How To Become a Fluent Reader There are many reasons why reading can be hard. Together we will look at five components of reading and some of the difficulties that children experience within each area. - Janene Worsam For some of you, reading would have come naturally. You may not have even considered the different elements that are there when you are learning to read. For some, learning to read is a challenge! So, as teachers we teach in a specific way to ensure that the child can bring together all the components that help them to become a fluent reader.

Five Ways we Teach Reading and Target Problems! When we begin to break down how it is that we actually read there are five main areas. These are: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Word Decoding and Phonics Vocabulary Fluency Comprehension It’s amazing, there are so many components to reading!

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Phon- means sound or voice Phonological awareness is a skill that includes identifying parts of the oral language— such as words, syllables and individual sounds. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. “phon” means sound!

A Teacher’s Perspective Phonological and Phonemic Awareness So, what does this mean for my child? A Child’s Perspective A Teacher’s Perspective I don’t know any words that rhyme with cat.” “What do you mean when you say what sounds are in the word brush?” “I’m not sure how many syllables are in my name.” • She doesn’t correctly complete blending activities; for example, putting together the- sounds /k/ /i/ /ck/ to make the word kick. •She has a hard time telling how many syllables there are in the word paper. • So…we engage in Sound-related activities, such as helping the child think of a number of words that start with the /m/ or /ch/ sound, or other beginning sounds. Make up silly sentences with words that begin with the same sound, such as “Nobody was nice to Nancy’s neighbor.” Read books with rhymes. Teach rhymes, short poems, and songs.

A Teacher’s Perspective Word Decoding and Phonics: the understanding of letter-sound relationships and how to sound out words A Child’s Perspective A Teacher’s Perspective “I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the words in this chapter.” “I don’t know how to sound out these words.” She has difficulty matching sounds and letters which can affect reading and spelling. So…we teach phonics in a systematic and explicit way. We sort pictures and objects by the sound. Children say the letter-sound over and over again. We encourage our children to write and spell notes, e-mails and letters using what he knows about sounds and letters. We talk about the ”irregular” words such as said, are, and was that we need to recognize “at sight.” We use “Magic Words” in and out of the classroom.

A Teacher’s Perspective Vocabulary plays a huge role in the reading process and contributes greatly to a reader’s comprehension. A Child’s Perspective A Teacher’s Perspective “I heard my friend tell what happened in the movie, but I didn’t really understand it.” “I don’t like to read on my own because I don’t understand lots of the words in the book.” She has questions about a lot of word meanings. He seems to have a weak vocabulary. So…we offer children many opportunities to encounter target words. We explicitly teach the meanings of common prefixes, roots and suffixes. Eg. Un + likely

A Teacher’s Perspective Fluency: the ability to read with speed, accuracy and proper expression A Child’s Perspective A Teacher’s Perspective I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the words in this chapter.” “It takes me so long to read something.” He has difficulty and grows frustrated when reading aloud. He does not chunk words. She does not read aloud with expression. So…we give the student independent level texts that he can practice, particularly with chunking. We read a short passage and then have the student immediately read it back, matching voices. Encourage the tracking of words with a finger

Comprehension: is the understanding of what is read A Child’s Perspective A Teacher’s Perspective “I didn’t really get what that book was about.” “Why did that character do that? I just don’t get it!” “I’m not sure what the most important parts of the book were.” She cannot tell the clear, logical sequence of events in a story. He does not pick out the key facts from informational text. So…we teach students the structure of different types of reading material (narrative text versus information text). Teach students to monitor their own understanding- Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense? Discuss the meanings of unknown words, both those he reads and those he hears.