Practical Fluency

All teachers know helping students become fluent in reading and writing involves more than measuring reading rates. Max and Gayle Brand have worked together with students and colleagues over many years to discover the most effective whole-class, small-group, and individual strategies and activities for building both reading and writing fluency. They link all this work to the most current research on fluency, taking readers into the daily routines of their classrooms. Readers will be reassured by the many suggestions for integrating fluency into existing reading and writing workshop routines.

The first part provides some general guidelines on the organisation of successful task-centered activities. The second part consists of some fifty practical examples which have been tried and found effective in the classroom.

flu·en·cy / noun :the ability to speak a language easily and effectively Even if they want to, many Christians find it hard to talk to others about Jesus. Is it possible this difficulty is because we're trying to speak a language we haven't actually spent time practicing? To become fluent in a new language, you must immerse yourself in it until you actually start to think about life through it. Becoming fluent in the gospel happens the same way—after believing it, we have to intentionally rehearse it (to ourselves and to others) and immerse ourselves in its truths. Only then will we start to see how everything in our lives, from the mundane to the magnificent, is transformed by the hope of the gospel.

Because fluency practice is not a worksheet. Fluency in mathematics is more than adeptly using basic facts or implementing algorithms. Real fluency involves reasoning and creativity, and it varies by the situation at hand. Figuring Out Fluency in Mathematics Teaching and Learning offers educators the inspiration to develop a deeper understanding of procedural fluency, along with a plethora of pragmatic tools for shifting classrooms toward a fluency approach. In a friendly and accessible style, this hands-on guide empowers educators to support students in acquiring the repertoire of reasoning strategies necessary to becoming versatile and nimble mathematical thinkers. It includes: "Seven Significant Strategies" to teach to students as they work toward procedural fluency. Activities, fluency routines, and games that encourage learning the efficiency, flexibility, and accuracy essential to real fluency. Reflection questions, connections to mathematical standards, and techniques for assessing all components of fluency. Suggestions for engaging families in understanding and supporting fluency. Fluency is more than a toolbox of strategies to choose from; it’s also a matter of equity and access for all learners. Give your students the knowledge and power to become confident mathematical thinkers.

Coauthored and compiled by fluency expert Timothy Rasinski, this selection of engaging texts for Grades 2-3 will make reading enjoyable for students so that they will want to read, reread, and perform! Research has shown that readers who engage in regular repeated readings improve their word recognition, reading rate, comprehension, and overall reading proficiency. As students regularly read and perform these age-appropriate texts, they improve their decoding, interpretation, and ultimately comprehension of the materials. A variety of genres are included: poetry and rhymes, song lyrics, readers theater scripts, and famous speeches and quotations. 112pp.

Increase student fluency levels through repeated reading of traditional poems, songs, reader's theater, and monologues. Based on Dr. Timothy Rasinski's important fluency research, these books are ideal for ELL students. Two CD's are included: an Audio CD with recordings of the songs, and a Teacher Resource CD with the songs presented in PowerPoint for whole class participation.

Discover innovative ways to incorporate fluency practice into reading instruction! This professional resource provides teachers with engaging and practical strategies for bringing fluency instruction into daily reading routines. Written by fluency expert Timothy Rasinski and literacy and reader’s theater expert Chase Young, this book offers instructional strategies to help teachers understand fluency and how to teach it. With step-by-step strategies, detailed lessons, and ideas for improving fluency, this meaningful guide allows teachers to provide purposeful reading opportunities for their students. Help every student become a confident and fluent reader with this professional resource!

Research shows that repeated oral reading builds fluency and comprehension. Create a fluency center in your classroom with leveled fiction and nonfiction passages linked to standards-based topics. The audio CD with each book provides a fluent modeled reading. Students can time their readings and graph their progress. 64 pages each.