
Welcome!
On this site you will find information and strategies to utilize in the classroom setting.
*This site is continually being managed and updated. There may be times where areas may seem incomplete.*
Summary of Content Knowledge
Strategies
Apps
Website
References
Stop & Go
Have a student read a short passage. When the student comes across a punctuation mark, notify them to stop. Pause for 3 seconds and say "Go" for the student to begin reading again. Do this for the entire passage. The second time through instruct the student to take a big deep breath every time he/she comes across a punctuation mark. The third time through instruct the student to read the passage naturally.
Voice Jar
Have a "jar" full of different voice styles. The students will pick out a voice from the jar and read the passage or reading with that voice expression the entire time. Students may need a demonstration by the teacher of the different voice styles to know what each one could sound like and to build confidence to do it on their own. For a less intimidating environment, have students work in small groups for this activity.
Real-Life Sentences
Using large pieces of paper, create a sentence on the floor of the classroom. Have students step on each word as they say it and stomp on the punctuation mark. For an extension to this, have a passage of sentences around the room. The students will step on each word as they say it and stomp on the punctuation mark. As their "pause" between sentences students will walk to the next sentence of the passage and repeat.
Choral Reading
Pick a poem for students and you to read as a class. As the teacher, begin reading and when students feel comfortable, they can join in. Read the poem multiple times for students to be joined in throughout the entire passage multiple times. After reading the passage a few times, students should grasp the generally flow of the story and the whole class reading will sound in sync and fluent.
Reader's Theater
Find a reader's theater script appropriate for your students level online. A great resource to use for this is: . Once you have found a script devote about 10 minutes a day for students to practice. The first day have all students read the entire script multiple times so they can get the feel and flow of it. The next day parts may be assigned and students can start their practice with their groups. Once students become more comfortable with their lines, encourage them to start using expression to really play the part of their character. Have them analyze and discover how their character feels and acts throughout the story, then start having children really get into the role and be that part of the script. After a few week of practice with their scripts, students can perform their reader's theater in front of the whole class. Be sure all students have their scripts with them to eliminate nerves. This is a great fun activity for students of all ages!
Fluency is made up of automaticity, rate, and prosody. It is the ability to read texts accurately, "quickly", and with expression. Rate is the amount of words and speed at which a student is able to read, accuracy refers to the ability at which the student is able to read words in a text. Prosody is when students use pitch, stress, pausing, rate, and timing while they read to help convert meaning. Fluency is an extremely important concept of reading because it has a direct connection with comprehension and word recognition. When a student in fluent in reading they gain more meaning from the text because they do not have to spend a lot of time sounding every word out which exhausts their energy from actually grasping the meaning of the text. It is extremely important to focus on student's fluency skills even when they are lower level readers who still need help decoding words. There are many fun and engaging activities to do with students of all ages and reading levels to improve their fluency level. The Theory of Automaticity is when students are capable of recognizing letters and letter sounds automatically. Students will then begin to be able to read words on a page without unnatural hesitations. Students will also be able to understand what the words mean on a subconscious level.
http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading-basics/fluency
https://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/
http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/literacy/20-ipad-apps-to-teach-elementary-reading/
https://www.readnaturally.com/product/one-minute-reader#custom242
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reading-speed-fluency-builder/id1080258925?mt=8
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/5-surefire-strategies-developing-reading-fluency
This website has 5 great strategies to use for fluency. I will be sure to resource to this website when I have my future classroom. The reader's theater section this website has, includes a plethora of resources on where to find scripts and printable props for final performances! This is a great website to have on hand when in need of a fluency strategy and passage to work on with students.
Rainbow Sentences
Rainbow sentences color codes sentences based on the who/ what/ where/ when/ why that are included in the sentence. It helps students to construct grammatically correct sentences in a colorful way. This app could be a great one for English Language Learners. If students choose correct answers in the app they unlock a new puzzle piece, as students build sentences, they also build fun puzzles!
With students, I would most definitely consider this app for any ELL students I have in my classroom as it is interactive and engaging. I would also use this app as a writing center for younger students during the school year when they are learning how to construct grammatically correct sentences.
One Minute Reader
This app is a great tool to use for students in the classroom! It is brought about by the research based Read Naturally Strategy to improve fluency. With this app students choose a passage and cold read it. After they complete this, the student will then read along quietly with a recording of the reading 3 times. This is to model fluent reading. Next, the student reads alone while practicing reading with expression and accurately. This is the repeated- reading portion. The student will then complete a quick quiz about the story, after this the student will receive a graph that shows how much they have improved since the cold read.
With students, I would definitely take time out of the day, probably once or twice a week, to work with this app. This is a great tool to use because students can see their own progress which is a great confidence booster!
Reading Speed/ Fluency Builder
This app is presented in a game like setting. Students begin with simple passages at slower speeds, once they have mastered this step they will move up. Students can practice multiple different passages at all levels and "at a glance" reports show you how readers are improving. This app models fluent reading and also uses repeated reading which are two important aspects of a student becoming fluent in reading. There is a 'Fun Reward Center' which helps to increase student motivation in reading.
With students, I would most likely encourage this app use outside of the classroom at home. This is because it is presented in a more game like matter and students could be improving their learning at home without even realizing it! This is a great app to use for students of all ages and the best part is it's free so parents at home will gladly download it so their student can succeed at the highest level possible!
Artifact
This chart is a great tool to have posted in the classroom for student reference as needed. It contains many different ways to improve fluency while reading and can help students build their skills. Students may choose one strategy to focus on while reading or may practice using multiple of them to improve their fluency in reading.

