Repeated Readings

What is it?

·         The practice of reading a particular passage over and over again until a certain number of rereadings has occurred, or a specified level of fluency has been reached.

·         A reading method that requires students to listen to a teacher read a selection and then read the selection after a teacher.

·         Individual or small groups

·         Fluent oral reading is the goal

·         Can be reading one sentence over and over again or a paragraph or book

·         The method of repeated reading was developed to help non-fluent readers improve fluency and, ultimately, reading comprehension.

An example lesson in repeated reading (reading one sentence)

• Use material that the student requests.
• Choose a sentence from the chosen reading material.
• The teacher reads the sentence out loud, pointing to words as she reads.
• Pointing to the words, while reading, demonstrates the relationship between speech and print.
• The teacher reads the sentence again, while the student points to the words (with teacher assistance if needed and/or wanted).
• The student and teacher read the sentence together, with the teacher pointing to the words.
• Teacher and student read sentence again, with the student pointing to the words this time.
• If the student feels comfortable, he is asked to read and point to the sentence on his own.
• If he stumbles, the teacher supplies the difficult word(s) and assists with the remainder of the sentence (if needed).
• Continue to read together and alone until the teacher and the student are satisfied that the student can read the sentence perfectly.
• Ask the student to practice the sentence on his own until he feels that he is ready to read to the teacher or another student. He wants to read the sentence smoothly, quickly and accurately.
• The student reads the sentence fluently to the teacher while pointing to words.
• When the student feels satisfied with his reading performance, go on to the next sentence in the paragraph, using the technique outlined above.

While learning new sentences, always remember to review the sentences already learned.

Remember that the goal of Repeated Reading is for the student to read the sentence, paragraph or story smoothly, quickly and fluently.

Start by working with students to develop a purpose for repeated reading. This can be done through a brainstorming session initiated with the question "What are some things we learn that are improved with practice?" Explain to your students that reading needs practice, too, and best of all, reading practice can be fun!

Next, model repeated reading using the following procedure:

1. Select a book you will enjoy reading to your students again and again.
2. Read the story aloud as if you were a child reading it for the first time.
3. Include behaviors that might characterize a first reading, such as stopping to focus on difficult words.
4. After reading, talk about some parts that were difficult for you, and reread sentences to improve your reading.
5. Read the story a second time. During this reading, improve fluency, reduce the number of miscues, and add greater intonation and expressiveness.
6. With successive readings, become more expressive, fluid, and animated to achieve greater fluency and to promote greater comprehension and enjoyment.

Ideas to incorporate repeated readings in a weekly schedule:

-          Monday: At the beginning of the week the teacher will introduce and read a big book to the class as a whole, and then provide the same book in smaller form and group them into small groups to reread the book to each other.

-          Tuesday: during independent reading time, have individual students that need to work on fluency come and work on certain phrases and short sentences that are in the book from Monday. (Rereading the phrases and short sentences over and over again until they are comfortable).

-          Wednesday: the teacher will pair together two readers to reread the book together and to help each other when they are stuck.

-          Thursday: the teacher will assign a homework assignment for the children to read the book at home to their parents and to write down any phrases or words that gave them trouble.

-          Friday: the students will be assigned a “Kindergarten Buddy” to reread their story from the week to their buddy.