Fluency LP and Parent Letter
Fluency LP and Parent Letter
Fluency LP and Parent Letter
Planning
State Learning Standards Craft and Structure 4. Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases
Identify relevant grade level standards as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics.
and Learning Outcomes from the State
Content Learning Standards, Common
Core Standards, and school learning
outcomes.
Learning Targets/Objectives LT: I can read a text smoothly and at a conversational pace.
What should the students know or be LO: S is able to read a level appropriate text with vocab words that are newer and domain specific without it
able to do after the instruction? Use a disrupting the reading smoothness or pace. The student is able to decode and reread the sentence or can read
common format with a measurable verb through the domain specific words.
that matches the cognitive domain
standard. This should be a small piece of
the standard stated in measurable
terms.
Grouping Individual
Describe how and why students will be
divided into groups, if applicable
(homogeneous, heterogenous, random /
based on ability, interest, social
purposes, etc.)
Differentiation Neither are whole class
If either or both lessons are whole class,
how is the lesson(s) differentiated for
the focal student?
Assessment
Assessment Minilesson 1: Keep track how often S must be prompted to reread a sentence when they repeat or decode a
How will students demonstrate that the word as well as when they reread a sentence without being prompted by the teacher. The less times they need
focal student is making progress in to be prompted the more progress to the fluency goal they are making.
toward their fluency goals?
Minilesson 2: Track words per minute for the student at the end of the lesson to see how the student is
improving at quickening their pace for reading. Remind the student however that reading super-fast is not the
goal, but instead reading at a conversational pace.
1
Summative: Redo the fluency test after a month of practicing the two goals of Smoothness and Pace.
Instruction
Minilesson One Have the student come to a back table during silent reading or flex time. Let the S know that this is to help gain
1. Introduction (including setting more smoothness over the text especially when they hit words that they do not know right away. Let them
expectations and establishing know that when they hit a word that they repeat, they are going to go back to the beginning of the sentence
procedures and instructions) and reread it and that they should read the word they repeated as if they have known it all along. Have several
2. Activate/Connect To Prior grade appropriate texts that would have some tier 3 words within the text. These words should still be
Knowledge
familiar but domain specific (this should not be the first time the student has seen/heard of these words). Let
3. Fluency Activity (including
modeled, guided, and independent the S pick which book to let them have a subject that they are more comfortable and familiar with and can
practice, as needed) have prior knowledge to the tier 3 words. Have the S begin to read the book. When T hears S repeat a word
prompts the S to reread that sentence again. Keep track how many times S is prompted to reread, S rereads on
their own, and Sentences overall.
Minilesson Two Have S come to a back table during silent reading or flex time. Let S know that this is to help their pace while
1. Introduction (including setting reading. Let S know that they are going to pick a book and that T will read the first line and they will repeat
expectations and establishing that line, matching the pace at which the T read, as best as they can. Have S pick a book provided to allow for S
procedures and instructions) to best know the content of the book and be able to link to prior knowledge on the subject. T begins to read the
2. Activate/Connect To Prior first sentence and then the S repeats. After a paragraph or so give S feedback on how their pace matching is
Knowledge
and give tips if S is still struggling with the pace matching. Explicitly Let S know that you are now going to vary
3. Fluency Activity (including
modeled, guided, and independent sentence pace dramatically to allow for S to hear what to fast sounds and feels like and what to slow sounds
practice, as needed) and feels like. At the end have S continue reading and perform a WPM test to see if their pace has improved,
but remind the S that faster does not mean better but instead encourage to read at a conversational pace like
we have been practicing.
Instructional Materials, Grade appropriate science books with tier three words in the book that do NOT have brand new words the
Equipment and Technology student has not seen before, (they should have at least heard the word before)
List equipment or technology that needs
to be available. Attach a copy of ALL
materials the teacher and students will
use during the lesson; e.g., handouts,
questions to answer, overheads,
PowerPoint slides, worksheets.
