Fluency Strategies for Fourth Grade
1. Record, Check, Chart:
Description: The student can take the chart and recording home in order for the parents or caregivers to listen to it with their child.
Purpose: A type of repeated reading that students can use independently to improve their accuracy. The student's goal is to make fewer errors with each repeated reading.
Directions: The student reads from a photocopy of a passage, which is either a story or a poem, and performs the following steps:
1. The student reads the passage into a recording device.
2. While following the text, the student listens to the recording and marks each word read in error with a black pen.
3. Without replaying the recording, the student reads the same passage into the recording device again.
4. While following the text, the student listens to a second reading and checks each error with a green pen.
5. Without replaying the recording, the student reads the same passage into the recording device again.
6. While following the text, the student listens to the third reading and checks each error with a blue pen.
7. The student tallies the number or errors for each reading.
The student's goal is to make fewer errors with each repeated reading. You can check the accuracy by listening to the three recordings. If the student misses some of the errors, listen to the recording with the student, stop the recording when you hear an unmarked error, and ask the student to listen closely as they following along with the text.
Here is an example of what a Record, Check, Chart would look like based upon the story Secret Soup (1989) by Jenny Hessell.
Student Name: _______________
Description: The student can take the chart and recording home in order for the parents or caregivers to listen to it with their child.
Purpose: A type of repeated reading that students can use independently to improve their accuracy. The student's goal is to make fewer errors with each repeated reading.
Directions: The student reads from a photocopy of a passage, which is either a story or a poem, and performs the following steps:
1. The student reads the passage into a recording device.
2. While following the text, the student listens to the recording and marks each word read in error with a black pen.
3. Without replaying the recording, the student reads the same passage into the recording device again.
4. While following the text, the student listens to a second reading and checks each error with a green pen.
5. Without replaying the recording, the student reads the same passage into the recording device again.
6. While following the text, the student listens to the third reading and checks each error with a blue pen.
7. The student tallies the number or errors for each reading.
The student's goal is to make fewer errors with each repeated reading. You can check the accuracy by listening to the three recordings. If the student misses some of the errors, listen to the recording with the student, stop the recording when you hear an unmarked error, and ask the student to listen closely as they following along with the text.
Here is an example of what a Record, Check, Chart would look like based upon the story Secret Soup (1989) by Jenny Hessell.
Student Name: _______________
Story
1. Secret Soup |
1st Reading Errors
8 |
2nd Reading Errors
5 |
3rd Reading Errors
3 |
Teacher's Comments
Had a difficult time with the words mushroom and lunch |
2. Flash Cards:
Description: Flash cards using key words found in a given passage allow students to practice sight word recognition, a subskill of automaticity.
Purpose: The goal is for the student to recognize the underlines word immediately and read the sentence fluently in one phrase.
Directions: When preparing the flash cards, place the key word in a short sentence so the student can see the word in context. However, do not use a sentence from the book, but rather one that relates to the student's life experience. For examples, in A Fine, Fine School (2001) by Sharon Creech, the words worried and proud appear multiple times. Examples of cards with these words in sentences are the following:
I was worried I would get and F.
I was proud of my new book.