Fluency+ - Lets gets started
Reading fluency is the ability to quickly process letters, letters patterns, and words. Fluency+ uses a simple, research-based strategy called Short Passage Fluency (SPF) to strengthen neural pathways and develop neural networks in order to enhance the speed of text processing.
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1. Really Silly Stories – Really Silly Stories are short stories designed to maximize students’ exposure to familiar words, letter patterns, and sentence structures. Each story is broken into 6 to 13 daily episodes or passages. Here students encounter familiar characters and situations over a one to two-week period. There are 78 total daily lessons.
2. Line graph – Line graphs are included for students to document their daily progress.
3. Graded passages – Graded passages are used to establish a baseline and for benchmark assessments.
Establish a Baseline
Start by establishing a base line fluency rate as follows:
1. Select a graded passage that is at or slight above the student’s independent reading level. You can pick your own passages or you can choose one of the below passages from RAZ Kids.
Reading Level Kindergarten - 1
2. Time the student as the student reads the passage aloud.
3. Use the following formula to establish words-per-minute (WPM) rates.
• First - convert the time to total seconds. (Example, 1 minute and 30 seconds would be 90 total seconds.)
• Second - divide the total seconds by 60. This will give you the time in minutes. (For example, 90 ÷ 60 = 15 minutes).
• Finally- divide the time in minutes by the total number of words in the passage to determine the WPM. (For example, the total number of words were 119. Pat read 119 words in 1.5 minutes. WPM would be 119 ÷ 1.5 or 79 WPM.)
Daily Short Passage Fluency (SPF) Activities
SPF is a repeated reading activity in which students are asked to read a short passage three times. The total time for this activity should be 4 to 8 minutes. This are the steps:
1. Read the daily passage aloud to the student as the student times you. This provides an overview of the story making it easier for students to read independently.
2. In each passage there is a 30- and 40-word mark that is designated with red font and underlined. Decide which mark will be the student's target. (Start with the 30-word mark. Move to the 40-word mark when the student is able to consistently read the passages in 15 seconds or less.)
3. Time the student as the daily passage is read to the designated mark. Record the time.
4. Repeat this process two more times for a total of three reads.
5. The student puts three dots on the line graph to represent the three times and connects the dots. This develops self-efficacy as the student is able to see the times getting faster.
6. The next day, move to the next story section and repeat the process.
