Tricks to help kids read faster and more fluently?

[EmilyGF]

Hi all,

This is for my 5th grader who has been pretty tired recently (run a lot of medical tests, everything is completely normal thus far).

Normally, I implemented Book in Bed mid-day for the kids to spend an extended time reading. He just falls asleep.

He is required to read a chapter or two every day for school, which he does fine and can tell me about afterwards. I am implementing a short read aloud daily because I realized how stilted his oral reading was (first paragraph of a book I am reading aloud to him). He can read silently alright, if very into the book, but it is hard to get him very into a book.

Suggestions? Or, is this normal and am I just biased by my older kids?

Emily

[HomeAgain]

If he has the energy, the quickest way to remediate is to drop phonics/spelling lessons to just at or below working level, and then continue working there with controlled readings sprinkled in.  I used to make my kids read from beginning readers even when they were reading fluently- I wanted them to work on delivery without having to work through the mechanics of the language.  They learned to read with expression with books such as Goodnight Moon and Bears In The Night, while their personal reading level was things like Matilda.  

For a kid who is stilted, though, it may be that the phonetic rules are not cemented.  That would concern me and have me hitting the basics again for a few minutes each day.  I might opt for a book set like those from Phonic Books, making sure each could be read well and stop/use different methods to help if it wasn't. 

[seemesew]

6 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

Hi all,

This is for my 5th grader who has been pretty tired recently (run a lot of medical tests, everything is completely normal thus far).

Normally, I implemented Book in Bed mid-day for the kids to spend an extended time reading. He just falls asleep.

He is required to read a chapter or two every day for school, which he does fine and can tell me about afterwards. I am implementing a short read aloud daily because I realized how stilted his oral reading was (first paragraph of a book I am reading aloud to him). He can read silently alright, if very into the book, but it is hard to get him very into a book.

Suggestions? Or, is this normal and am I just biased by my older kids?

Emily

Sounds like he is going through a growth spurt? My boys get super tired when that happens it almost like they are drugged, lol!

[Clarita]

All About Reading suggested in one of the lessons to have the child read the passage/story first aloud without feeling and then do it again with feeling. 

So for my Kindergartener (so I have no idea about expectations) in the beginning he would read a sentence super bland and just getting every word out. Then, I'd point out the punctuations and have him repeat the same sentence "with feeling". I have him really play it up so it's kind of silly and fun.

[mathmarm]

First, wind what stage he's orally fluent at, then start there.

Building oral fluency is easier if you use text much lower than his independent reading level. Get a ton of easy readers and early chapter books--many of them are meant to be read with expression to bring the stories to life.

We look for fluency at the word level, couplet level, phrase level and sentence level. There are different levels of sentences too, so simple sentences are hardly more challenging than phrases, but a complex sentence would need to be parsed.

Once he's starting at the sentence level, teach him question words and to alter his tone at question words until he gets to the question mark. (Be on the look out because 'did', 'has'/'have' and 'are' can be question words--not just the 5Ws and H.)

You can also take a page of text and type it up, but sentence by sentence needs to be set out like a paragraph.

Enlarge the punctuation marks to be super-duper obvious.

Then practice reading from punctuation to punctuation so that he can get used to reading with flow. After each punctuation mark, he reads from the beginning of the sentence to the end of the sentence.

"George Washington, who became the first president of the US, was a Virginian--meaning that he came from Virginia." would be broken down as

George Washington,
George Washington, who became the first president of the US,

George Washington, who became the first president of the US, was a Virginian

George Washington, who became the first president of the US, was a Virginian--meaning that he came from Virginia.

Once he's been through a parsed out passage--re-reads are helpful and reading more from that text that hasn't been parsed gives him a chance to apply what he's learning to the same content without the extra "trainer-wheels".

This type of practice with parsed text has been very helfpul and in building up oral fluency, though it might take 3-6 months of support like this, so far the effects are long-lasting.

[Xahm]

Is there anyone little in his life he can read to? Elephant and Piggie are great for reading with feeling because the font gives huge clues about the emotion expressed. Yes, he needs practice at his own level, too, but if he can spend some time reading aloud picture books without feeling embarrassed, it would likely be helpful.

[Zoo Keeper]

29 minutes ago, Xahm said:

Is there anyone little in his life he can read to? Elephant and Piggie are great for reading with feeling because the font gives huge clues about the emotion expressed. Yes, he needs practice at his own level, too, but if he can spend some time reading aloud picture books without feeling embarrassed, it would likely be helpful.

^ Yes to this!  At my house, I would have the slow, clunky reader read picture books/early reader books to the younger sibling.  I didn't label it as reading practice, but spun it as "helping me by reading to your sister so I can make supper/get a shower/etc. "  Worked very well.  🙂

A local library also has a Reader Dog that visits regularly and kids make appointments to read to the dog. 

[EKS]

If the reason for the fluency issues is that he just needs more practice, have him read aloud to you for 20-30 minutes every day from books that are easy for him to read.  If this means going several levels down, that is fine.  Gradually increase the difficulty level over time.  This really works, but it takes on the order of months.

If the problem goes beyond just needing practice, a developmental vision exam may be in order.  Another thing that helped my dyslexic kid stop sounding everything out was Audiblox (and I believe it was specifically the flash card activity; I don't know what the equivalent is now that the program is on the computer).

Edited December 22, 2022 by EKS