Fluency is more than just reading at a certain speed. A fluent reader will read smoothly at an appropriate rate with accuracy and prosody. A slow speed and / or choppy reading, lack of expression, inability to acknowledge the function of punctuation, and incorrectly grouping words and phrases within a sentence, will also contribute to inadequate comprehension of the text.

That last piece — incorrectly grouping words — can really make or break a student’s overall flow, and thus, ability to comprehend what he or she has read. This is where scooping comes in. Scooping is the ability to appropriately chunk — or group — words and phrases to produce a smoother and more meaningful reading of the text. While scooping can be implemented successfully with younger readers, this tool is particularly helpful for older students who are reading more complex sentences and will not benefit from pointing to each word in simple sentences. They must learn to scoop. First, they will learn to do it with a visual, but eventually, they will do it automatically, reaching their goal of fluency.

Here is an example of a compound sentence with scooped phrases. While you do not have to, it can be helpful in the introductory stages of scooping instruction to have students use a different color for each scoop. However, using different colors for each scoop WILL be beneficial when text within a scoop is split between lines. You may also use just two different color and alternate between them. Once the scoops are drawn, students may initially use their finger to “swoop each scoop” as they read, paying attention to punctuation more closely, and adding expression.

When introducing this method, you may choose to use the gradual release of responsibility model, a structured method that aims to provide the student responsibility of the content taught in gradual steps until they are capable of completing the task independently. In this case, after you have explained the concept of scooping, you would take these steps:

YOU scoop a sentence to model how it’s done.
YOU AND THE STUDENT work on scooping a sentence together.
THE STUDENT scoops a sentence independently.

With practice of this strategy, students will be able to focus on one scoop at a time, making the text more conducive for fluent reading. With even more practice, students will not need to mark the scoops, as they will be able to do this with automaticity and arrive one step closer to a goal of fluent reading.

One quick note about scooping and fluency: For scooping to be effective, students must have strong phonological awareness. They must be able to decode and have a proficient awareness of phoneme-grapheme relationships. Without this fundamental base, scooping will not be a useful tool yet.

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After sending out my last newsletter discussing the flaws of the 3 cueing system and how to implement change, I received a number of emails asking about the role of pictures. Aren’t they important? How are they important? How can they bring meaning to the text?

Pictures should never be used to guess a word. That’s what explicit phonics instruction is for. But pictures have the ability to support reading in other powerful ways. In this post, I’m going to discuss three ways pictures are a powerful part of the reading experience.

Pictures enhance comprehension. Once a word is decoded, the picture can elevate the meaning of the word. In my last newsletter I wrote about a student who couldn’t figure out the word “ferry” in a leveled reader because a) he didn’t have the phonics knowledge to do so, and b) had never been exposed to that word before, so looking at the picture didn’t even help him. Once he was given the tools to efficiently decode the word, he was able to use the picture of the ferry in the text to gain a better idea of this word’s meaning. In addition to supporting vocabulary comprehension, pictures can support other areas of comprehension, such as visualizing the story’s flow and plot structure, better understanding a character’s emotional states and reactions, and referencing inferences and predictions.
Pictures add to the storyline. In some stories, pictures provide clues and information that aren’t in the text. They may show another perspective that isn’t narrated. They act as hidden features that add to the storyline.
Pictures tap into readers’ imaginations. Detailed illustrations allow readers’ minds to roam — to wonder and wander, and to wish. They invite readers to exercise their imaginations. They encourage readers to ask questions that they might not have had without the visual images, and explore places they never could have imagined before.
Pictures evoke emotional connections, responses, and reactions. Have you ever been pulled in by the illustrations of a book, or experienced an emotional reaction or response because of its pictures? Pictures can add a certain mood to the story.

Readers should be encouraged to interpret the pictures alongside the text - to examine, observe, notice, and question — to use the pictures as a tool to deepen their understanding and experience of the story and its characters. Next time you are introducing a reader to a picture book, make sure to save extra time for exploring the role of the pictures. Here are a few topics to discuss when reflecting on the role of pictures in books.

Patterns or common themes incorporated by the illustrator
New information that is represented in the pictures that is not conveyed in the writing
How the reading of the book might have been different without the pictures - would you have missed out on important information offered only through the visual component?
The ways in which the pictures help bring deeper understanding of the elements of the story: characters, setting, plot, etc…
Emotional responses or moods drawn out by the pictures

What are some of your favorite picture books, and how do their illustrations enhance the story?

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