Teaching and Learning 

A fluent reader is someone who can read with accuracy, expression and at an appropriate pace. The ability to read with accuracy is not the only skill that builds a successful reader. When an accurate reader reads at a fast pace they may miss important details, whilst an accurate reader who reads slowly or in a fragmented way may miss being able to follow along with the meaning of the sentence or paragraph. 

Reading fluency also involves the ability to build stamina and to be able to read for extended periods of time, and increasingly complex levels of text. 

Students across our school from Foundation – Year 6 have been working on improving their reading fluency at different times across the year. 

I spoke to some students this about the impact this has had on their learning:

From Year 5:

“We read out loud and see if we can read faster but also not make any mistakes. It helps us get a better understanding of what we are reading. In maths we did worded problems, and it has helped me be able to read more difficult words faster and to understand the problem.” Marcus

“Fluency is being able to read a book at a nice pace and pronouncing the words properly and reading it smoothly. You can practice by recording yourself and listening back, or you could read out loud to an adult or another student. I’ve been working on whisper reading to myself, and realised that I hadn’t been paying attention to changing the way I read when there were quotation marks.” Sam

From Year 1:

“Fluency is not making many mistakes and blending words smoothly. You don’t guess words, you look at the sounds and blend in your head. Then you can read it as a smooth word. It is important to read fluently so that the story doesn’t sound really weird and so that it makes sense.” Noor

“I practice reading smoothly and not too loud.” Elijah

“Reading fluency is when you read nicely. It’s smooth and you have a really nice voice. It’s notice to listen to and really soft. I practice by sliding my finger under the words. We used to use whisper phones to hear ourselves read but now we are working on reading in our heads.” Florence

Building Confidence

Interestingly it also came up more than once when I was talking with students how they felt far more confident to read something aloud to others now that they have spent the time working on their fluency. Students in the senior school mentioned that they wouldn’t normally have ever volunteered to read something aloud in front of the class, whereas now they have not only volunteered, but had done so with confidence and success. We love hearing how our students are progressing in their learning, and this is such warming feedback to receive!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Kylie Middlemiss

Acting Assistant Principal

Teaching and Learning