Use this guide whenever a student reads aloud: during Take Turns Reading, the Word List and Phrase Fluency routine, Listen and Follow Along rereads, and the Prosody Marks practice. It covers the three parts of fluency named in TEKS 4.1(A): rate, accuracy, and prosody.
Printable version (PDF)Word List and Phrase Fluency, Grade 4Prosody Marks, Grade 4
1. Look-Fors: Rate, Accuracy, and Prosody
| Part | What it is | Listen for | If it is not there yet, try |
|---|
| Rate | Reading at a steady, conversational speed, not too fast and not too slow. | The pace sounds like talking. Common words are read automatically. The reader does not race past punctuation or stop on every word. | Echo reading one sentence at a time. Three reads of the word list. Phrase-cued reading with the phrase lists. |
| Accuracy | Reading the words correctly. | Words are read correctly the first time, including multisyllabic words. Errors are self-corrected when meaning breaks down. | Reread the missed word together. Tap the syllables and name the syllable type. