Fluency Bibliography

A Reading Fluency Resource Guide

Books
Blevins, W. (2001). Building fluency: Lessons and strategies for reading success. New York:
Scholastic.
Blevins provides practical activities, oral reading strategies, and easy assessments. There are also
word lists that focus on syllables and spelling patterns that students should master in order to read
fluently.

Callella, T. (2003). Developing reading fluency, grade 4. Huntington Beach, CA: Creative
Teaching Press.
This 96-page book contains fun activities to help students around the fourth grade level improve
their fluency, leading to improved comprehension.

Madden, M. and Sullivan J. (2008). Teaching fluency beyond the primary grades: Strategy
lessons to meet the specific needs of upper-grade readers. New York: Scholastic.
This book addresses how to motivate, teach, and assess fluency with students in 4th-6th grade.

Johns J. L. (2008). Basic reading inventory: Pre-primer through grade twelve and early literacy
assessments (10th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
This educator resource contains leveled passages that can be reproduced for fluency assessments
of your students. The book and CD also include information about interpreting and using the
results.

Katz, B. (2007). Partner poems for building fluency. New York: Scholastic.
You will find 25 reproducible poems designed for pairs of students to read aloud together. It is
intended for use with 2nd-4th grade.

Rasinski, T.V. (2003). The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition,
fluency, and comprehension. New York: Scholastic.
This is one of the best known books on the topic of fluency, written by one of the leading
authorities. This book should be a primary resource for anyone seeking more information about
fluency. It is highly recommended for school professional resource collections.

Rasinski, T.V., Blachowicz, C., & Lems, K. (Eds.). (2006). Fluency instruction: Research-based
best practices. New York: Guilford Press.
This book combines history, theory, research, and application for readers who want to expand
their understanding of fluency.

Books continued
Rasinski, T.V., & Padak, N. (2005). 3-Minute reading assessments: Word recognition, fluency,
& comprehension. New York: Scholastic Teaching Resources.
There are two versions of this book containing short reading assessments for grades 1-4 and
grades 5-8. Keep in mind that childrens reading levels do not always match their grade levels.

Scholastic. (2004). Perfect poems: With strategies for building fluency (Grades 3-4). New York:
Scholastic Teaching Resources.
This book contains 50 poems selected to provide practice in specific fluency skills. There are
also poems designed for reading in pairs or small groups.

Sweeney, A. (2004). Fluency lessons for the overhead: Grades 2-3. New York: Scholastic.
Sweeney, A. (2004). Fluency lessons for the overhead: Grades 4-6. New York: Scholastic.
Each of these books contains 15 excerpts from famous authors that are used to teach certain
fluency skills. Instructions for the teacher are included for teaching the lessons. The books
include the transparencies as well as blackline masters to reproduce for students independent
practice.

Richard Allington has written a new book entitled What really matters in fluency: Researchbased practices across the curriculum. It will be available for purchase in 2009.

Articles and Other Publications

Marr, M. B., & Dugan, K. K. (2007). Tips for teaching: Using partners to build reading fluency.
Preventing School Failure, 51(2), 52-55.
Learn one approach to improving fluency as well as what educators should do in general .
The University of Texas Center for Reading & Language Arts. (2004). Effective literacy
instruction and progress monitoring. University of Texas System/Texas Education
Agency.
This 174 page document explains everything you need to know about fluency from the basics to
progress monitoring.

Zutell, J. and Rasinski, T.V. (1991). Training teachers to attend to their students oral reading
fluency. Theory Into Practice, 30(3), 211-217.
This article identifies factors related to the neglect of fluency instruction and aims to equip
educators to correct that problem.

Online Resources
Busy teacher's caf. Improving fluency in young readers.
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/fluency.html
This comprehensive website explains fluency, offers suggestions for improving fluency, and links
to dozens of online resources.

McGraw Hill Company. Sample fluency passages.

http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/california/teachers/building-reading-and-writingskills/student-fluency-passages
Reading A-Z. How to measure fluency.
https://www.readinga-z.com/guided/fluency.html
Instructions on how to time and measure student fluency.
Reading Rockets, Fluency Guide.
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/Classroom/English/Languages/Bilingual_Education.html
A comprehensive guide to reading fluency.
Scholastic. 5 Fluency Strategies. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/5-surefire-strategiesdeveloping-reading-fluency
Five classroom strategies to develop reading fluency with students.

Readers Theater Bibliography

A list of handy resources to assist you in developing your own
Readers Theater (RT) program.
Books
Allen, M. (2004). Fables & folklore reader's theater: develop reading fluency and
text comprehension skills. Huntington Beach, CA: Creative Teaching Press.
Margaret Allen has developed a series of books outlining various readers theater programs that
can be used across multiple grade levels and content areas. This book, from her series, focuses on
using scripts based on well-known fables and folktales to capture student interest and excite them
to read. Ms. Allen also provides a list of key vocabulary words and engaging comprehension
activities.

Buzzeo, T. (2006). Read! Perform! Learn! : 10 reader's theater programs for literary
enhancement. Fort Atkinson, WI: Upstart Books.
Each chapter in this book focuses on a childrens book and the readers theater activities that can
be derived from the book. Included in each chapter are an author interview and a sample RT
script as well as interdisciplinary activities.

Jennett, P. (2004). Discoverers and inventors reader's theater: develop reading

fluency and text comprehension skills. Huntington Beach, CA: Creative
Teaching Press.
Readers Theater scripts based on famous discoverers and inventors from throughout the ages
encourage use of RT outside the standard language arts curriculum. Vocabulary lists and
comprehension activities are also included.

Sloyer, S. (2003). From the page to the stage: the educator's complete guide to
readers' theatre. Westport, Conn: Teacher Ideas Press/Libraries Unlimited.
Teacher and RT coach, Shirlee Sloyer provides a guidebook for incorporating a readers theater
program into the curriculum. Geared towards older students, grade 4-8, this book offers tips on
introducing the literary elements of a story to students. Included are eleven classroom-ready
sample scripts.

Worthy, J. (2005). Readers theater for building fluency. New York: Scholastic.
This workbook is a comprehensive guide to planning, implementing and assessing a readers
theater program. The many benefits of a RT program, including building reading fluency and
comprehension, are detailed at length.

Online Resources
Bafile, C. Readers theater: A reason to read aloud. Education World http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev082.shtml.
This article is an overview of the many benefits that result from making Readers Theater a regular
part of the curriculum. Of special note are the various tips on how to write and perform a
successful RT performance.

Carrick, L. Internet resources for conducting readers theatre. ReadingOnline.org:

http://www.readingonline.org/ electronic/carrick.
Educator, Lila Carrick, provides an overview of a readers theater program from a classroom
perspective. Also helpful is the Internet resources listed as well as a day-by- day planning guide
to implementing a readers theater performance in the classroom.

Prescott, J. The power of readers theater. Scholastic.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/ readerstheater.htm.
This article explores using Readers Theater as a tool in building fluency, reading comprehension
and social skills. The emotional needs of struggling readers are highlighted in this article with
strategies on using RT to help these students build their confidence.

Shepard, A. Aaron Shepards RT page: scripts and tips for readers

theater. Authors Online!: Aaron Shepards homepage.
http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/index.html.
Aaron Shepard is a well-known advocate of Readers Theater. His homepage contains a wealth of
information on how to run a successful RT program as well as free scripts to use with students.