Does your child struggle with being able to read in long phrases, rather than word by word or every other word?
If so, the best way to help them develop their fluency is to have them read poems. Poems are written in a way where they are grouped in long phrases. They can read a line, and then go to the next line, and get the rhythm of reading.
Another thing you could do is take something that they have read and insert a diagonal line at the end of a meaningful phrase in the text. That way, they know that they are going to read all of that in one piece. Then, they will read the next piece, until the next line.
As confident readers, we do this naturally. We know the language and how it is supposed to sound so we read it that way. As a developing reader, they don’t have that context to help them through it. This is an easy trick, to put the lines in there where you know they should pause as you are reading, to give them an extra clue to how it should sound. Doing it a few times often gives them enough of a sense that they can start doing it on their own.
We hope this helps build your child’s reading confidence! For more tips on how to raise a confident reader, keep scrolling and grab our free guide.
