Reading Fluency Activities

Reading fluency activities must be done on a daily basis. There are many reading fluency strategies for teaching fluency, and here are some of the best.

Within a literacy framework, there are best teaching practices that are implemented which are good for all kids, or Tier 1 RTI. These strategies include fluency work as a part of the goal of becoming a strategic reader.

Fluency is the "bridge" between decoding and comprehension.

Improving reading fluency is the strongest predictor of increasing reading comprehension.


There are three main components of teaching reading fluency: the ability to decode words accurately, being able to decode without needing other resources, and the use of prosody (being able to show meaning and expression).

The absolute best book I have read on the topic of teaching reading is Reading Instruction That Works, Third Edition: The Case for Balanced Teaching.

This is a non-biased, research and evidence-based book that really points out what it means to be a balanced literacy teacher, from both the phonics-based approach and the whole-language approach. This book will change how you view reading instruction!

Assessing Reading Fluency

We have to teach students to decode so that all words become automatic and they start making deep connections to the text.

Building reading fluency is critical.

Reading fluency programs may be used to assess, intervene and guide reading fluency lessons. Reading fluency strategies must be a part of Tier 1 reading lessons.


The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), found that nearly half of American fourth graders had not achieved a minimal level of fluency in their reading, and this was associated with significant difficulties in comprehension while reading silently (Pinnell et al., 1995).

Using reading fluency tests like DIBELS benchmark assessments, teachers can diagnostically interpret data to guide development of reading fluency activities for their students, but keep in mind this does not replace teacher observation and knowledge about the student.

If a student scores 10 or more words below the 50th percentile level in two or more cold-readings from grade level text, then that student needs reading fluency activities.

Reading Fluency Strategies

If your students struggle to achieve automaticity in their decoding, here are a few strategies you should use. These would all be considered Tier 1 or possibly Tier 2 Response to Intervention reading fluency activities.

You may also want to try a fun and motivating reading fluency and comprehension idea called Reading Karate!

Be prepared though -
your students will become voracious readers just to get to their black belts!


Paired Reading

Paired reading is when a struggling student reads aloud in unison with a tutor or teacher ("benchmark" refers to a student who has met or exceeded fluency goals). When the student is ready, he or she is to signal that s/he feels ready to read alone. The key to this is the corrective feedback that must occur.

The tutor will wait for the student to signal that s/he needs help with a word. If the student does not know the word, the tutor will provide it. If the student misreads a word, the tutor is to point to it and pronounce it. If the student makes an error during reading and does not recognize it, the tutor points to the word and pronounces it. In all of these cases, the student is to repeat the word correctly, then carry on reading.


Repeated Reading of Reading Fluency Passages

Repeated reading is one of the reading fluency activities that I use most often in my classroom. This can be done whole class, small group or individually.

The student is given a passage that can be read with a 95% success rate consisting of approximately 150-200 words in length. This passage will be read at least 4-5 times over a few days.

The student reads the passage aloud, and if s/he misreads or hesitates at a word, the tutor reads it aloud. If the student does not know what a word means, the tutor will define it.

Often repeated readings are done at one minute intervals. I graph the student's progress to show the improvement. This visual affirmation is important so the child can see the progress that is being made.


Teachable Poetry for Fluency and Comprehension

This is a complete book of over 120 pages of poetry, phonics and comprehension work. The poems are introduced through teacher modeling, read with students through choral and echo reading, read by students once the poem is in their poetry journal, and revisited throughout the year. The accompanying decoding and comprehension work focuses on blends, digraphs, syllibication, rimes, vowel teams, connections to text and critical thinking.



No reading fluency program will ever replace a knowledgeable and observant teacher.

Building reading fluency does not come from a program - it comes from real practice, real reading interventions and an expert teacher.

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