Fluency Assessment Report

This week, your child completed a reading assessment so that I can determine their

fluency level. Reading fluency refers to the ability to read well and be easily understood while

reading. Being a fluent reader is important as your child goes through school. As we move

away from learning to read, we move into reading to learn. Next year, your student will be

taking classes such as Science and Social Studies. The content of these classes will require

students to be good readers, so they are able to comprehend the material. That is why this year

we are going to focus on fluency. I am going to monitor your child’s progress all year and

implement specially designed instruction to ensure your child is at grade level fluency by the end

of the year.

There are four overall parts that we look at in reading fluency. The first part is

expression and volume, or how natural the reading sounds. Does it sound like natural language?

Does your child read with enthusiasm? Is your child speaking too loudly, too softly, or just

right?

The second part of fluency is phrasing. Does your child follow the punctuation on the

page? When there is a question mark, does your child make the phrase sound like a question?

Do they read only a couple words at a time, resulting in choppy reading? Do they ignore

punctuation breaks and read sentence after sentence without stopping? Or do they read in

complete sentences and follow the punctuation?

The third part of fluency is accuracy, or how many words a student reads correctly. If a

student has automatic word recognition and can easily sound out unknown words, they will be

able to read smoothly and accurately. Otherwise, a student may spend too much time and brain

energy sounding out a lot of words, resulting in choppy reading and a lack of comprehension. In
other words, they will struggle to make meaning out of what they are reading. And

understanding what is being read is the ultimate goal of fluency.

The last part of fluency is pace, or the speed at which the student reads. Is your student

reading too fast or too slow? Does your student consistently read at a natural, conversational

speed?

Overall, your child is right on track with fluency. He reads with great volume; and most

of the time, he makes his reading sound like natural language. He reads well and will

occasionally pause to sound out more difficult words. He has good decoding skills; he does not

stop and spend too much brain energy figuring out words he does not know. Usually, he pays

attention to the punctuation. When he sees a question mark, he will often make it sound like a

question. However, at times, he does not pause for the period at the end of a sentence. In

addition to phrasing, another area of focus for us will be pace, or the speed at which he reads.

Sometimes he maintains a consistent pace, reading with great expression, accuracy and phrasing.

At other times, he reads a little too slowly, almost as if he is hesitating because he is unsure of

his reading ability. The rubric I used to assess your child showed that in expression, phrasing,

accuracy, and pace he scored a 3. This means that he is almost at grade level fluency. With a

focus on phrasing and pace for the rest of the year, I am confident that he will be where he needs

to be by June. As I mentioned before, he reads well. Throughout the rest of the year, we will

work on building his confidence in his overall reading ability as well.

That is where I need your partnership. Give your child lots of praise as he is reading at

home. Help him to build up his confidence. Encourage him to read to you often and

congratulate him on a job well done. Encourage your child to warm up with an easier book

before moving to a more challenging book. Additionally, encourage him to read familiar books
to you. The more he reads the same story, the more his fluency and confidence will grow. He

will naturally get better each time he reads the story. We will be practicing this at school as well.

As we read new books, we will go back and reread to increase phrasing and pace.

We will also practice looking ahead for punctuation as we read. The first few days, we

will examine our books before we read. We will talk as a whole class about what the different

punctuation means and how it sounds when we read. As we work on these activities throughout

the year, I am confident your child will build his confidence and reading fluency. I look forward

to partnering with you on this journey.


