Nurturing Literacy

Simply because a child can read the words accurately, does not mean they are a fluent reader. Ever try to pour cottage cheese into a cup? It moves slowly, it sticks, it requires you to push it along. Conversely, pouring a glass of milk or other liquid is not a problem. It glides from one container to another. Perhaps this is a poor metaphor, but you get my drift. A fluent reader glides along easily, does not stop or stumbled often, and offers a smooth, expressive rendition of the text.

Hudson, Lane, and Pullen define fluency this way: “Reading fluency is made up of at least three key elements: accurate reading of connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody or expression.” (Hudson, R. F., H. B. Lane, and P. C. Pullen. (2005). Reading fluency assessment and instruction: What, why, and how. Reading Teacher 58(8), pp. 702-714.) Many students just naturally become fluent readers, but for others, explicit instruction and practice is a necessity.

For a variety of reasons, fluency is an essential component of becoming an effective reader. The most important factor is the correlation between fluency and reading comprehension. When students struggle to decode, read slowly, and lack accuracy and expression, comprehension is compromised. Silent reading is important, but non-fluent readers need regular opportunities to read aloud. This is one area where parental intervention can make a significant difference. As summer begins, I’d like to offer several ideas that are practical and enjoyable forms of remediation for a child who needs to boost his fluency.

POETRY: When I supported fourth-grade struggling readers, I developed a program to boost fluency using poems. The rhyming language and brevity of a poem appeals to most kids. The same qualities appeal to parents struggling to juggle time constraints. Here’s how it works:

• Decide on a poem that you think will appeal to your youngster and make two copies of it at the beginning of each week.
• Day 1 – You read the poem aloud, with expression. Then, explain any tricky vocabulary words and have your child read and repeat them. Discuss the poem, point out punctuation. Explain that you don’t always stop at the end of a line of poetry and that you must pay attention to punctuation. Remind your child that expression is important and point out parts of the poem that should be emphasized or spoken, in a soft or loud voice. Finally, read the poem aloud together and then have your child read the poem himself. Help him out with difficult words or phrases. Explain that during the course of the week, he will read the poem aloud to you (or another family member) at least three times a day. Hang the poem in a convenient spot so that both of you will remember. Feel free to get creative. You could have your child read into a microphone or record him so he can hear the progress he is making.
• Day 2, 3, 4, 5 – Listen (or have another adult listen) to him read the poem. Supply appropriate feedback each time.
• Day 6 or 7 – Encourage him to “perform” the poem for someone else.

When the aides at my school intervened in this way, we tracked progress in terms of accuracy, expression and reading rate. I was amazed at the progress these fourth graders made. At the end of the semester, we had all of them perform for parents and their classmates.

If you follow this plan each week from now until school begins, your child will have become familiar with about eight poems, their authors, and lots of new vocabulary words. He (or she) will also have gained confidence and improved their reading rate and reading comprehension. In fact, it may be so successful that you decide to keep it going during the school year. Just saying.

I suggest that, when the week ends, you keep copies of all of the poems and put them in a special folder. Perhaps you will offer a star each day or some kind of reward at the end of Day 5. The ease, enjoyment and bonding that develops will be cause for celebration.

Look for my next post which will offer a few more fluency suggestions. Please let me know if this was helpful or pose any questions you may have. I hope you will consider following my blog and sharing it with others. Thanks for stopping by!

April can be a fickle, disappointing month. We hope for sunshine and get rain, we long for warmth and still feel the chill. On the other hand, a glimpse of daffodils blowing in the breeze, the sound of birds chirping when we awake and trees breaking out in buds, all lighten our hearts with hope. Hope for a warmer days and hope for brighter days, whatever that means for us.

One constant of April that lifts my spirit is the celebration of National Poetry Month. Established in 1996, National Poetry Month celebrates the role of poets in our cultural and coincides with National Poetry Writing Month. Recognizing the integral role of poets and poetry in our society, teachers, authors, publishers and book stores are among many who remind us that “words matter” and that even the shortest verse can touch a heart.

As I child, I was lucky enough to have “Poetry” once a week. In elementary school, we each had a book of poems that we read, discussed and often had to memorize. In fifth grade we had to memorize A Leak in the Dike by Phoebe Cary. A clever teacher put it to music, making a rigorous task enjoyable. I can still sing it. My mother used to read The Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve. She often bragged that I could recite it by heart when I was only four years old. These are just some of the ways that I learned to appreciate poetry and why it has remained a constant in my life.

Poetry is often a gateway for children that struggle with reading, especially fluent reading. A bite-size verse is a palatable way to entice kids to read. Rhyming picture books have always held appeal for younger children and it’s surprising how much teens enjoy certain poems if they are presented in an appealing way.

During the month, I’ll be highlighting various ways to sneak poetry into your life and the life of your child. Poetry offers much bang for your buck if you are trying to encourage literacy in the home.

Here are three suggestions you can try this week:

Instead of nagging, write a short poem to remind family members to hang up their coat, clean the sink or do their homework. Sometimes humor goes a long way. My own mother used this trick. We had a pink bathroom in our home. I still remember the little poem she wrote to remind us to clean the tub…

If you want to bath in a tub that's pink,
it should be clean, don't you think?
Grab the Dow, it has pow, use it now! 

2. Assign each family member a day to find or write a poem and share it with the other members of the family. Hang each poem on the fridge or another prominent place and you’ll have a collection by the end of the month.

3. Kids love limericks. Hunt down a few to read to your kids during the week.

Poetry doesn’t have to be high-brow, dark, long or serious. Have fun with it this month and see if you can plant the seeds that grow your own or others appreciation of poetry.