Fluency Practice

After a few weeks of school our language arts department does a district-wide language arts benchmark to record where our students are coming in at.  One of the biggest (and longest) parts of the process is finding their independent reading level.  We use the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System now.  That was a change from the DRA system that I liked.  

Before I have the children read with me I do a week-long FLUENCY review where kids work with their peers to practice reading aloud and using their retelling skills.  

I began our week by working on reading aloud appropriately and explaining what fluency was.  I put on an anchor chart that we were focused on:

• Stopping at periods and commas
• Reading with expression (especially when we see question marks and exclamation marks)
• Reading at a quick speed like we are having a conversation

Before practicing with our reading partners we first watched Tim Tebow read Green Eggs and Ham on YouTube here.  This is a great way to grab the attention of the boys in your classroom, especially during football season!

(Side note: I have the SWEETEST kids in my room.  I told the kids that I was Tim Tebow's future wife and would have to call me Mrs. Tebow soon so when we did an assessment later in the week one of my sweet girls drew this:

LOL!!

Later on in the week we used our basal online system, Think Central, so practice reading troubled words.  Then we practiced retelling and reading while thinking.  

So far the kids are doing great on their independent levels.  We've got work to do but we're off to a great start!