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Reasing help ks1-fluency? how to improve

30 replies

mam29 · 09/11/2012 20:21

dd year 2

got 1b reading last year.

This year readings progressed does seem like its clicked.

Last term felt books were too easy and kept having to say to teacher to reveiw.
We were limited to reading 4pages a night which took week half to read a book had to work through books in sequenece and work way up levels they only had ort/ginn 360 ended term ginn level 5.

The teacher kept going on about how its not just decoding its reading comprehension-we ask her questions after each story so really struggled to work out what issue was.

Anyways she started new school been there a week.
They not so preoccupied with levels like old school was.
theres no limit on how many books they can read.
euther child or parent can pick book ourselves from libary.

feels so weird, they use variety of reading schemes plus online bug club.

I was speaking to teacher she said

shes strong at phonics knows all her sounds
shes can decode
no issues with comprehension.

She needs to improve her fluency?

what does this mean

we read a lot at home as mentioned before old school reading scheme was boring, limited and slow.

it appears shes moving down a guided reading group with average year 2 and some year 1s.

The school seems very focussed on reading and thinking thats a good thing.
teacher just said keep reading with her.

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simpson · 09/11/2012 20:43

I think you reading to her is key also.

It's about hearing expression in your voice and making what she is reading sound interesting iyswim.

You could read a sentence to her like "Wow I am so excited to be doing xxx!!!"

Read it the "correct" way and then the incorrect way ie with a sad voice and ask her which one is the correct one...

When you read to her, make the book sound exciting (not saying you don't do this already)...

DS (yr3) is a good reader but needs to work on his expression a bit so this is what we are doing...

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crazygracieuk · 09/11/2012 20:43

I'm not a teacher but I think it's a speed thing.

Ds2 is a similar level to your dd and he has gone from having to stop and sound out a lot of words to only having to sound out the odd word in a sentence. A fluent reader would read at a consistent speed.

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crazygracieuk · 09/11/2012 20:44

Ds2 sometimes re reads sentences - especially if it's a long one where he's paused to sound out a few words.

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mrz · 09/11/2012 20:57

I agree with simpson about reading to her - modelling the skills you want her to develop, also reading together and talking about what you have read.

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learnandsay · 09/11/2012 21:08

Saying "Oh, I'm so happy," in a joyous voice is expression. Fluency, as crazy was explaining has to do with reading without halting. It's reading in a constant flow. It's a lot like speaking a foreign language fluently and not having to stop all the time and look things up or ask people what things mean. Also it's a confidence thing.

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simpson · 09/11/2012 21:13

But I think the 2 go hand in hand, you can read very quickly in a wooden voice and I would not say that that particular child was reading fluently iyswim...

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mrz · 09/11/2012 21:41

I have a girl in my Y1 class who reads every word correctly without any difficulty but she is mechanical and while she can retell the story and answer questions about what she has read she isn't as good a reader as the boy reading books at a lower book band who reads with expression, who puts on different voices for different characters, who has a questioning voice and an exclamation voice ... Interestingly her mum hears her read every night while his reads to him every night.

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learnandsay · 09/11/2012 21:43

So, simpson, how would you distinguish what you're saying from reading with expression? Or are you simply saying that you believe children reading fluently should also naturally read with expression?

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mam29 · 09/11/2012 21:44

Thanks guys that makes sense.

We read with her frequently last nite read three little pigs and tried to mimic the wolfs soft voice.

She can read all the books getting 95%words corect but guess their are some pauses/stops and starts as she thinks and decodes.

Felt the old school were holding her back and she was starting to hate reading and get upset most of class were higher levels.

New teacher says shes not as confident as other kids in her class wants her to read widely and enjoy reading.
There is no homework apart from reading so hoping by end of year 2 can embed some good reading techniques ready for juniors .

Old teacher never mentioned fluency just comprehension and she was so bored as couldent read whole book.

will read a book each night and maybe online bug club enthuse her more too.

would audio books help do you think? if teh demonstrate and use expressive voices?

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simpson · 09/11/2012 21:50

I think if you read to your kids a lot then then reading with expression should come naturally to them.

Obviously in some cases it doesn't.

