Fluency

===Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. Fluency is important because it povides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. === ===When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word by word. === ===Fluency changes depending on what readers are reading, their familiarity with the words, and the amount of their practice with the reading text. Even very skilled readers may read in a slow, labored manner when reading texts with many unfamiliar words or topics. === ===To listen to fluent reading please click below. There are two examples. An early elementary story, and a middle school story. ===

media type="file" key="eric carle reading.mp3" Eric Carle's __//The Very Hungry Caterpillar//__
