Ideas for Teaching Fluency in First Grade!

HOW do I start first grade fluency ? This is a really important question! As a matter of fact I am headed to Vegas to speak on fluency at the SDE iTeach1st Conference! That's how important fluency is to me and how much it benefits my students in the literacy growth.

Other super key questions are WHEN should I start fluency and WHAT materials should I use?
I am nobody’s boss, but let me share what I do.

FALL FLUENCY & SIGHT WORDS
In the fall we work really hard on sight word fluency. I want them to master 300 words by the end of the year. They are divided into groups of 10 (30 lists) and placed into daily homework folders. The sight words are very prominent in the set up. They are half sheets and become very well worn by the end of the school year! The fluency passage is right there next to the sight words, so that both can be read easily!

We practice them daily in class, during afternoon reading buddies, and for homework. We really hit them hard and play a lot of sight word games I  found on Pinterest.

 

After speaking at a kinder conference in the spring, it occurred to me that I should be doing single-passage fluency in the fall.  But how would I start? What would it look like? This might be how you are feeling too.

FALL FLUENCY & PASSAGES:
I hit the books, “Googled” it, talked to others and, honestly, I prayed. How and when would I introduce single-sheet passages to my firsties? Shouldn’t they be turning the pages of little books in the fall? Are their “reading eyes” too new for passages?  First graders are fragile and if you overwhelm them, they FREAK out. Oh my goodness could I really consider timing these babies on words per minute? Prayer, Google, Diebles, and Fran Kramer, Prayer, Google, Diebles, Fran Kramer REPEAT. This was how I spent my summer and I came up with a plan. Research told me first graders should not be timed until December or January. Shared reading is how I decided to start with a soft launch into passages.

 

This is my pocket chart. I know this looks like teaching from 1992, but this works. I wrote out the single sheet fluency passage onto sentence strips and created comprehension picture cards that go with the fluency.  I also wrote the fluency to have very readable and predictable text!
In this way (Pocket chart style) I begin to model fluency, 1 to 1 correlation, and vocal intonation, rate, and accuracy.

Then the kids take over the pointer and the real magic happens. I mean look at those babies! Hands in the air BEGGING to read. Be still my heart!

 

We pull picture cards off and put them back on to encourage comprehension. I hand out the cards and when you hear the line read that matches your card you get to come up and put it on the chart.

The kids LOVE getting up and reading off the “Big Chart”. We do a lot of echo reading at this point too!
FALL FLUENCY & SIMPLIFIED PASSAGES:
Keeping it readable is key. I really think my job in this first trimester is to help the children see themselves as readers! Many of their skills are lying just under the surface and with a little practice, luck, and love those skills will come bursting through as will a confident and excited reader. So I wrote really easy, but engaging passages. They should be easily mastered within a few days so the kids can begin to build their fluent voices!

Passages come with and without numbers so that children can be timed or not.

FALL FLUENCY & ART:
You know that I believe art is important. There is no denying I am into making learning fun. Each passage has a darling art project and bulletin board lettering for you to display.  Does a pretty room equal smart kids? No. Does an engaged child equal a smart child? More often than not. I display the art we will create next to the fluency passage on my chart to get them excited and pumped up about the passage we are reading.

FLUENCY and WRITING
These go hand in hand!!! I LOVE having my students write about our fluency topic. The ideas are ones they are SO familiar with! By Friday, when we sit down to write, the ideas flow easily and they can concentrate a little more on conventions. Please, God, let them capitalize, punctuate, and use finger spaces. PLEASE!
I adore “processes of learning” maps, Thinking maps, or smart charts. Whatever you call them, they help the kids organize their thinking and I like that! Kids at this age level need that all year, not just in the fall! These are our Circle Maps for the healthy foods we like to eat!
FLUENCY MATERIALS- Informational Text
In my opinion the content read by kids in a fluency manner should be Social Studies and Science based! Kids are hungry to read about the real world. This is also a simple way to get informational reading into my day! If they are going to read a passage no less than 20 times, shouldn’t it be worth while? Shouldn’t it add to their schema? I think it should. Any of the images below are clickable.

If you want to try some of the Fall units you can buy a few separately to get a taste of the goodness!

   

Plus, of course you get the comprehension pictures to go along with a pocket chart !

Pocket Chart:

Obviously pocket chart, holder, or sentence strips are not included. I am pretty sure I don’t have to say that, but you never know….

Bulletin Board Lettering and Art Masters:

 

  Great blog post on how to start teaching fluency at the start of first grade

Bonus Free Resource Links and Pocket Chart Pictures:

Bulletin Board Lettering and Art Masters:

 

Pocket Chart Pictures:

 

Bulletin Board Lettering and Art Masters:

Not pictured since the kids do the art on Tuesday! I promise to update this post for sure when they complete the art!

 

FALL FLUENCY LESSON PLANS & TEACHER HELPERS

Each packet comes with easy to read lesson plans and explanations for how I run my successful program. It’s a very common sense approach. 20 minutes of your school day will turn into the most powerful minutes of your day for building comprehension and fluency!

If you are hungry for more games, strategies, and materials I wrote a 101 post {here}.

Let’s get these little babies reading. Let’s have some fun together in the midst of Common Core drama. Let’s just teach reading to the best of our ability with Social Studies and Science passages that matter in real life!

Check out the newsletter {here} where I got to share a little fluency tip!

 Comprehension and Fluency
I really love fluency and just cannot help but share that passion! If you have any questions, inspirations, or ah-ha moments I'd LOVE to hear them! You can always email me or leave a comment!
katieknight@sbcglobal.net

See Ya'll in Vegas.
XOXO!!!!