Fluency Friday

Every other Friday is Fluency Friday in my classroom.  Well, I guess it's a combination of fluency and expression, really.  Most of my students are reading fluently, but that doesn't mean there isn't any room for growth!

The students really like this activity.  As the year goes on, I will also bring out Readers' Theater.  Essentially, the kids read a nursery rhyme using their normal voice, as well as a "fun voice."

Here are the materials we use on Fluency Friday.  Nursery rhyme booklet:
 I downloaded these nursery rhymes, for free, from KinderGals.  Click here to get this great freebie.

Talk the Talk: Showing Point of View character cards by Amanda Nickerson:


The booklet is full of nursery rhymes.  Once I explained to the students the reasoning behind using nursery rhymes, there were no complaints about reading "baby stuff."  They actually really seem to enjoy it!  Each time we focus on one new rhyme and go back and reread "old" rhymes.

Here are the procedures I use on Fluency Friday:

1. I read the new nursery rhyme to the students as they "follow along with their eyes."
2. I read the rhyme in chunks and the students echo my reading.
3. We read it whole group (choral read).
4. I pair the students up and they take turns reading the rhyme in their regular voice to one another.
5. Partners then read the rhyme together (choral read).
6. When they're ready, each pair of students gets a set (2) of "fun voice" cards.  They know that these cards are meant to help them use expression as they read.  They read the rhyme to one another in both of the fun voices they were given.
7. Partners may go back and reread older rhymes using any voice they like.  I will even let them trade their character cards for new ones.

Every time the students get this card, they ask me what a Martian sounds like.  Good question!  I tell them that they get to be as creative as can be and come up with what they think an alien would sound like.  The girl that got this card today walked away with a big smile on her face and had fun creating an alien voice. 

They love the fun voices, and they have a tendency to get loud because they're having fun.  Today they were so bummed that they had to stop for lunch time that I gave them a bit of extra time when we returned from lunch!

Do you use any fun fluency activities in your classroom?
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