Section 3 – Skill-Building Activities, Part 1: Fluency Practice (Pg 1)

Skill-Building Activities, Part 1: Fluency Practice (12-15 minutes)

The critical element of repetition with connected text is accomplished during the first of the three parts of Skill-Building Activities. This is the “meat” of the tutoring session in which students will read a portion of a fluency practice book repeatedly using a variety of reading games, to become increasingly more fluent. The following information focuses on understanding fluency practice books and the reading games that provide repeated fluency practice for students.

What Are Fluency Practice Book Groups?

• Fluency practice book groups provide a range of books at a student’s grade level. The books are identified by topics, so that tutors and students may focus on content that is of interest to the student.
• Tutors will have access to all books in the book groups that have been identified for each student.
• Initial book choice for practice should be the first book listed relating to the topic the student would like to focus on. Tutors may then proceed to the next book on the list relating to that topic. As the books get more advanced, they feature more complex text (such as longer sentences and increased vocabulary), and illustrations that provide context clues are replaced with pictures that provide supplemental information.
• Student motivation increases when they are reading text that is of interest to them. Though they may struggle with a few additional challenge words initially, their background knowledge and motivation to learn more about a topic will support them in making accelerated gains with new vocabulary and content.
• The tables on page 28 provide an outline of book groups 1 and 2 for each grade level.

The Experience Corps program based on using fluency book groups is:

• Intentionally designed.
  > Fluency practice book groups provide a variety of topics for reading practice.
  > Program staff will identify the book group appropriate for student practice.
  > Student interest will guide selection of books within the identified book group.
• Designed to support success and build student confidence.
  > Session is designed to allow the tutor to introduce challenging words and model reading section prior to the student reading.
  > Repetition of short sections provides students with targeted guided practice.
  > Text is designed to support vocabulary development.
  > Game variations make repetition fun.
  

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