But I read to DD every day and she reads with fantastic expression, DS who has refused a bedtime story since he was 5 because it was babyish Hmm does not and has to work on it now.

I think in the OP's case, it is probably due to her lack of confidence in reading over issues with her previous school iyswim and the obsession with reading levels and only allowed to read 4 pages per night (WTF)...

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simpson · 09/11/2012 21:51

When you read, you naturally exaggerate the words to make the book more exciting so it is different from every day speech...

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simpson · 09/11/2012 21:52

The OP's DD I mean....

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Ferguson · 09/11/2012 21:58

I used to tell my 'flat' readers that they sounded like a robot, and modelled the sentence in a halting robot voice; they found this very amusing, and soon got the idea!


{I do hate these US spell checkers that tell me there is only one 'l' in 'modelled' ! But it is Ubuntu Linux, and it's free, so I shouldn't really complain.}

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mam29 · 09/11/2012 22:01

Thanks simpson.

her confidence during year 1 and last term knocked keeps saying shes bad at reading , she never catch up. The kids were very competative knew what levl books and boxes they were on.

I do think at times she sees reading as a chore boring and frustrating.

she did read an early readers orien chapter book and loves it as felt she was reading grown up book.

We praise her constantly her reading has improved.


Im sure reading more to her and dd reading wider variety other than dreaded ort will help she loves no fiction books, loves going to libary and completed reading challenge over summer. Her new school seems much less formal and more fun.

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mrz · 09/11/2012 22:02

I used to tell my Y2 class I wanted them to read with "attitude" ...they understood that better than with expression

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simpson · 09/11/2012 22:27

I like the reading with "attitude" I might stealtry that!!

I do re-read passages to him exactly how he has read it and then re-read it again with expression and ask him which one he would rather listen too.

He is not totally wooden in his reading (far from it) but he does need to work on it....

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simpson · 09/11/2012 22:36

Sorry for hi- jack OP Blush

Sounds like your DD will do so much better at this new school Smile

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wigglywoowoo · 09/11/2012 22:52

Sorry to hijack but are different voices for each character necessary to be reading with expression(attitude)? DD will do sad, angry, happy etc but not in a different voice. Her teacher has indicated that she would like more expression but DD is quite shy and I don't think she will ever do other voices. Sad

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simpson · 09/11/2012 23:00

How old is your DD??

DS is quite shy too so this is not helping....

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wigglywoowoo · 09/11/2012 23:19

She's just turned 6 in Y1. I just think she doesn't have the confidence to do this yet but as she reads well the teacher expects more from her.

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simpson · 09/11/2012 23:43

She is still very young...

When I think back to how DS read in yr1 (ie with very little expression at all!!)

One thing that does seem to be working is to try and find simpler books than they can read normally.

DS (yr3) read one of DD's song birds books (stage6) which was a play and he had to come up with a different voice for each different character he was reading (both kids loved doing it as they got to read together)...

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wigglywoowoo · 09/11/2012 23:50

Thanks Simpson that is a fab suggestion. So they are really required for example to use 6 different voices for the 6 characters in an ORT book?

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simpson · 10/11/2012 00:01

Not sure about 6 different voices, DD certainly wouldn't (she is in reception) but she would use a very different voice when someone is speaking to the rest of the text iyswim...

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wigglywoowoo · 10/11/2012 00:19

Thanks that sounds reasonable :O)

Mam29 sorry for the hijack. It sounds like she has settled in ok and that she is at a school much more suited to her. Did you move her to the village school you posted about?

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Malaleuca · 10/11/2012 03:27

I use the books from www.piperbooks.co.uk for fluency building.

They are one of the best series of decodables, gradually increasing in complexity, without introducing too much new vocabulary in any one story, yet continuing to give practice of all that has gone before.
They are short story format. They do not overcue as some decodables do.

I do fluency work with books that are already 'mastered', not those presenting new material, or with the sub-skills. One sub-skills is knowing all letter-sound correspondences to automaticity - not just knowing them!

I like 'reading with attitude' - my phrase is 'read like you talk'.

There are data for reading fluency for children. www.readnaturally.com/pdf/oralreadingfluency.pdf

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