Rereading familiar text helps students develop fluency. A fluent reader reads with proper intonation and expression, making the book sound just like talking. Readers learn to read in phrases rather than word by word, making for a smoother flow to their reading. We also work on reading fairly quickly. It is important for students to reread these stories at home, too. |
Word work with magnetic letters provides students with a tactile way to manipulate words. This is a regular part of our lessons in both Reading Recovery and Title I. Students think about words they know to help them with words they don't know. Students will hear something like this as we manipulate words, "If you know eat, then you know meat. If you know meat, then you know meal." |
During our first grade Reading Recovery lessons, students write in their journals about the story that they read. The teacher writes the story on a sentence strip, the student reads it while it is cut apart, and then reassembles the sentence. This activity teaches one-to-one matching as well as looking at the beginning sounds and doing a further visual search through the words. It also teaches students to leave spaces when writing, and end the sentence with punctuation. |