The ability to read well is arguably the most complex and essential skill a young child will acquire. Future learning is highly dependent upon a child’s ability to read competently and for content. Elements of reading fluency include strong decoding skills, recognition of sight words and the ability to derive meaning from context. A fluent reader will read aloud with appropriate inflection and timing. They will also retain and understand what they have read. Essential Skills provides some of the best reading programs for elementary schools to help early readers build fluency and strengthen reading skills.
Beginning readers are often challenged by getting past the decoding phase of early literacy. When a child must stop to decode most words, the text will lose meaning. Elementary reading programs like the sight words programs from Essential Skills,give early readers lots of opportunities to practice common vocabulary until these words become automatic. Once most of the words of a passage are familiar, reading will begin to feel as natural as speech.
There are many activities teachers can use to enhance reading fluency in their classrooms.
- Play grade-level audiobooks read by professionals.If possible, have your class read along with the soundtrack. Continually use and review sight words Essential Skills Sight Words and Sight Words Level 2 are successful reading programs elementary school teachers can use to promote fluency and enhance the classroom learning experience.
- Use “Repeated Reading” This method has children read a short, grade-level passage repeatedly in a given timeframe and the results are counted and graphed.
- Chunk long sentences into short phrases. Do this visually by writing out sentences and putting slashes where pauses should be. When reading these aloud with the class, you can emphasize the pause by a tap on the desk. Since rhythm and timing are elements of reading fluency this will enhance their abilities.
- Use choral reading with the class. Focus on familiar texts and emphasize rhythm. Kids that are falling behind due to poor decoding skills may soon catch up as they recognize the familiar words from the read aloud. Online elementary reading programs can help students who need extra practice, and the kids can choose their favorite passages to work on.
- Talk about what you’re reading.Before reading a story, have your class make up questions about it based on the title. About halfway through, c review what has happened, who was involved, and what kind of words are used to describe the characters. Ask more questions and try to predict the outcome. Essential Skills Reading Comprehension programs build skills such as, identifying the main idea, predicting outcomes, and using context clues.
- On the board, highlight the common sight words, and have students underline words they don’t know. This activity emphasizes reading for meaning while reinforcing different types of words and giving some extra practice with sight words.Essential Skills reading programs for elementary schools will add plenty of engaging activities to help your students develop into fluent successful readers.