What is fluency?  Why do I need to practice?

     Practicing fluency is an important to become a better reader.  If a person makes too many errors while reading, fluency practice is necessary.  Early readers spend a great deal of mental energy sounding out, decoding, the words on a page.  Their reading is often not fluent.  As a child learn the phonetic rules and can apply them with ease, reading begins to be more fluent.

     By fourth grade, a child should be reading approximately 93 w.p.m., words per minute at the beginning of the year, and by midyear, students should have advanced to about 105 w.p.m.  By the year's end, fourth graders should be reading at about 118 w.p.m.  

    To practice, print out two copies of each passage.  One copy is for the child to use, and one is for you, the parent.  Set a timer for one minute.  Mark through any words read incorrectly or skipped.  Place a line after the last word read in the one minute.

     Count the number of words read.  Determine how may words our child is able to read in one minute by subtracting any words that were not read correctly.  This will give you the approximate w.p.m.  Repeat with the same passage as many times to increase w.p.m. and confidence in your child.  Then progress to a more advanced selection.  

Fluency Easy Passage #1

       Last Summer, Tony and his brother went camping with their mother.  They drove around the park for a long time.  Finally, they found the perfect campsite.  They decided to set up camp  on a quiet spot surrounded by tall trees.  

     Their tent was shaped like an igloo.  It was big enough for the three of them.  It was made of then red nylon cloth.  It had a door that zipped and unzipped as they went in and out.  It also had three windows covered with netting.  There were lots of bugs in the woods.  The windows stopped the bugs from cooing in.  

     For cooking, they had a little stove.  Mom set the stove at the end of a picnic table.  Finally, they were ready for their first picnic under the trees.  They had a tasty meal of barbecued chicken and boiled corm.  Then the boys helped clean up.  

      When it got dark, they made  a fir.  They toasted some marshmallows, told stories, and sang songs.  It was nice to be together under the stars.  

Fluency Easy Passage #2

      One Friday night, Julie slept over at Grandma's house.  She was excited.  She did not know what to expect.  Grandma always surprised her.

     The next morning, Grandma said they would make pancakes.  First, they sifted four, salt, and baking powder into a bowl.  Next, Julie beat eggs in another bowl.  Grandma melted butter in a pot.  She added the melted butter and milk to the eggs.  After that Julie added the dry ingredients.  Then she stirred everything together.  

     The best part came next.  Grandma cooked the batter.  She did not just make any old pancakes.  They were in the shapes of letters.  She melted butter in a pan.  Then she drew a J with some batter in the hot butter.  Next, Grandma drew a U, then an L then an I, and then an E.  

     Grandma made one pancake for each letter in Julie's name.  Grandma put the five pancakes on a plate.  They spelled "JULIE"  Julie got to eat her own name for breakfast.  She ate her name with jelly.  It was a great breakfast!

Fluency Easy Passage #3

The Eskimos are people who live near the Arctic.  It is very cold there. For thousands of years, the Eskimos found ways to live in the cold.  Most of them lived near the sea.  The sea gave them food.  They hunted seals and whales.  They caught fish.  On land, they hunted deer called the Caribou.

The Eskimos made clothing from the skins of the animals they hunted.  In summer they made tents from the animal skins.  They sailed in boats made of animal skins.  In winter, most Eskimos lived in houses made of snow or sod.  In the coldest places the Eskimos lived in houses made of snow all year long.  

Eskimos life started changing in the 1800s.  People from Europe started hunting whales where the Eskimos lived.  Fur traders arrived.  The Eskimos worked with the whalers and fur traders.  Soon many of the animals that the Eskimos needed were almost gone.

Today most Eskimos live in towns.  They live in modern houses.  They buy food in stores.  But they always remember the old ways.  

Fluency Passage Average #1

Topiary is a garden art.  The artists do not use paintbrushes.  They use clippers.  To make a topiary sculpture, the artist cuts away leaves and twigs.  After a lot of clipping and trimming, a shape will form.  

The shape might be a ball.  It might be a cone.  It might be an animal.  It might be a lion or bear.  It might be shaped like a seal.

Some animal shapes are made of wire frames.  First the artist put the plant into dirt at the foot of the frame.  Then the plant grows up over the wire.  After a long time, it covers the wire. The artist now trims it to look like an animal.

Topiary artists use different kinds of plants.  They use ivy and box hedges.  Some even use daisy bushes.  The kinds of plants that work best are thick with leaves. The leaves hide the branches.  That way the shape is leafy green.

You can practice this old art. Many garden shops sell wire frames. You can choose from a variety of shapes.

Today, you may see big green sheep at a shopping center.  You may see a green horse at a hotel. Think about how much time an artist has spent making these animals.  

Fluency Passage Average #2

Lin loved lots of smells. She loved the smell of flowers.

She loved the forest smell of pine needles. She loved the smell of

oranges and lemons.

Lin wondered how people made perfumes. How did they

get smells out of things in nature? Her mother took her to a

perfume factory to see. A tour guide told them lots of things

about perfumes.

The guide said that perfumes are made from oils. The oils

once all came from nature. They came from flowers, leaves, fruits,

roots, and seeds. Oils from these sources are still used. But

scientists can now make many of the same smells in their labs.

They also make new smells that are not in nature. 

Lin watched people getting oils out of things. Some people

squeezed them out. Some people boiled them out. Some people

were putting flower petals on big, flat trays. They covered the

petals with pork fat. The fat would pull out the sweet smells.

The guide said that as many as 300 different smells can go

into one perfume. People who make perfumes must have a good

sense of smell. They must know how to put different kinds of

smells together.

Lin thought about her sense of smell. How good was it?

She wondered if some day she might make perfumes.