Increasing Reading Fluency by Scooping Phrases

By this time of the year, students should be reading smoothly in phrases. However, we know that all students learn at a different pace. If your child is not yet reading in phrases, here is an activity you can do to help them. It's called Scooping Phrases.  Children reading word for word  can have a loss of comprehension, but when they read in phrases they begin to make more sense of the text. 

 

Here is an example of what scooping phrases may look like. 

1. Have students read the words through one time to ensure they know all of the words.
2. Next, have them scoop the words into phrases meaning they read all of the words in the "scoop" together. 
3. Have them reread the phrases with feeling - what emotion does the text call for? (Think: happy, sad, scared, excited, angry, etc.)
4.