Empowering Voices, Enhancing Fluency

Reading fluency forms the foundation for comprehension, academic success, and a lifelong love of learning. It serves as a bridge between decoding words and comprehending text. When individuals read fluently, they can recognize words effortlessly, allowing them to focus on understanding the meaning behind the words and sentences. Fluent readers have a natural cadence, expressiveness, and appropriate phrasing that contribute to a more engaging and enjoyable reading experience. Moreover, fluency is closely tied to comprehension, as it enables readers to make connections between words, interpret nuances, and grasp the overall context of a passage. Proficient fluency is a key indicator of reading competence and is essential for academic success. Whether in the classroom or in daily life, being a fluent reader enhances communication skills, promotes critical thinking, and opens doors to a world of information and knowledge.

We've created a fun new space in The Hive - introducing.... The Fluency Forum! As you'll see from the photos at the end of this post, students are enjoying using this forum to perform their weekly partner plays (aka readers' theater). Incorporating readers theater into our student's reading routine has proven to be a fun and effective way to enhance students' reading fluency, comprehension, and overall reading skills. It has transformed reading into an interactive and enjoyable experience, fostering a positive attitude toward literacy, even for our most reluctant readers. Students are eager to demonstrate their fluency skills (and for many, to showcase their award-winning acting skills) each week. We recently enhanced the forum with a podium and a stage to offer students additional opportunities to publicly share their writing and learning in an effort to support fluency across all areas of the curriculum. What a win!

A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS to Grampy Porter and the Mulgrew family for designing and creating the stage that was just added to the forum this week. It's now officially a full-on theater! The kids are beyond excited about leveling-up their performances! Thank you, thank you!

This week's guest bloggers share their experiences in the Fluency Forum. Enjoy!

I am benefitting form the partner plays in a lot of ways. One of the ways is that it helps me practice reading more clearly. Another way is that they help me understand new vocabulary words - how to say them and what they mean. Finally, reading with a partner is better than just reading alone. Your partner can help you with words that are hard. Having the partner plays and the Fluency Forum is a great way to improve our fluency. - @McGrimace

I really like that every week we get to practice partner plays and perform in the Fluency Forum. It's helping me develop my reading fluency and I can already see how much better I am at reading out loud. I feel like I can read a whole play without messing up or having to start over. Adding the Fluency Forum just makes the whole experience a lot more fun and realistic. I can't wait for more of these! - @Coconut5

The Fluency Forum definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone because I'm used to reading in my head with no expression. When I'm reading out loud I'm reading with expression and confidence. I've never done anything like this so it's a real thriller. When I go up, I get so nervous thinking I'm going to mess up or forget where I am in the script. Practicing these is a good thing for me. - @SkullTrooper

Partner plays help me read with expression and more smoothly. The best part is how much fun they are and how your partner helps you with words that you get stuck on. When I'm reading with a partner, I realize I do better. I also love that my classmates cheer or clap when we are done performing. - @Sweetie

The Fluency Forum experience definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone because until this year, I probably would not have been able to do it. It can feel uncomfortable to perform on stage at first (sometimes my stomach gets upset and does backflips), but you eventually get into it. - @DollyParton101

What I like about the partner plays is that I have a partner beside me so that if I stumble on a word, they are there to help me. My partners always encourage me to sound out the word to try reading it again in the sentence. It used to be a nerve-wracking experience for me, but it's not anymore. Sometimes the plays are really funny and the boys will try out funny voices. - @soccerdog14

I am benefitting from the partner play experiences because they help me practice talking slower, speaking more clearly, and how to figure out challenging words. It also helps me with stage fright. I am a singer and even though I shouldn't have stage fright, I do. Performing in the Fluency Form helps me overcome this. The setup of the theater is just... WOW. Thank you Grampy Porter for making it and donating it to our classroom. We love it. - @SODA

I am grateful for my grampy making the stage for our Fluency Forum. It took him about a week to finish making it, but it was 100% worth the wait. He even added a pull-up backdrop and carpet. It looks amazing and I'm so happy we have it. - @BlueBear

The part of reading fluency that I am working on is accuracy. When I first started doing these, I always stopped or got tripped up on words and now I am much better. I can read the scripts accurately. I am definitely becoming more fluent in my reading. - @Ribbet

I feel great about using partner plays to practice my reading fluency. I would much rather read a play with a partner and let my partner and I correct each other's mistakes than just sit and read silently not knowing if I made a mistake. Interacting with my partners is much better than reading on my own for the simple reason that it's more fun. - @RUUUUFFFF

I am benefitting from all of the practice we get with partner plays. I like that you can act out your play and that you learn new words that you can add to your vocabulary. It's also good that when you perform, you have to look at your audience. I think the partner plays are helping me become a better reader. - @Oreo17