School Improvement
At Manzanita, our School Improvement Goal related to LITERACY has to do with increasing
students’ oral reading fluency. Below is some information adapted from the website
readingrockets.org. I encourage
you to visit this website for more information and activities that you might
explore with your child.
Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy,
and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be
able to read fluently whether they
are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in
phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has
expression.
What parents
can do at home to support fluency development:
- Check with your
child's teacher to find out their assessment of your child's word decoding
skills.
- If your child can
decode words well, help him or her build speed and accuracy by:
- Reading
aloud and having your child match his voice to yours
- Having
your child practice reading the same list of words, phrase, or short
passages several times
- Reminding
your child to pause between sentences and phrases
- Read aloud to your
child to provide an example of how fluent reading sounds. Even older students enjoy and can
benefit from this.
- Give your child books
with predictable vocabulary and clear rhythmic patterns so the child can
"hear" the sound of fluent reading as he or she reads the book
aloud.
- Use audio books; have
the child follow along in the print copy.
- Encourage your child
to read passages or poems aloud repeatedly.
Modeling a love of reading---where students see family
members read, where they read together, and talk about reading---is one of the
very best things that parents can do to support students’ academic
development…and is a special gift for families to enjoy!