2
Dear parents or guardians of Student A, I am writing this letter to let you know the results
of student A’s fluency test. Student A is at grade level for Expression and volume. They are
Almost at grade level for phrasing and smoothness, and approaching grade level for pace. In this
letter I am going to break down why I gave each score that I did, what instruction I am going to
be giving in class, and something that student A and you can do at home.
The reason I gave Student A an at grade level score for expression and volume is because
they varied their expression and volume when indicated by the passage. For example on lines
323 through 334 there is a set of quotation marks following a coma. They changed their tone a
bit when reading this part showing this was a side note for clarity not that it was a part of the list
Next is the reason I gave Student A an “almost at grade level” score for phrasing. They
do have good stress and intonation for periods throughout the whole piece. They did have some
choppiness and some run on sentences. One example of choppiness was on line 12 when they
read “There are many kinds of natural disasters”, they were reading in one word increments
instead of reading the sentence through. They also fell back into some choppiness on lines 383-
398 when they were reading one word increments for “part of life”. They did also miss the slight
pauses for commas in line 22 when it was listing out natural disasters. There should have been 4
slight pauses with “forest fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, and severe droughts” but they only
These next two areas are the two areas that I will be working with Student A in class.
First I will be working on their smoothness. I gave them a nearly at grade level for smoothness
due to them having to only pause and repeat content specific words. For example having to pause
and then repeat the words “catastrophic” on line 66 and “disasters” on line 101. Some other
words they missed were “natural” and “severe” on lines 12 and 22. They also missed the word
“high” on line 153 and just said “that fall away from places”. The other thing I will be working
on with your child is their pace. They read slowly through the whole piece, but most notably at
line 345, they slowed down much more with “In the cafeteria”.
For smoothness I will be having your child practice a strategy called “read it like you’ve
always known it”. For this strategy, I will have your child read a book of their choice and when
they come to a word that they have to sound out, I will have them then go back to the beginning
of the sentence and reread the sentence without having to pause and soundout the new word thus
having them read it as if they had always known the word. This will help the sentence become
smoother and help them understand what they are reading better. For Pace, I will have your
student do an exercise called “echo reading”. The echo reading will be more specifically focused
on pace and done on a more individual setting. I will read a line or sentence from a book of their
choice and then they will read the sentence back like how I read it. This will help them move
from slowly reading to reading at a more conversational pace as they get to hear and then
immediately practice reading at a conversational pace. Something that could help Student A at
home is for you or them to record themselves reading a book they choose. This will let them hear
their own reading and try out different ways to read like varying how fast or slow they read to
see if they are reading at a consistent and conversational pace. This will also allow them to hear
what words are tripping them up without them realizing. By listening to the recording they will
These are a few strategies that are helpful for your child to improve on smoothness and
pace which will overall help your student with fluency. I look forward to working with you and
While I was assessing the student’s fluency it was a little awkward as it was the first time
I was in their specific class. I had been at the placement before, just not that class. It was also
difficult to find a good time to do it because I did not want to take away from their math
instruction time. They did great overall, but there were some other students who were skipping
class trying to bug the student, but they did a great job ignoring them for the most part. My
mentor teacher helped me get the other students to leave us alone so we could focus on the
fluency test. The purpose for assessing oral reading fluency can be a good window in how the
student is reading overall for when they read silently. If they are constantly stumbling on words
or omitting words or phrases there could be a chance that they are doing this while silently
reading as well and could be hurting their comprehension of the texts. Assessing oral reading
fluency is also a good tool for grouping students as well. It can allow for a proficient student to
support a striving student or can allow for a small group of students who are striving in the same
area at the same level to be supported all at once. During the process of creating my mini lessons,
one struggle I had was finding a standard for 8th graders that related to fluency. The one I found
was in the Literature across subjects state standards. It did cause me to tweak my lesson a little
bit to focus a bit more on tier three words but that was what the student struggled with the most
in the fluency reading assessment anyways so it fitted well. I also had to try and make the lesson
more age appropriate for eighth graders and not for younger students like a lot of the lesson
seemed to be for. I did this by having at grade level texts and having the student pick the stories