• 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.