Building fluency in all grades is important, but it’s especially critical in 3rd grade. By the time students reach 3rd grade, they should ideally have acquired the skills and confidence to read independently. This is also the year that testing expectations shift from tests being read aloud to students to students reading and completing their tests independently. This transition tends to be very challenging for students, which is why continuing to build fluency is so significant in 3rd grade.
What is Fluency & What Does Fluency Tell Us?
Fluency refers to the quality of the reading a person is doing. Students that struggle with fluency may read very slowly, make a lot of mistakes or lack expression when they read aloud. A student is proficient in fluency if their reading is smooth and they make little to no errors when reading. Fluency screeners give teachers insight into how fluency could be inhibiting a student’s reading comprehension and help teachers to pinpoint which skills need additional instruction or practice.
Activities to Improve Fluency
- A great time to check-in and practice fluency with students one-on-one is when the whole class is engaged in reading or doing independent work. Teachers can meet with students individually and listen to them “whisper read” for 3-5 minutes at a time. This provides the opportunity for beneficial practice, informal assessment and feedback in a very short period of time.
- Center time also provides an additional opportunity for teachers to focus on fluency. The teacher can select fluency passages at the appropriate level for each student and check-in with each student briefly. At that check-in, each student will read through their passage while the teacher takes a running record. This provides practice for the student as well as important data the teacher can use to structure future instruction.
It’s important for teachers to build time for fluency practice into the school day because continuous practice and teacher feedback are the keys to improving reading fluency. The time invested in building fluency will benefit your students both in 3rd grade and beyond. Click here to find resources to use for fluency practice with your students.
