Reading Before Reading

What is considered fluent reading? Well, reading fluency consists of three components including: 1. high degree of accuracy, 2. speed and 3. prosody. It is true that a reader who demonstrates two of these three components will leave their listener lacking and unable to fully comprehend what was read. A fluent reader will make few decoding mistakes and this skill is often the most recognized and praised amongst beginning readers while speed or rate of reading is not far behind on the list of importance. However, a reader can read with accuracy and speed and not comprehend the text. Prosody, the true act of freely reading and appreciating textural language, happens when decoding and comprehension come together. Prosody is the goal of reading. It is reading with proper pauses, intonations, rhythm - all thing that demonstrate ease of text as well as comprehension of text. Hence, there are three components to fluent reading.

Now that we know what a fluent reader is, what can we do to help our readers who are not yet reading become fluent? Let me makes some suggestions.

• Model fluent reading. Read aloud to your reader and love doing it. It is recommended you read up to two grade levels above your readers independent reading level is when reading aloud.
  
• Echo reading. You read something and your child echos your words. Remember to never force children to echo back. A great book for echo reading: I Went Walking by Sue William or Dinosaur Roar.
  
• Paired reading. Read the text together at the same time. Choose a book with a repetitive phrase with strong rhythm. A great book for paired reading: Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle.
  
• Choral reading. This is when a group or class read the text together. The teacher, or better reader, sets the pace. This is a good way to learn sight words.


• Chants. Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds on one or two pitches such as a melody with only one or two notes. Chants are often repetitive but can have highly complex musical structures. By turning a simple sentence into a chant (keeping the same words) you are adding a musical component giving your soon-to-be reader an additional learning strategy.


• Read along with audio disc. When you read along with an audio disc, you are listening to fluent reading - reading with accuracy, proper speed, and prosody - all the while you are watching the words and looking at the pictures. This is a great way to assist comprehension.
  
• Poetry. Poetry has been described before as the highest form of literature. Poetry adds elements to reading comprehension by offering more meaning than is explained or given to the reader. Poetry contains diverse levels of complexity but almost always is some implication and interpretation of the text required to get meaning from its words and sentences. A child who is introduced to age-appropriate poetry while still young will be better equipped to interpret and get meaning from various kinds of texts.

Read to your child everyday. You cannot do more to prepare your child for a lifetime of learning than to develop in them a love for reading. Let them participate in reading in various ways including echo reading, paired reading, or chants. Give them lots of examples and kinds of texts to love including poetry. Read what they can understand. Read. And then they too will read.