Third Grade Phonics & Fluency Activities
Phonics and fluency are essential elements for effective reading. Through phonics instruction, readers learn how to convert graphemes into phonemes, or letters into sounds--the basic principal of reading. Fluency is the ability to automatically recognize words and accurately and rapidly read a text with expression. If you are a third-grade teacher, you can use a variety of activities to promote phonics instruction and fluency for your students.
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Repeated Reading
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An ideal way to develop fluency is through repeated reading. Repeated reading is the process of having a fluent reader read a text with a non-fluent reader and the non-fluent reader re-reading the text on his own. Through this activity, the non-fluent reader will develop confidence in reading, become familiar with unknown words and increase his rate of reading. To successfully incorporate this activity into instruction, select a short text that interests the reader and is on his instructional reading level. This will help ensure that the non-fluent reader does not become frustrated.
Model Fluent Reading
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An easy way to promote fluent reading is through modeling. This can easily be achieved by reading aloud to students. Specify a comfortable space in your classroom where students can assemble while you read aloud. Choose texts that meet students' interests and select a variety of genres to read. Read with great expression--as if you are acting out the text. By reading with expression, the text will come to life and have more meaning for students. After reading aloud, ask students to point out some of the things that you did that displayed fluent reading. When fluent reading is modeled, students are likely to mimic such reading on their own.
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Digraph Review
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By the time children reach third grade, they should have a firm basis of phonemic awareness. Review phonics skills for which students express difficulty. One phonic skill that students may have trouble with is recognizing digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that when placed together, represent one sound--for example ch, sh and th. Review digraphs with this game. Provide individual dry-erase boards and dry-erase markers for students. Say a word that contains a digraph, such as shirt or church. After you say the word, students identify the digraph within the word by writing it on their dry-erase boards and holding their boards up. The first student to display the correct digraph earns a point. The player who earns the most points wins.
Word Family Review
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Promote efficient reading by reviewing word families. Word families--or rimes--are the ending chunks of words. These chunks are spelled the same and sound the same. Examples of words in a word family are can, ran and began. One word family--or rime--can unlock hundreds of words. To review word families, pair students into teams. On the board, write a word family--such as "ed" or "ake." In pairs, students try to come up with as many words for the word family as they can. Allow about three minutes to do this. When time is called, each pair will reveal how many words they have thought of. The pair with the most words wins.
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References
- Photo Credit boy reading book image by sonya etchison from Fotolia.com
