To help your child to improve his/her reading fluency, as well as word accuracy when reading unknown words, please follow these steps.
1. If your child pauses longer than a few seconds on a word – tell him/her to “skip” it and continue on to the end of the sentence. Follow this process even if s/he misses several words in the sentence.
2. When your child finishes the sentence, have him/her reread the sentence a second time. Again, “skip” unknown words if s/he pauses for more than a few seconds.
3. After reading the sentence a second time, have your child stop and think about the sentence. Ask him/her what they think sentence is telling them. Ask questions that would lead them to say the unknown word.
4. Now have your child reread the sentence a third time.
5. This time allow him/her to stop at the unknown word and “sound it out.”
6. First, have him/her look at the beginning, middle and ending letters. Then they can begin to “sound it out.”
7. However, DO NOT let your child sound it out by individual letters/sounds! Ex: for “stuffed”; child SHOULD NOT say: “s-t-u-ff-d.” Rather, your child should “sound out the whole word.” i.e. “st-u-fd.” (Does this make sense to you? If you are confused, please contact me! I will be glad to talk about it and demonstrate at school or even over the phone!)
8. NOW – have your child reread the sentence a fourth time. This time we want to establish the fluency and smooth pacing of reading.
9. To help even more – after your child completed the page, have him/her reread the ENTIRE PAGE!
10. Finally, when your child finishes the book (or chapter) have him/her reread it. Now, s/he will be able to concentrate on developing fluency and comprehension!
Thanks for your help and commitment on improving your child’s reading fluency and comprehension!
