Reading fluency is so important for our early readers to eventually ensure comprehension. Strong letter sound fluency equips students to decode CVC words effortlessly, fostering a smooth transition in their reading journey. While readiness varies among students, consistent practice significantly aids their decoding abilities. While I know for some students, it is developmental and there may be a readiness that they may not have, many students are able to and need that extra practice to help them with decoding and can empower students to decode CVC words effortlessly, facilitating a smoother reading journey.
I have always compared fluency practice to running in my own life for my students. I would run half marathons and have to work up that stamina and "practice" every day to become a better runner. I noticed that many of my students, without given the practice, will just continue to struggle.
How we practice fluency in kindergarten?
As a kindergarten teacher, it was important for my students, especially those who were struggling to practice fluency to help them become better readers. Without providing them this opportunity, I knew many of them would not be practicing letter names or letter sounds at home. By practicing and having a resource in the classroom or sending a fluency resource home and explaining to parents the importance, I have seen tremendous gains for students.
I always use a simple and easy practice for my students. I have used whole group, small group or with a partner or even sent home. I use fluency probes that are similar to AIMSweb or DIBBELS letter name and letter sound fluency. (A sample is included at the end of the post)
Students are given a fluency probe based on the skill they are working on.
We practice letter names and letter sounds using these probes and I also have them available for CVC words, nonsense words and onset and rime.
Although I feel "practicing" nonsense words may not be best for some students, for other it may help them become more successful and give us a better picture of where they are as a reader. As we know, there are a limited number of CVC words that students do read and a lot of times, they just have regular CVC words memorized from kindergarten stories and work. To assess a students true ability to decode, this is why we sometimes switch to nonsense words. My strongest readers, we always able to decode these nonsense words without struggle and were able to just read them as words, since they have such strong phonics skills.
Classroom Use
In my classroom, I copy all of the probes in advance and have them bound. The resource has 14 different probes available and I will have them all ready for the whole year. This then becomes a resource I use for the whole year in my students hands that we often use.
I copy all 4 probes with my students: letter names, letter sounds, CVC words and nonsense words, week by week. Usually before Christmas, I will use onset and rime instead of CVC words.
In the classroom, I have the students use the same probe for the week. We will sometimes do it whole group or in small groups and set a timer for one minute.
Students use a different color crayon each day and just circle the letter that they stopped on (most of the students are usually pretty honest about this. ) They then work to do better the next day. While I don't do whole group practice every day, I often will have students practice close to Aimsweb testing so everyone is ready.
In my class, I was also required to progress monitor my students and we would graph their results monthly when I progress monitored as a way of students tracking their data which was stored in the fluency booklet.
Partner Practice
I may also use with resource for partner practice for students. Once my students understand how to practice their fluency, I would also sometimes have students partner up with each other to practice. Although this partner practice will not work for all students and the students who struggle the most will be practicing with me, this works really well for most students and they love it. I usually use sand timer (affiliate link) for this which are one minute each students has a probe and one student will monitor (like I would for errors etc) while the other student practices.
Take Home Fluency Practice
Another amazing way to use this resource is to copy and send home with students based on what they are working on, especially for my students who are struggling. I usually send it with a letter about the importance of practicing at home and asking parents to set a timer for one minute and record where students stop. It is amazing to see the growth that so many students will make with that little extra practice! I usually will model how to do this at conferences to work with parents as a team.
I have a freebie of one week of letter name, letter sounds, CVC words and nonsense words available in my TPT store with a link at the end of the post. This is easy to copy and send home to parents over breaks or if a student is struggling and needs a little more practice.
In my Fluency Packet there are 12 additional weeks of letter names, letter sounds, CVC words and nonsense words with graphs for students to track progress available as well. I always made little books for my students and we would work on a new probe every week.
You can find my fluency packet here, with everything you need to help your students become more successful readers.
You can also find my one week freebie here: Free Fluency Practice
