More Fluency Results in Improved Reading Rate, Comprehension and Retention, too!

Most educators know that a variety of skills come together to enable a student to read and so so proficiently. Those same educators will cite the specific reading skills required for this to be accomplished.

The right tools, strategies and teaching techniques can make all the difference in successfully developing and improving these skills in emergent as well as experienced readers. The following is a list of basic or primary reading skills needed for effective reading to result:

Primary Reading Skills

1. Phonics: To know the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language is essential for reading.

2. Word recognition: Many common words in English, such as "the" and "one," do not fit the normal phonics rules, so your child will need to memorize them.

3. Fluency: To read fluently, your child must not only be able to recognize words instantly, but also be able to divide the text into meaningful chunks.

4. Spelling and writing: Your child increases his knowledge of how print works when he spells and writes on his own. When he sees each letter, he learns to associate a sound with it. At first he may write "book" as bk — because he hears the /b/ and /k/ sounds. With instruction, he learns correct spelling.

5. Comprehension: To read, your child must understand the meaning of the words. She builds comprehension when she discusses what she thinks a book will be about and summarizes what happened in a story. Her understanding increases as her vocabulary expands.

In this article, our focus in on fluency (#3 above). We wanted to provide resources and information to help with the improvement of this all-important reading skill of recognizing words instantly and dividing them into meaningful chunks. Developing fluency does not simply require the teacher or parent to "force feed" a group of words or text to a child. It most definitely does not involve "speed reading" or increasing the rate of the words viewed by a reader, which many software programs attempt to do. The teaching of fluency requires specific activities and resources to encourage a child to attack the text needing to be read.

In a 2011 focus study of secondary students who were challenged readers, it was found that when implementing the appropriate strategies and tools, reading fluency improves, which in turn significantly improved the student' reading rate and comprehension. For more information on this study, please visit this link.

So, in our attempt to help parents and teachers with the development and improvement of reading fluency, we have provided here a list of resources and links to assist you. We hope you will discover that the following links will help your child or students do just that---Improve fluency so that reading rate and comprehension will follow. In the end, retention of what has been read will also be positively impacted with these improvements.

Reading Fluency Resources

Fluency Resources for Reading - from Brennan Innovators, LLC
70+ reading fluency resources all in one place
https://www.pinterest.com/brennajn2000/fluency-resources-for-reading/

Reading Fluency Activities - by ReadingResource.net
The FREE reading fluency activities on this page are essential for children with dyslexia and struggling readers. These activities can be taught in the classroom (small and large group setting) and can also be implemented at home! Keep checking this page for more free printable reading fluency activities and other ways to increase reading fluency!
http://www.readingresource.net/readingfluencyactivities.html

A Complete Guide to Reading Fluency- from Scholastic
Videos, activities, strategies and more to help develop and improve reading fluency.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/resources/fluency/

Sources

Breaking the Code: Primary Grade Reading Skills---by Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/milestones-expectations/breaking-code-primary-grade-reading-skills

For more information about tools & resources to help improve reading fluency, please visit:
www.FocusandRead.com Tools for struggling readers of all ages!
www.BrennanInnovators.com Info & support for struggling readers
314-892-3897

Image sources:
Brennan Innovators, LLC at www.focusandread.com AND
Pixabay.com at https://pixabay.com

Increase Reading Rate and Fluency with Engaging Literacy Games!

Many educators know that when focus, tracking and fluency improve for readers, very likely their reading rate increases, too. In addition to good comprehension and retention, these skills are essential for overall reading success.

At the same time, it is often not a good idea to conduct timed reading sessions for challenged readers who struggle with decoding, let alone increasing fluency and reading rate. Such timed reading can be demoralizing for these struggling readers, regardless of their age or grade levels. Self-esteem and any confidence these readers do have decreases significantly as a result. So, why not eliminate the "timed sessions" and substitute a much more approachable option, activities that challenged or reluctant readers might actually embrace and in which they could become truly engaged? We're talking about replacing them with reading games to build fluency and reading rates for your child or students.

In this article, we have collected a basket of links to literacy game resources to help improve these specific reading skills. We hope you will discover at least one or two of them that could provide the catalyst you need to help a challenged reader you know who could use a bit of help with her reading rate and/or fluency. If you know of other literacy games or links that should be added to the list, please let us know by adding a brief not about them in the comment box to follow this article. That way, we will all win---especially the challenged readers out there!

Enjoyable Games & Activities to Build Reading Rate & Fluency

FREE & Fun Reading Games---from Mrs. Bainbridge's Class Website
The online games via this link help practice skills necessary for reading success (phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension). Enjoy and happy gaming!
http://bainbridgeclass.com/readinggames.htm

FREE Fluency Activities---from Readquarium and Diana Dell, Ed.S.
Discover treasure through reading while building fluency and other reading skills!
http://www.gamequarium.com/readquarium/booksonline.html

READING FLUENCY ACTIVITIES---FREE PRINTABLE DOWNLOADS & RESOURCES
The reading fluency activities on this page are essential for children with dyslexia and struggling readers. These activities can be taught in the classroom (small and large group setting) and can also be implemented at home! Keep checking this page for more free printable reading fluency activities and other ways to increase reading fluency!
http://www.readingresource.net/readingfluencyactivities.html

Improving Fluency in Young Readers
Teachers need to select and facilitate the best methods of fluency instruction for their children and their classrooms. The activities listed on this web page promote the 4 components are needed for good fluency instruction: modeling fluent reading, using guided oral reading instruction, providing opportunities to practice and perform, implementing word study activities to build accuracy.
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/fluency.html

FREE Online Reading Games---from education.com
These reading games for kids make learning to read even more fun! Play these FREE reading games online to sample the comprehensive learning games program, Brainzy. Get the fun started with these alphabet games, phonics games, sight word games, fluency, reading comprehension games and more!
http://www.education.com/games/reading/

