Fluency, Vocabulary, & Comprehension

Fluency, Vocabulary, & Comprehension READING RESOURCES FOR PARENTS TO SUPPORT KINDERGARTEN AND 1ST GRADERS AT HOME

Welcome to Module 4 Grade K/1

• Review the resources below.

• Choose 1 activity to complete with your child in fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

• Fill out the parent survey to share what you did and its impact.

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud to your child is appropriate across all ages. When you read aloud to your child you should think about engaging your child through reading with expression, asking questions, modeling your own thinking, and making connections between the story and your own world. There are several great resources that feature read-alouds you can listen to with your child, as well. Visit the links below to try the resources.

Storyline Online: This resource streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations.
Epic: This resource is a digital resource for children 12 and under that includes many "Read to Me" books, as well as books that a child can read on their own or with a parent.
Vooks: This is a streaming service that brings children's storybooks to life with animated illustrations and narrated story. Imagine storybooks where the illustrations move, the sounds sound, and the story comes to life! Children can read along, watch, or giggle at will. Vooks is offering a one month free trial.
Bookflix: This is a digital library produced by Scholastic. They have also put together some free at-home learning resources for parents.
Tumblebooks: This is a free virtual library that has storybooks, read alongs, Ebooks, graphic novels, non-fiction, videos, language learning, videos, puzzles and games.

Finally, in the video below, Julia Donaldson, author of the much-loved Gruffalo, shares her top tips for reading with your child.

Fluency

What is reading fluency?

Reading speed is the number of words a person can read correctly per minute. Reading speed is also called reading rate. It’s part of a broader skill called reading fluency. This is the term for being able to read accurately at a good pace and with the right expression or intonation. This article will help you to know why reading fluency is important and shares things you might ask your child's teacher about reading fluently. Below are some videos that show what reading fluency looks like at the different grade levels.

Chunking

Chunking is a strategy that helps readers increase fluency. Chunking helps readers look at parts of words and patterns in words to help them sound out and figure out those longer words in their reading. When students chunk words, they do not have to sound out every letter. Here is a fun video to explain chunking.

Reading Phrases

Here is a fun activity for our young readers! These are a list of short reading phrases that give your reader a chance to practice words and fluency! You can write the phrases on short strips of paper and have fun practicing! This will also help your young reader chunk words together when reading longer sentences.

Fluency Articles

Here is a short article with many ideas for parents to help their children improve their fluency. You will find you may already be doing many of these fun, easy activities at home already.

This is a great article packed with information and links of things you can do at home with your child. It explains the importance of fluency and give you access to fun reader’s theater links, online stories and more.

Vocabulary

As a reminder, vocabulary means to understand word meaning. This flyer shares tips parents can use to help their child learn new words.

Vocabulary Videos

This video provides examples for building your child's vocabulary as a part of your daily routine.

Vocabulary Articles and Applications

You can visit this link published by the National Center for Improving Literacy to find additional resources related to building a child's vocabulary.

The Peg and Pog app (pictured below) can be purchased to grow vocabulary in children from the age of 2 to first grade.

Use this link to explore look into how to purchase this app.

This article titled: 7 Great Ways to Boost Your Child's Vocabulary is a great read for parents with children of all ages.

Here is another short article, titled Building Your Child's Vocabularythat has 4 helpful hints to help you build your child’s vocabulary!

Spelling City is a web resource that has online vocabulary games. They are fun, interactive, and include multiple grade levels!

Comprehension

This great article from understood.org explains several of the comprehension strategies listed above.

Choosing books at the right reading level can help your child get better at reading—and learn to enjoy reading. Books that are too challenging can discourage kids. Books that are too easy don’t give enough opportunity for practice and growth. Here is an article than can help you pick good fit books for your child.

After your child reads a story or you read a story to your child, asking your child to do a five finger retell is a great way to support comprehension. Use the image above to guide the 5-finger retell process. Additionally, this link describes how you can make a retelling glove to support your child as they retell a story.

Retelling is an important reading comprehension skill. This blog provides several engaging ways to support children in retelling, including creating a retelling bracelet, using sticky notes, and providing props. Children may also enjoy watching the video below that explains the 6 questions they need to focus on when reading a story.

This is a great article on comprehension. It gives a personal perspective from the parent, teacher, and young reader. This article will also help you understand what your child may be feeling as he/she struggles with comprehension.

Reading Anxiety

When reading is a challenge for children, it may make them anxious. This blog shares 5 reasons why children may get anxious when reading and what you can do to help.

Make Reading Fun

When a child struggles with reading, it can cause anxiety. Parents can help to make reading an enjoyable experience for their child. This blog provides 13 tips for parents to help make reading fun. The video below discusses the power of building a "reading den" with your child. Our hope is this toolkit provides tools to help you support their child as they grown and develop as readers.

Appreciate