Name: Jessica Sigman
Target Content/Lesson Topic: Phrasing & Pace
State Learning Standards
Identify relevant grade level standards
and Learning Outcomes from the State
Content Learning Standards, Common
Core Standards, and school learning
outcomes.
Learning Targets/Objectives
What should the students know or be
able to do after the instruction? Use a
common format with a measurable verb
that matches the cognitive domain
standard. This should be a small piece of
the standard stated in measurable
terms.
Grouping
Describe how and why students will be
divided into groups, if applicable
(homogeneous, heterogenous, random /
based on ability, interest, social
purposes, etc.)
Differentiation
If either or both lessons are whole class,
how is the lesson(s) differentiated for
the focal student?
Fluency Intervention Lesson Plan Template
Grade Level: 3rd grade
Date: 10/2/21
Planning
RF.3.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
a. Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
b. Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary
I can
• Read texts orally with accuracy, appropriate rate and expression.
• Use context to self-correct word recognition and understanding.
• Reread when necessary to build fluency.
• Look ahead when reading to determine the punctuation and phrasing I need to use when reading
aloud.
Students will be able to use context to self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading after self-
correction to build fluency, more specifically phrasing and pace. Students will be able to identify the different
types of punctuation and how they sound when reading aloud. Students will be able to look ahead when
reading a text to determine the punctuation and the appropriate phrasing needed for fluency.
Students will work in a small group directly with the teacher. This group is made up of two students who need
additional instruction on grade-level fluency.
Leveled books are below grade level, but at an instructional level for these two students.
Assessment
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Assessment
How will students demonstrate that the
focal student is making progress in
toward their fluency goals?
Minilesson One
1. Introduction (including setting
expectations and establishing
procedures and instructions)
2. Activate/Connect To Prior
Knowledge
3. Fluency Activity (including
modeled, guided, and independent
practice, as needed)
Minilesson One – Teacher will observe students during reading to check for progress toward fluency goals.
Observation checklist – Teacher will select one: Student follows almost all punctuation, with three or fewer
errors. Student follows most punctuation with four to six errors. Student follows little to no punctuation with
more than seven errors.
Minilesson Two – Teacher will observe students during reading to check for progress toward their fluency
goals. Teacher will use Fluency Rubric to monitor and document progress. Teacher will have an interactive
discussion with students to check for comprehension.
Instruction
Lesson will begin with teacher activation of student’s prior knowledge. Teacher will pose the following
questions: “Who has seen a train?” “Who has ridden on a train?” Teacher will allow for students to respond
and engage in a discussion about trains. Teacher will then show Pete the Cat’s Train Trip (Level H). “Today we
are going to read about Pete the Cat and also practice a new skill to build our fluency. Who remembers what
things are included in reading fluency?” Allow time for students to respond. Teacher brings out the large
sticky paper poster sheet that he/she made with this group previously. Poster sheet is a list of everything that
is included in fluency: expression, phrasing, accuracy and pace. “That’s right, our expression or how
enthusiastic we sound when we read, our phrasing or how our sentences sound as we read, our accuracy
and pace or speed. Today, we are going to focus on our phrasing. We are going to learn a new skill that
will help to make our reading sound more like how we talk when we are talking to each other. As we are
reading today, we are going to look ahead to the punctuation to see how we should read our sentences. Let
me show you what I mean. Let’s open our books to the first page. Before we start reading this page, we
are going to look at the punctuation. Let’s scan through the first sentence. What do we see?” Allow time
for student responses. “That’s right. A period at the end of the sentence. So we know to make the
sentence sound like a statement. What about the next sentence. What do you see?” Allow time for
responses. “Absolutely! There’s an exclamation point at the end of this one. So what does that mean?”
Allow time for responses. “That’s right. We are going to show excitement when we read it. Who would
like to try that sentence out?” Give students practice and feedback. “Great work! Let’s move on to the
next page. You each are going to take a quick second and look ahead to the punctuation and practice for
me.” Allow time for students to practice and give them feedback. “Excellent. Now it’s your turn. You are
each going to read aloud to yourself, but quietly. Make sure you take a quick moment to look ahead to the
punctuation to determine how you are going to sound when you read each sentence. If it’s a question mark,
how are we going to sound?” Allow time for responses. “If there is a comma in the middle of a sentence,
what are we going to do?” Allow time. “Excellent. Your turn. You can spread out a little bit and make
room for yourselves and I am going to listen to you both read.” Students will read aloud. Teacher will
observe students read and provide feedback in the moment. Teacher will provide the following prompts as
students read: What does that mark tell you to do? Nice job; your voice matched that punctuation. There’s
2

