Promoting Fluency with Poetry

Why poetry?
Poetry (including nursery rhymes, songs, chants, and cheers)
contains predictable, controlled, yet challenging vocabulary
offers beautiful and evocative language
shows how word choice and arrangement are used to create emotional effect
requires the reader to focus on the language itself
introduces children to the musical quality of language
lets readers and listeners get hooked on repetitive words and phrases
encourages multisensory responses (such as clapping, singing, dancing/moving, etc.)
can give students immediate success and confidence in literacy activities
connects reading and writing

Why Teach Fluency with Poetry?

Poetry naturally invites oral reading and encourages performance which promotes rehearsal, and
practice is the key to fluency. If we frame practice as a rehearsal for a performance, we can
move away from rote repetitious activities and let students have fun with fluency!

Teacher tip:
Childrens poetry is readily available in print and online. Many of the texts you already use
(especially younger grades) can be considered poetry because of the repetitive nature and
tendency towards rhyming and word families. Also, it is easy to write your own poetry to fit a
certain lesson that way you design the length and word choice with your objectives in mind!

Strategies:
Daily Poem Select a relevant poem. Read the poem aloud and model fluency. Use echo and
choral reading so students can practice reading aloud as well as movement that adds to the flow
of the reading. Read at various times throughout the day and promote rehearsal.
Three-Day Word Families Being able to identify word families is phonics related, but also a
necessary strategy for developing automaticity. For this lesson, on Day 1, identify target word
family and brainstorm/add to a word wall. On Day 2, choose or create poem(s) that contains
word family words. For the last day, play with rehearsing and performing the poem(s).
Five-Day Fluency Poetry Party Pick a topic or poet to organize a collection of poetry for the
week. Teach/refresh performance and audience behavior.
Day 1-2: Introduction-Students chose their poems. The teacher models fluent reading
and various aspects of a poetic performance (using props, gestures, pausing, etc.).
Students take their poems home and begin rehearsing.

Day 3-4: Rehearsal-Students practice performing and listen to each others performances.
The teacher gives students specific fluency oriented feedback.
Day 5: Performance-Create an authentic coffeehouse atmosphere (stools, microphones,
decorations, etc.) for the poetry party. The teacher makes sure each student has access to
the text of each poem during the performances. This is where the students rehearsal pays
off and they are rewarded for developing their fluency. Once this becomes more routine,
students can create their own poems or songs to perform.
Poetry Parodies Parody poems are poems or songs that are based on the structure of an already
familiar poem or song, but some words are changed to create a new or silly version. Using
parody poems helps move beyond memorization and rote repetition. Parodies based on the
original poems students already know creates the need to actually read the words and better
practice their fluency students can feel successful, but are still challenged. These texts are
super fun and promote the connection to writing since they are so easy for students to create!
Poetry Activities/Games that promote fluency in cooperation with other skills:
Word Harvesting Students harvest (choose) words that are new or interesting from a poem
and create a list that can be added to a word wall throughout the year. Students can then use
these words to write poetry writing and for other activities.
Function Word Deletion Function words are the high-frequency words that are crucial in
most every text (the, is, for, in, to, and, are, etc.). These words can also be called glue words
because they hold the text together. When the function words are removed from a poem and
it is read aloud, students will be able to see the importance of these words to the meaning
and flow of texts. Students can do this activity and then challenge a partner to fill the
function words back in, then read the poem again.
Synonyms and Antonyms Replace certain words in a poem with synonyms or antonyms.
Once the students have used the context of the poem to create meaning for new synonyms
and antonyms they can be added to a word wall. Play with the way the flow and meaning of
a poem can be completely different when read aloud with synonyms or antonyms in place.
Missing Words Variation of Jeopardy: Set up pocket chart with different categories of
synonyms in each column and different values in each row. For each turn present a sentence
with the targeted word deleted (except the first letter), and the student must produce the
missing word.
Word Sorts and Word Ladders Use words and categories that relate to the poems you are
currently studying. Increase automaticity by working with these words in different contexts.

Adapted from: Phonics & Fluency Practice with Poetry: Tapping the Power of Rhyming Verse to Improve Students
Word Recognition, Automaticity, and Prosody---and Help Them Become Successful Readers by Timothy V. Rasinski
William H. Rupley, & William Dee Nichols (2012).