Multisensory Monday- Frequent Reader Card
Posted by Brainspring on 13th Oct 2014
Hi everyone,
Welcome to Multisensory Monday! Today’s activity is a fun way to encourage students to repeatedly practice reading familiar texts. To improve decoding speed and reading fluency, students should practice reading the same text over and over, both silently and aloud. Word lists, sentences or controlled stories are all good choices for students to practice with. Pick a text that you have already read through with the student that’s appropriate for their level.
If you are using Phonics First Foundations, try using a list of words or sentences from a previous lesson. You can also use a previous Phonics First Foundations Layer Story if you are looking to have your student practice more connected –text fluency. The Supplemental Guides for Reading Fluency are a great option here; just make a copy of the word list or sentences from the previous lesson for your students to use. If you don’t have the Supplemental Guides, no worries, you can also type and print the words or sentences from a previous lesson to use. The students will need to use the same text for several days. You can decide if you want your students to be responsible for keeping their text or if you want to keep them.
Frequent Reader Punch Cards
This activity works just like a punch card at your favorite Sunday morning restaurant (which is where I got the idea from). Print and cut out the Frequent Reader Cards, write the student’s name at the top and you’re ready to go! Each time the student completes a reading task with their text, they get a punch, stamp, or even a simple smiley face. When they have collected 10 punches, they get a small reward before receiving a new Frequent Reader Card and text to practice.
Word Template-Frequent Reader Cards
Reading Tasks
For me, reading the text silently first and then aloud to a partner or teacher is the most efficient way for students to practice reading. It’s important that students practice silent reading as well as oral reading because they are different reading skills. Each time a student read the words to themselves, and then aloud, they would get a punch. If you would like to switch up the reading task on different days, you can. There is also nothing wrong with continuing to have the students read silently and aloud.
This can be done during a time you incorporate into your lesson or your classroom schedule, or it can be something students do when they finish early or have down time. I suggest limiting the number of punches the students can get each day to 2 or 3 to ensure that they are practicing the same text multiple days.
Reading Rewards
Finally, I left a blank space on the Frequent Reader Cards for you to fill in your own rewards. I suggest keeping the rewards reading related. Some examples of rewards I would use are: choose your own book, read with a friend, read with the teacher, pick your own spot to read, 10 extra free reading minutes, or night-time reading (turn off the lights and let students read with a flashlight).
Happy Reading!
What other rewards do you suggest?
There will be a special appearance on Thursday’s post, so be sure to check back!