Five Useful Tips for Practicing Reading Fluency

Of all reading skills in the early grades, building reading fluency is THE most important, and most teachers make working on fluency a top priority. However, sometimes we have children who struggle to catch on. In today's post, I'm going to use a poetry set I'm sharing with you to talk about how I work on fluency using my favorite poems and partner plays. 

WELCOME:

As you might notice, this post is the first of a large link up sponsored by The Reading Crew. We are a group of literacy bloggers and specialists who have gotten acquainted through blogging, Teachers Pay Teachers, and mutual friends. We are a passionate bunch, and we love sharing our expertise with you on our blogs and through these link ups. If you enjoy what you see, take a moment to subscribe to our newsletters and follow our blogs so that you actually see what we share. 

At the bottom of each post, you should find a listing of our blog buttons with the topic of our posts. You will simply click them to move to the next post. On each stop, we are telling about a literacy topic of our choice. Some will feature book ideas, instructional apps, writing ideas, or literacy lessons that have worked well for us. There is a free resource on each stop. (Please note that since the blog hop has ended, the poetry set below is now an exculsive free resource for those who subscribe to my newsletter. You will simply need to add your email address, and the link to download the resource is forwarded to you. 😀)

PRETEACH CHALLENGING VOCABULARY

With each poem you use (or any new text really), it's important to pull from it words you feel will be challenging to read or unfamiliar. For some, a brief introduction may be sufficient if the word is not a high utility word. With words that you know will be beneficial in writing or conversation, take more time to develop full understanding and recognition. As you can see in the image to the right, I chose six words in all. Students can cut them out for matching, use context to get an idea of the meaning, and after discussion, they can write a kid friendly definition on the back with a picture or sentence if you like.   

MODEL, MODEL MODEL

When I'm introducing a new poem, we read through the poem chorally first, and I demonstrate the rhythm and phrasing. To help students with the phrasing, you can add slash marks to divide phrases or highligh with two highlighter colors. 

REREAD FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES

Close reading is not just for passages and picture books. We can closely read poetry too, and by this, I mean revisit with a different purpose in mind. Below, you'll find a list of ways you can work in rereading:

⭐ Highlighter hunts for words by spelling pattern or for sightwords

⭐ Questioning about the poem (text evidence)

⭐ Color coding parts of speech or by the number of syllables

⭐ Performance....recordings , partner reads, recitation

⭐ Visualizing using the text

⭐ Analysis of figurative language

⭐ Graphic organizers when they work with the poem, and

⭐ Writing in response to the poem

With each reading, students improve automaticity and deepen understanding. With this poem, I chose to include questioning about the poem, word work with parts of speech, visualizing using text information, and making comparisons. 

CREATE POETRY ANTHOLOGIES

Kids love keepsakes, and if you add each poem you use to a binder or 3 prong folder, your students will each have a book of poems that they can reread on their own, share with friends, share with family, and keep forever. 

MAKE USE OF TECHNOLOGY

There are many great poetry sites available for kids and teachers. My favorite is Ken Nesbitt's site, Poetry4Kids. Another great one is Ted Scheu's site, That Poetry Guy If we can share these as well as others we come across, kids will visit them and read the poems at home. Additionally, with the technology we have, we can also record and keep student readings for comparison from the beginning, middle and end of the year to demonstrate to our parents how the child's improved. 

To download the sample I used, just sign up for my newsletter below. To check out the poetry bundles and resources in my store, click here. I have created a Sports Poetry Bundle, a Poetry on the Menu Bundle, and a Four Seasons Bundle that target grades 2-4 as well as Concept of Word Poetry bundle for Kindergarten and First. I hope you'll enjoy using this one with your students.

POETRY PINS:

For more poetry ideas, I've created this Pinterest board filled with tons of great ideas. 

NEXT STOP

Your next stop is Literacy Matters written by Janiel Wagstaff. Janiel is the author of a book series, Stella Writes, a great set of four books I have enjoyed using as mentor texts as well as a collection of resource books for teachers. Janiel is sharing a new app called Explain Everything, and I can not wait to hear how she uses it. 

Thanks for joining us, and be sure to come back soon. You can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram where I share things regularly. Until next time, happy reading!

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