Minilesson Two
1. Introduction (including setting
expectations and establishing
procedures and instructions)
2. Activate/Connect To Prior
Knowledge
3. Fluency Activity (including
modeled, guided, and independent
practice, as needed)
Instructional Materials,
Equipment and Technology
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.
a question mark; make your voice rise like you are asking a question. Student will take book home for the
night and practice reading to a family member.
Lesson will begin with teacher activation of student’s prior knowledge. Teacher will pose the following
questions: “Who has or has had a pet?” “Who has or has had a dog?” “What kinds of things do you do with
your dog?” “Does your pet ever get into trouble?” Teacher will allow for students to respond and engage in a
discussion about pets. She will then show the book, Clifford the Big Red Dog (Level K). “Today, we are going
to read a book about a girl named Emily Elizabeth and her dog named Clifford who is a big, red dog. As
we are reading, we are going to continue practicing our fluency. Who remembers what things are included
in reading fluency?” Allow time for students to respond. “That’s right, our expression or how enthusiastic
we sound when we read, our phrasing or how our sentences sound as we read, our accuracy and pace or
speed. Something we are going to work on today to help build up those skills is rereading the sentences on
the page, especially after we decode a word we don’t know. Let me show you what I mean.” Teacher
turns to page and reads “We have fun…(demonstrate decoding) together. Now I know what that word is,
but I don’t remember what the whole sentence said. So I am going to go back and reread it. And then
again with more expression so it sounds natural – like how we talk.” Teacher demonstrates. “As you are
reading Clifford, remember the strategy we worked on yesterday – looking ahead at the punctuation so we
know how to make our sentences sound. When we are all done reading, we are going to talk about the
book and I have some questions about Emily Elizabeth and Clifford, ok? Everyone ready? You can both
spread out a bit; you are going to read out loud but quietly to yourself and I am going to check in with both
of you as you go.” Students will read and reread as appropriate. Teacher will observe students read and
provide feedback in the moment. Teacher will provide the following prompts: “Great! Now go back and
try it one more time.” “How did that sound to you?” “You read all the words correctly, now reread it and
smooth it out.” After students are done reading, teacher and students will have a comprehension
discussion. Teacher will ask the following questions: What happens when Emily threw the stick? Why
doesn’t Emily need a tent? Why don’t they go to the zoo anymore? Where does Clifford hide during hide-
and-seek? How does Emily give Clifford a bath? Students will take book home to practice reading to a
family member.
Pete the Cat’s Train Trip
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Parts of Fluency list from previous lesson
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 Reflection

As we discussed in class, fluency is an important building block on the way to reading

comprehension. Without being able to read with appropriate expression, phrasing, pace and

accuracy, a student cannot hope to comprehend the text they are reading. After students learn

how to read, they begin to read to learn. This requires that they have strong reading

comprehension. In other words, they must be fluent readers so their brains are free to

comprehend what is being read. If students are not fluent, they will use too much brain energy

trying to figure out the words they are reading and will struggle to understand the content.

Therefore, it is important to assess fluency. It is a quick assessment, taking no more than

a minute to complete. It is crucial to see where a student is to inform future instruction. Only

when you know where a student is at with fluency, can you select and implement appropriate

reading instruction. There are some disadvantages to assessing reading fluency. Some teachers

only measure a student’s accuracy and speed (words per minute) to determine fluency.

However, these are not the only important pieces of fluency. Expression and phrasing are

equally as important as accuracy and speed in determining how fluent a reader is. Another

disadvantage to assessing fluency is that it could be time consuming when assessing a whole

class. A fluency assessment is best done individually; therefore, if there is a class of thirty

students, it could be cumbersome to assess each student individually. However, the importance

of assessing reading fluency in first grade and beyond far outweighs any disadvantages. Reading

comprehension is the goal of fluency; therefore, it is crucial for teachers to assess students often

to check for progress.

I was lucky to assess a child I am familiar with. I know his reading history and past

interventions. I listen to him read every day; therefore, I found assessing his fluency to be quite
easy. However, I could see how it could be difficult to listen to an unfamiliar child read for one

minute, especially as a pre-residency student or even as a new teacher. As you mentioned in

class, it gets easier the more it is done. In addition, I believe that as a new teacher, working with

the same students every day will make it easier to assess reading fluency quickly and efficiently.