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Def: It is the overall awareness and understanding of how individual units of sound function in language.

This is sound based and does not involve print.

It is the ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of words and think about larger chunks in words.

This includes phonemic awareness-the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds.

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This toolkit helps teachers and families understand the difference between phonemic and phonological awareness and how to support a child’s development of these important reading skills.

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Phonics is a system of phoneme-grapheme correspondences. It is a strategy for decoding new words and is an essential part of reading instruction.

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Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly.

able to recognize words automatically

able to group words quickly

It is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. It helps to make connections and recognize words and comprehend at the same time.

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Definition- Comprehension is the: "intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader" Harris & Hodges, 1995.

Necessary for making meaning: background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy/print knowledge.

Text Types: narrative, informational, and argumentative.

Text Structures: How is the content of an informational text organized and communicated?

sequence

compare and contrast

cause and effect

problem and solution

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There are three levels of Vocabulary

Morphology

Syntax

Semantics

Morphology is the internal organization of words.

words consist of one or more smaller units called morphemes

Syntax is the structure or rules for determining how words can be combined in sentences, clauses, and phrases to express a complete thought

Semantics: aspect of language concerned with meaning.

Critical part in language comprehension

Helps students learn to read, express themselves, understand instructions, participate in conversations, and make sense of the world.

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If you’re a phonics teacher, use phonics.org to access top-rated resources, activities, and phonics instruction programs for your students.

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Guidelines for instruction

Provide children with opportunities to read and reread a range of stories and informational texts by reading on their own, partner reading, or choral reading.

Introduce new or difficult words to children, and provide practice reading these words before they read on their own.

Include opportunities for children to hear a range of texts read fluently and with expression.

Suggest ideas for building home-school connections that encourage families to become involved actively in children's reading development.

Encourage periodic timing of children's oral reading and recording of information about individual children's reading rate and accuracy.

Model fluent reading, then have students reread the text on their own.

What students should read

Fluency develops as a result of many opportunities to practice reading with a high degree of success. Therefore, your students should practice rereading aloud texts that are reasonably easy for them – that is, texts containing mostly words that they know or can decode easily. In other words, the texts should be at the students' independent reading level.

A text is at students' independent reading level if they can read it with about 95% accuracy. If the text is more difficult, students will focus on word recognition and will not have an opportunity to develop fluency.

The text your students practice rereading orally should also be relatively short – probably 50-200 words, depending on the age of the students. You should also use a variety of reading materials, including stories, nonfiction, and poetry. Poetry is especially well suited to fluency practice because poems for children are often short and they contain rhythm, rhyme, and meaning, making practice easy, fun, and rewarding.

Model fluent reading

By listening to good models of fluent reading, students learn how a reader's voice can help written text make sense. Read aloud daily to your students. By reading effortlessly and with expression, you are modeling for your students how a fluent reader sounds during reading.

Repeated reading

After you model how to read the text, you must have the students reread it. By doing this, the students are engaging in repeated reading. Usually, having students read a text four times is sufficient to improve fluency. Remember, however, that instructional time is limited, and it is the actual time that students are actively engaged in reading that produces reading gains.

Have other adults read aloud to students. Encourage parents or other family members to read aloud to their children at home. The more models of fluent reading the children hear, the better. Of course, hearing a model of fluent reading is not the only benefit of reading aloud to children. Reading to children also increases their knowledge of the world, their vocabulary, their familiarity with written language ("book language"), and their interest in reading.

Activities for students to increase fluency

There are several ways that your students can practice orally rereading text, including student-adult reading, choral (or unison) reading, tape-assisted reading, partner reading, and readers' theatre.

Student-adult reading

In student-adult reading, the student reads one-on-one with an adult. The adult can be you, a parent, a classroom aide, or a tutor. The adult reads the text first, providing the students with a model of fluent reading. Then the student reads the same passage to the adult with the adult providing assistance and encouragement. The student rereads the passage until the reading is quite fluent. This should take approximately three to four rereadings.

Choral reading

In choral, or unison, reading, students read along as a group with you (or another fluent adult reader). Of course, to do so, students must be able to see the same text that you are reading. They might follow along as you read from a big book, or they might read from their own copy of the book you are reading. For choral reading, choose a book that is not too long and that you think is at the independent reading level of most students. Patterned or predictable books are particularly useful for choral reading, because their repetitious style invites students to join in. Begin by reading the book aloud as you model fluent reading.

Then reread the book and invite students to join in as they recognize the words you are reading. Continue rereading the book, encouraging students to read along as they are able. Students should read the book with you three to five times total (though not necessarily on the same day). At this time, students should be able to read the text independently.

Tape-assisted reading

In tape-assisted reading, students read along in their books as they hear a fluent reader read the book on an audiotape. For tape-assisted reading, you need a book at a student's independent reading level and a tape recording of the book read by a fluent reader at about 80-100 words per minute. The tape should not have sound effects or music. For the first reading, the student should follow along with the tape, pointing to each word in her or his book as the reader reads it. Next, the student should try to read aloud along with the tape. Reading along with the tape should continue until the student is able to read the book independently, without the support of the tape.

Partner reading

In partner reading, paired students take turns reading aloud to each other. For partner reading, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers. The stronger reader reads a paragraph or page first, providing a model of fluent reading. Then the less fluent reader reads the same text aloud. The stronger student gives help with word recognition and provides feedback and encouragement to the less fluent partner. The less fluent partner rereads the passage until he or she can read it independently. Partner reading need not be done with a more and less fluent reader. In another form of partner reading, children who read at the same level are paired to reread a story that they have received instruction on during a teacher-guided part of the lesson. Two readers of equal ability can practice rereading after hearing the teacher read the passage.

Readers' theatre

In readers' theatre, students rehearse and perform a play for peers or others. They read from scripts that have been derived from books that are rich in dialogue. Students play characters who speak lines or a narrator who shares necessary background information. Readers' theatre provides readers with a legitimate reason to reread text and to practice fluency. Readers' theatre also promotes cooperative interaction with peers and makes the reading task appealing.

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Fluency: Instructional Guidelines and Student Activities

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The best strategy for developing reading fluency is to provide your students with many opportunities to read the same passage orally several times. To do this, you should first know what to have your students read. Second, you should know how to have your students read aloud repeatedly.

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For older students learning about figurative language, this would be a helpful visual resource.

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Phonics & Stuff offers free reading games for pre-readers through early reading. Each game focuses on specific phonics skill and has customizable options for the student’s needs.

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Let's Learn RHYMING {Phonemic Awareness}

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Perform without the need for props, costumes, or a set! Reader's Theater Scripts adapted from our leveled books and other sources give students essential practice in oral reading fluency and public speaking. The scripts also provide an opportunity for group interaction and student cooperation.

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Perform without the need for props, costumes, or a set! Reader's Theater Scripts adapted from our leveled books and other sources give students essential practice in oral reading fluency and public speaking. The scripts also provide an opportunity for group interaction and student cooperation.

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This is a figurative language game where students identify a part of speech and get to play a game after answering questions correctly.

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Javascript needs to be enabled in order to play games. Enable javascript on your browser. If you are at a school that has filtering software, inform your technology administrator to whitelist this website and allow the rocketloader proxy to connect so it can deliver the required files for game play. Site administrators can reach out to us for additional help if needed.

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Javascript needs to be enabled in order to play games. Enable javascript on your browser. If you are at a school that has filtering software, inform your technology administrator to whitelist this website and allow the rocketloader proxy to connect so it can deliver the required files for game play.

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This provides a series of strategies that students can use to help with their comprehension.