Reading Fluency Teaching Resources
Explore reading fluency teaching resources created by teachers for teachers! This collection of printable worksheets, digital reading center activities, Google Slides templates and more has been designed to help build students' foundational language skills — from understanding what to do with silent letters to recognizing sight words.
Packed with curriculum-aligned and differentiated resources, this collection of resources has been carefully curated by the expert ELA teachers at Teach Starter to ensure each one is classroom-ready to save you ample time on lesson planning.
New to this part of the ELA curriculum, or just looking for fresh ideas to engage your students? Read on for a guide on what reading fluency is, how to teach it and how to improve it!
What Is Reading Fluency?
We'll start at the very beginning — defining the topic at hand.
Reading fluency refers to a reader's ability to read words accurately, quickly, and with appropriate expression. It involves not just being able to recognize individual words but also being able to read entire sentences and paragraphs with ease and comprehension.
Developing fluency skills early on in elementary school is crucial as they will directly affect a child's reading comprehension and overall academic performance. If a student struggles with reading fluency, they may have difficulty understanding the meaning of what they are reading, which can make learning and retaining new information more challenging.
How to Teach Reading Fluency — Tips From Our Teacher Team
Teaching students to read fluently isn't something that happens overnight, of course. It involves different strategies that build on one another in the course of early literacy instruction.
Here are a few of the methods that are used in combination with one another to help kids grow their fluency skills:
Phonics Instruction
During the primary grades, students are beginning their journey with reading fluency by learning the basic sounds of letters and how to blend them together to form words. Phonics worksheets, games and other activities all come together here to help students practice their phonics skills.
Guided Reading
Working with small groups of students who are at a similar reading level is a common strategy starting around first grade, and guided reading may continue into third or fourth grade — depending on your teaching style and your students' needs. During guided reading, teachers choose books that are appropriate for each group and provide support and feedback as students read aloud.
Repeated Reading
Teaching second or third grade? You may may ask students to read the same passage multiple times to build fluency. This can involve choral reading (where the whole class reads together) or individual reading.
Reader's Theater
This popular strategy involves students acting out a story or play they have read. This helps them to build fluency and develop a better understanding of the text.
Partner Reading
You may want to pair students together to read a passage out loud to each other. This allows kids to practice reading fluently while also getting feedback and support from a peer.
Independent Reading
Encouraging students to read on their own at their own pace is one of the best ways to get kids hooked on reading and of course to build fluency. This can involve letting students choose their own books or assigning specific books to read. Encouraging students to read regularly, providing them with a variety of reading materials at their appropriate reading level and giving them feedback and positive reinforcement can all contribute to developing strong reading fluency skills.
No matter the grade you're teaching or the strategies you're using, teaching reading fluency will require you to observe how well your students can read aloud and how smoothly they can read silently.
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Paired Passage Worksheets-Mammals vs. Reptiles
Compare mammals vs. reptiles and add to your reading instruction with leveled nonfiction, compare and contrast passages, and worksheets.
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Dolch Sight Word Flash Cards
Practice the first 100 Dolch Sight Words with a deck of sight word flash cards.
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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Kindergarten
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Color by Sight Words - 5 Words - Bee
A fun coloring activity to use when working with sight words.
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Readers' Theater Script - That's Not My Pet
A readers’ theater script that can be used for reading fluency and expressive reading.
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Fry Sight Words Flash Cards
A set of flash cards for the first 100 Fry Sight Words.
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Jack Be Nimble Nursery Rhyme - Poster and Cut-Out Pages
A poetry activity using the nursery rhyme "Jack Be Nimble".
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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Grade 1
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Parts of a Plant Mini Books K-2
Read and learn about the parts of a plant with a set of differentiated printable readers.
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Color by Sight Words - 4 Words - Cat
A fun coloring activity to use when working with sight words.
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught A Fish Alive - Poster and Cut-Out Pages
A poetry activity using the popular children’s poem ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive’.
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Decodable Text Worksheets – Set 2
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Little Miss Muffet Nursery Rhyme - Poster and Cut-Out Pages
A poster and cut-out pages for the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet.
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Readers' Theater Script - The Lion and the Mouse
A readers’ theater script that can be used for reading fluency and expressive reading.
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Fluency Reading Passage Pack - Grade 1
Assess student fluency with a printable pack of reading fluency passages for 1st grade.
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Dolch Sight Word List – Complete Set
Practice word recognition with our set of 8 Dolch Sight Word Lists.
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Harriet Tubman Mini Book
Uncover facts about Harriet Tubman with a printable book for early readers.
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In the Arctic - Free Decodable Book
Engage your students and inspire them to read and learn about life in the Arctic with a printable book for 2nd grade.
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Space Mini-Book
Engage your students and inspire them to read and learn about space with a printable book for 1st grade and 2nd grade.
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The Farm - Decodable Book
Introduce young readers to nonfiction text with a printable book about farms.
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All About Insects Mini Book
Learn about creepy crawly insects with a printable book for preschoolers, kindergartners, and first-graders.
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Google Interactive Sight Word Study-Kindergarten Dolch Words
Read, write, identify, and build all 52 Dolch kindergarten sight words in an interactive Google Slides presentation.
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Google Interactive Sight Words - 2nd Grade Dolch
Read, type, build, and identify words from the Dolch Grade 2 Sight Words List in an interactive format.
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Wee Willie Winkie Nursery Rhyme - Poster and Cut-Out Pages
A poetry activity using the nursery rhyme "Wee Willie Winkie".
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Row, Row, Row Your Boat Nursery Rhyme - Rhyme Page and Sorting Activity
Row, Row, Row Your Boat – Printable shared poetry, sentence, and word rebuilding activities.
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Hey Diddle Diddle Nursery Rhyme – Poster and Cut-Out Pages
A poetry activity using the popular children’s poem “Hey Diddle Diddle".
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In My Classroom Concept Book
A printable concept book for children to discuss things around their classroom.
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I Think Mice Are Rather Nice Rhyme - Poster and Cut-Out Pages
A poetry activity using the popular children’s poem “I Think Mice are Nice”.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - WRITE
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “write” from the Second Grade Dolch sight words list.
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Reading Challenge - 10-100 Book Challenge Reading Logs
Start the 100-Book Challenge With a Fun Reading Log!
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Tricky Word Flashcards and Practice Mat
Practice identifying the tricky parts in high-frequency words with this practice work mat and accompanying tricky word cards.
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Barack Obama Mini Book
Learn about the life and contributions of Barack Obama with a printable mini-book filled with facts and details for early readers.
- Reading Fluency Worksheets
- Reading Fluency Games
- Reading Fluency Templates
- Reading Fluency for Pre-K
- Reading Fluency for Kindergarten
- Reading Fluency for 1st Grade
- Reading Fluency for 2nd Grade
- Reading Fluency for 3rd Grade
- Reading Fluency for 4th Grade
- Reading Fluency for 5th Grade
- Reading Fluency for 6th Grade