Fluency develops gradually over time and through practice. At the earliest stage of reading development, students’ oral reading is slow and labored because students are just learning to “break the code” – to attach sounds to letters and to blend letter sounds into recognizable words.
When some children are learning to read, they catch on so quickly that it appears effortless. It does not seem to matter what reading curriculum or teachers they encounter, for they arrive at school already possessing the important foundational skills. For other children, though, the path to literacy is far more difficult and by no means assured. It matters very much what curriculum their schools use and who their first teachers are.
Travel to Sofia, Bulgaria with American Kindergarten teacher Launa Hall as she learns how young Bulgarian children learn to read. The centerpiece of every classroom is the Cyrillic alphabet.
In the cloud-wrapped mountains of northern Vietnam, Launa Hall explores how young Hmong children are learning to read in Vietnamese — and how early literacy is shaping futures in this remote village.
Find answers to 14 commonly asked questions about teaching reading fluency, including the amount of fluency instruction, the benefits of paired reading, and choosing texts for fluency practice.
What is reading? And what are the core skills that young children need to become successful readers? Learning to read is complex, but this overview can help explain key terms and demystify the process.
Getting support for your struggling reader. Learning to read is a challenge for almost 40 percent of kids — and a challenge for their parents. Hosted by Al Roker, the show visits schools in Huntingtown, Maryland, and Portland, Oregon, to see how families learn to identify early signs of reading problems and find ideas for getting their kids the help and support they need to succeed at reading.
Screening, diagnosing, and progress monitoring are essential to making sure that all students become fluent readers — and the words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedure can work for all three. Here’s how teachers can use it to make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students.
Teach your students to avoid the avoidance of writing. Learn how to lead them down the path of enthusiasm and self-confidence about writing through research-proven strategies.
Being a fluent reader is an important part of being a successful reader. Here is an overview of considerations related to fluency, and techniques teachers can use for promoting fluency in the classroom.
Text-to-speech (TTS) is a type of assistive technology that reads digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology. TTS can take words on a computer or other digital device and convert them into audio. TTS is very helpful for kids who struggle with reading, but it can also help kids with writing and editing, and even focusing.
Some parents are reluctant to contact their child’s teacher. Don’t be! A quick conversation or email exchange can go a long way toward resolving issues. Here are three situations where parent contact is a good idea.
The identification of a child with dyslexia is a difficult process, but there are ways that parents and teachers can learn more about the reading difficulty and support the child’s learning.
