I have found my child working hard to read. She still reads slow but decodes correctly. She will stop her twin sister from helping her by saying "It takes me longer but I need to do this myself". I am soooo proud of her!
The pace is increasing, slowly, but increasing. Beyond reading daily (we started with the 5 books the school thought she should read and track the progress but she finds them boring... as I mentioned in an earlier post, we have been finding great books at our public library and in my own collections) we have been using "Fast Phrases" and "Fluency Phrasing" or as we call it "sailboat stories". You can find these activities and more at this link: http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/PDF/G2-3/2-3Fluency_3.pdf
The Fast Phrases are timed. We start with a large stack of cards (printed on cardstock off the website). I use the stopwatch feature on my cellphone to time how many cards she reads in a minute. At the end of June she read 34 cards per minute. She is now up to 40. Consistency is the key. We don't get to the cards every day but I see progress when we do.
Before I finish my post, there is one important fact I need to stress about reading for developing fluency. There is research that proves children need to read a book three times before achieving fluency. I once had a friend who refused to let her child read a book more than once because she was afraid she was memorizing it and not truly reading. This is the worst thing for a student, especially one who is struggling with fluency. Repetition is not a bad thing! It gives them confidence and helps them work on their speed. It is OK if they memorize some of the words, this develops their site words and will give them a reference when they see the word in another book.
If you have a struggling reader have faith, get help where you can, and never give up! I'm not!
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