Five Quick Games Build Reading Skills (Pre-K thru Grade 1)---from education world
These 5 small-group or whole-class offline games will engage students as they build a variety of reading skills. games use selections of reading text to build students' skills in syllabication, sentence structure, sequencing, word recognition, skimming, and visual recognition.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp301-01.shtml

FLUENCY---from Reading A-Z
Motivate students and help them build oral fluency, accuracy, and expression with engaging passages and scripts to read aloud. Includes FREE, downloadable or projectible practice passages (Reading levels F-Z) and reader's theater scripts (K-5). Fluent readers read more quickly and smoothly, allowing them to focus on comprehension. Fluent readers gain more meaning from the text they read. Because fluency leads to comprehension, fluent readers enjoy reading more than students who devote all their energy to sounding out words.
https://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html

Reading Apps, Games and Websites
You'll discover here some of the best apps, games, and websites for building kids' reading skills. Together, these resources cover reading skills from letter recognition, phonics, and sight words to vocabulary building and comprehension. So whether you're on the go or on the couch, start here, and make learning to read fun and engaging. For All ages---Preschoolers (2-4), Little Kids (5-7), Big Kids (8-9), Tweens (10-12) and Teens (13+)
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/reading-apps-games-and-websites

For information on customizable low-tech & digital reading tools to improve focus, fluency & reading rate, please visit:
www.FocusandRead.com Tools for struggling readers of all ages!
www.BrennanInnovators.com Info and support for struggling readers
314-892-3897

Images courtesy of:
Brennan Innovators, LLC at www.focusandread.com and
lovetoknow Entertainment at http://boardgames.lovetoknow.com/image/50556~Game_pieces.jpg

Decoding Resources for Children Who Struggle to Read

March and April were very busy months for us here at Brennan Innovators. In addition to providing our usual consultation services and reading tools for challenged readers, we also attended two educational conferences here in the Midwest.

Again and again at each conference, we spoke with parents as well as teachers who mentioned the issues with decoding that their children and students were experiencing when trying to read. We enjoyed providing strategies and resources at each event both through presentations and at our exhibit tables. The attendees were very interested in and most grateful for the ideas presented. We came away from both conferences feeling that we had made a difference for more than a few families and classrooms, which is always our goal.

What is this reading skill called decoding? Decoding is the process of using known words to figure out unfamiliar words. It is based on the idea of looking for and seeing small words or sound units inside larger words. For struggling or non-fluent readers, decoding demystifies reading. It also removes the "fear factor" and starts them on the road to becoming fluent, confident readers. Decoding is a kind of learning tool to help tackle the fear of reading aloud. When faced with a word that he or she doesn't know, instead of going into panic mode, the eyes can quickly scan for the small words they recognize. Almost immediately, they begin to read independently with more confidence and less dread.
(Source: Teach ALL Kids: http://www.teachallkids.com/node/124 ---see direct link to follow)

Because of the number of requests for decoding strategies received at our March and April conferences, we thought it might be helpful to provide a few decoding resources here for the good readers of our weekly blog. So for this week's post, we have done just that. We hope you will find the links and resources provided here to be helpful for a child or student you know who struggles to decode words yet wants to read those words and their sentences with much more success.

Happy reading, everyone!

Decoding Resources for Challenged Readers

Decoding and Reading Comprehension Resources---from Cambridge Public School
A long list of assistive technology links for young children, older children and young adults who are new or challenged readers.
www3.cpsd.us/at/parents/decoding_reading

Reading Comprehension and Decoding Strategies---from Scholastic
Ideas and resources for helping children learn how to decode words and begin to read with success.
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/reading-comprehension-and-decoding-strategies

Reading Focus Cards---from Brennan Innovators, LLC
Customizable, low-tech tools to help readers improve focus, decoding & tracking
www.FocusandRead.com/products

Desktop APP---Reading Focus Cards (Patent 8,360,779)
This desktop app is the digital version of the low-tech, physical Reading Focus Cards tools (Patent 7,565,759), solutions for struggling readers. This app provides very practical support for children and adults with ADHD, dyslexia, low vision, stroke or brain injury issues, autism and other conditions that can affect reading success. This desktop application promotes more FOCUSED online reading of almost ALL digital media (webpages, PDF files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets & more.) In addition, the app supports touch-screen technology (where applicable).
1. For Macs (desktops & notebooks):
Visit the Mac App Store and search for Reading Focus Cards or go directly to
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/read-and-focus/id920617853?mt=12
2. For Windows PCs (desktops & laptops):
Visit Gumroad at https://gumroad.com/l/ReadingFocusCards OR visit the Microsoft Windows Store and search for the app called Reading Focus Cards. (No URLs are ever provided for apps in the Windows Store.)

Word Decoding Lists---from Teach All Kids
Practical decoding strategies to help children who are reluctant or challenged readers.
http://www.teachallkids.com/node/124

READING ACTIVITIES I---Teaching the Basic Code---Establishing the Alphabetic Principle---from ReadingResource.net
Classroom "learning-to-read" ideas, decoding strategies and more.
http://www.readingresource.net/readingactivities.html

Decoding Strategies for PARENTS & More!
A Decoding Strategy Quick-Reference Guide for parents to keep and use at home.
http://finallyinfirst.blogspot.com/2012/07/decoding-strategies-for-parents-more.html

For more information on customizable reading tools for ADHD, dyslexia & other reading challenges:
www.FocusandRead.com Tools for struggling readers of all ages!
www.BrennanInnovators.com Info & support for struggling readers
314-892-3897

Image courtesy of:
Brennan Innovators, LLC at www.focusandread.com