Effective Fluency Instruction

We are thrilled to finally release these teaching and practice FLUENCY resources! We hope you enjoy. Let us know if you have any questions. Email us! thesimpleteachers@gmail.com

You can download the "Let's Teach Fluency" or "Let's Practice Fluency" separate or as a bundle to save some money. Teachers need to save a couple bucks, right? :)

We recommend these products for TIER I and/or TIER II instruction for grades 1-3. TIER II instruction for grades 4-5. 

Here is an example lesson! 

Fluency by definition is the ability to read with proper speed, accuracy, and prosody.  

The three elements of fluency,
1. SPEED
2. ACCURACY and
3. PROSODY,
are what we watch for in our readers as we listen to them read aloud.
(Our downloads are geared toward PROSODY elements!)

SPEED AND ACCURACY are used for assessment!

We have many predictors of good reading, one strong predictor is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF).  We can use ORF norms to determine where our students should be in terms of speed and accuracy at a given point in time when they are reading grade level text.  It is best to use reliable and valid measures of ORF when making these determinations (ex. DIBELS, AIMs Web).  You can refer to our ORF  file for further information on this. Download everything you need for progress monitoring ORF on TPT.

Our Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitoring download focuses on assessment, which we measure through speed and accuracy.
If accuracy is an issue, Download our phonics lessons to see improvement!  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Simple-Teachers/Category/Phonics-263921
Sight words could also be the issue... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Words-Assessment-and-Practice-Pack-107-Zeno-High-Frequency-Words-2805910

PROSODY ELEMENTS are used for teaching!

When we teach fluency, we focus on the elements found within Prosody.
The prosody elements are: intonation, volume, stress, pitch, punctuation, expression, smoothness, and phrasing.  These elements of prosody, when taught to young readers, will improve their rate and ability to comprehend text.

A FEW FLUENCY TEACHING REMINDERS...

The most important thing you need to remember is to get kids reading TEXT!  More time spent reading text improves reading ability! As you teach explicit fluency instruction to your class remember it is more than just giving them practice reading.  Here is a quick list of what it is and is not:

What Fluency Instruction IS:

• Focuses on Good Reading = PROSODY!
• Accuracy (Problems in accuracy tell us a Phonics diagnostic assessment is needed.)
• Rate (We do not teach kids to read fast, we use rate as an outcome of our prosody element focus instruction.  We may even teach kids to slow down to comprehend.)
• Uses the Gradual Release of Responsibility
• Includes a Teacher Demonstration with a Think-Aloud
• Teacher Provides Specific and Corrective Feedback to the Students
• Includes Repeated Reading of Texts AND Wide Reading of Texts

What Fluency Instruction IS NOT:

• Getting Kids to Read Fast
• One-Minute Timed Readings (That is how we assess fluency - download our Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitor pack!)
• Only Student Practice Opportunities (We must model and think-aloud)
• Matching Interests of Reader and Text