I have a student in the third tier of RtI. She struggles with fluency, but has been working oh so hard to improve!
I found a way that I thought would help her. If you have been following my Wednesday posts for the past couple of weeks, you know that I had the pleasure of listening to Georgia Heard speak at a conference. Click here if you missed those posts. She talked with us about using poetry for fluency and the common core.
Georgia Heard gave this idea of using symbols to help the student practice their fluency. I call this poem coding.
I handed my student the poem, Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, and the coding card. She went through a paragraph at a time and coded it to what she felt sounded right to her. She naturally knew where to slow down, stop, and raise her voice.
You can also see where she was having difficulty with multi-syllabic words. She has learned to draw in her lines to break the words to help her read them. I find it interesting to look at her work on the poem sheet. It is like a work in progress to better fluency!
I have to say that this coding really helped my student and she got to where she could read this poem quite well! Coding the poem seemed to help her to think about how it should sound, the punctuation, and using expression. It was an easy tool for her to put into practice too. I really appreciate going to a conference and receiving practical resources that you can immediately put into place and that really help our students!!
Jessica Lawler says
What a great idea! I have a couple students who really struggle with decoding and fluency as well and think this would be a good strategy to try.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
~Jessica
Joy in the Journey
Amy Howbert says
This is perfect for one little one who could use this! Great idea, thank you!
Amy Howbert
Little Miss Organized
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luckeyfrog says
I feel like it is so hard for my kids to NOTICE the punctuation, sometimes! One way I've helped them pay more attention to it is our Punctuation Dance. I wrote about it here- http://luckeyfrogslilypad.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-punctuation-dance.html
It's also really awesome for those kids that need to get up and move during the reading block, and my kids love it- but I can tell a big difference after we've done "the dance." Color coding would be a perfect addition to this- thanks!
Jenny
Tammy says
That's a great strategy, and it's so smart to use an interesting poem instead of some random text that holds no meaning for her.
❀ Tammy
Forever in First
Barbara says
That's a very interesting idea. I'll have to remember that.
❀Barbara❀
Grade ONEderful
Ruby Slippers Blog Designs
Wendy Arentz says
Omigosh that poem is too cute!!! Thanks for sharing the coding idea…I think this will be a great strategy for two of my little readers who are struggling with fluency.
Read with Me ABC
lorivines4 says
Thank you Jessica! I hope it helps your students!
lorivines4 says
Thanks Amy! It did seem to help my student. 🙂
lorivines4 says
Thanks Jenny! Your punctuation dance sounds like fun! I will come read about it. 🙂
lorivines4 says
Tammy, I just happened to find that poem that fit perfectly for her for the week before Thanksgiving! It was fun to use it. 🙂
lorivines4 says
Thanks Barbara! My student just seemed to know right where to code the poem.
lorivines4 says
Thanks Wendy! I ran across that poem searching on the internet. I really liked it too! I hope the coding helps your struggling students.