We are quickly coming up on the completion of All About Reading Level 1, and Mr. Six and I are crazy excited about this milestone! It’s been almost a full calendar year of working our way slowly through this level, and Mr. Six’s progress has been amazing! And now that we’ve had some solid time invested into this program, I wanted to share some tips for mastering the All About Reading fluency sheets.
These stuck for us and continue to work again and again for two reasons:
- I need as little extra prep work added to my plate as possible.
- Mr. Six really enjoys them.
So, here are our super easy, almost no-prep ways to help your kiddo happily work their way through the All About Reading fluency sheets.
TIPS FOR MASTERING THE ALL ABOUT READING FLUENCY SHEETS
Tip #1 | Break up the All About Reading fluency sheets over several days
You will find or have quickly found that once you get to around the middle of Level 1, those fluency sheets become kind of long for your beginner reader. If you stick to All About Reading’s suggestion of 20 minutes of reading per day, then it’s pretty likely that it will take at least a couple of days for your student to get through those pages.
And that is okay!
In order to not burn out Mr. Six, if I notice too much reading fatigue or even frustration or boredom, we stop even if we haven’t hit the 20-minute mark. We just pick up where we left off the next day and keep right on going.
The reason I even added this as a “tip” is because if you’re the kind of person (like me) who likes to reach a satisfactory stopping place or check things off a list, then it will be helpful to just expect the fluency sheets to take 2-3 days.
Tip #2 | Add treats as incentives
This is literally THE THING that has most motivated Mr. Six to get through those fluency sheets. I don’t often offer extrinsic motivation, but who doesn’t love a tiny sweet treat for working so hard??
Our favorite treat to use are chocolate chips. I buy the mini chocolate chips, and place one at the end of each row on the fluency sheet. As he finishes the row, he gets the chocolate chip. He’s a big fan of saving up his chips until he’s finished reading for the day. Then he eats his little handful.
What has been really cool for both of us to notice is how, as Mr. Six progresses through the level, his fluency truly has gotten noticeably better. He gets through so much more of the sheets in the same amount of time, so his little handfuls of chocolate chips have grown a bit. 😉
Tip #3 | Set a timer so your student can race him/herself
Every now and then, Mr. Six enjoys a bit of competition against himself. I set a timer and he’ll read through as many words as possible in 20 or 30 seconds. I keep a word count on a small white board and he tries to beat himself each round.
I’m picky in this challenge and I don’t count the words which weren’t read fluently. I don’t make him go back and read them again, but it motivates him to read carefully as he goes.
This is always a fun activity and one that requires no set up, which is a huge win in my book!
Tip #4 | Take turns reading through the fluency sheets with your student
I use this very sparingly, because I genuinely want Mr. Six to get the practice from reading the fluency sheets himself. However, on occasion, I’ll tell Mr. Six that we’ll take turns reading lines. He’ll read a line and then I’ll read the next line. That works really well, because we move through the sheets a bit quicker and he seems buoyed by us sharing the work.
I always tell him to follow along and read the words to himself, though, even when I’m reading, because every now and again I’ll intentionally mispronounce a word or “struggle” to decode a word to give him the chance to correct me. And it’s a quick check to see if he was, in deed, paying attention.
Tip #5 | Use a dry-erase marker to mark out the words for your student to erase as he/she goes
We have these dry erase pocket sleeves, and I stick the fluency sheets inside. Then I cross out all the words out ahead of time with a black dry erase marker, and he can wipe and read each word.
He REALLY enjoys this activity. I’d say it’s his second favorite – after the chocolate chips, of course. 😉
Tip #6 | Have your kiddo read the fluency sheets to a puppet or stuffed animal friend
I thought I only had 5 tips, and then I remembered this simple trick, too!
We used All About Reading’s Pre-Reading Program last year (here’s my review of Pre-Reading), and we had Ziggy the Zebra as a part of it. Mr. Six LOVES when Ziggy joins us for lessons, so if he seems to need encouragement or is less-than-enthusiastic about our lesson that particular day, Ziggy will jump in to help.
Ziggy is a great encourager and cheerleader! And every now and then, Ziggy will take turns reading the sheets with Mr. Six, too. In all honesty, since Mr. Six is my oldest, he sometimes seems like he’s too big for stuff like that. But then I get Ziggy out, and he’s so excited. Our little ones definitely still need the playfulness that puppets bring to the table!
A COUPLE MORE HELPFUL HINTS TO HELP YOUR KIDDO MASTER THE ALL ABOUT READING FLUENCY SHEETS
Remember that the 20-minute time limit All About Reading recommends is the most you should spend on reading at a time. But if your child is becoming fatigued, frustrated, or discouraged, definitely stop sooner than the 20-minute mark. There were days earlier on in Level 1, when Mr. Six was really just trying to get the hang of decoding, when we crawled at a snail’s pace. He hadn’t yet built up any reading stamina, so he became easily tired and frustrated. We often stopped after only 10 minutes. But slowly over time he’s gained more and more endurance and can now usually read for the entire 20 minutes.
If your kiddo is overwhelmed by the sheer number of words on the page, use a plain sheet of printer paper to cover up all but the line your child is reading. Not only does it take away the overwhelm, but it also removes any visual distractions and allows your kiddo to concentrate.
Okay friends, I hope that’s helpful as you dive in and make your way through the curriculum. The All About Reading fluency sheet are, admittedly, Mr. Six’s least favorite part of the program, but I have also seen just how effective they are in improving reading fluency and endurance. So keep at it…they’re worth it!
If you’re still on the fence about All About Reading, you can read my full review of Level 1 here. We love it and I’m thankful each day that we chose this curriculum. I hope it works well for your family, too!
