluent reader reads at an
appropriate pace, with expression, and good phrasing. Fluency demonstrates that
children can figure out words using phonics and other word study skills, and
understands or comprehends what they read. Activities to practice fluency are fun and
easy to do. Here are some fluency activities to try at home throughout the school year.
Echo Reading involves you reading one line of a poem or story and your child
repeating the same line after you have read. Increase the number of lines read at one
time as the child's reading improves. Ask your child to follow the story with their finger to
be sure he/she is looking at the words. Let your child read first with easy materials. Try
to echo read once a week.
Choral Reading involves a story that your child has read before or that is easy for
him/her to read. Read the text together. Lead the reading by using expression and
appropriate pacing. Choral read once a week.
Reader's Theater is a read-aloud activity. Roles are distributed and each person reads
when his/her character speaks. This should be done with easy reading materials for
your child that includes conversation. Fables are often good pieces of literature for
Reader's Theatre since they are short and have well defined characters. Try this when
you find a good selection for the activity.
Partner Reading involves sharing reading. You read a sentence or half the page, and
ask your child to read one sentence or half the page. As reading improves each partner
can read an entire page or section. Try partner reading once a week.
Taped Stories provide good samples for listening to fluent reading. When using a taped
story have the child follow the text with his/her finger or read along to help with fluency.
Have children tape their own stories and evaluate their reading for fluency.
Repeated Reading involves your child in reading books or stories more than once in
the same week. Tape record your child reading orally, before you begin the fluency
activities and tape-record again after you have read and recorded for about two months.
Then do another oral reading taping. Evaluate if the reading flows smoothly at a good
pace, with expression and all words are decoded.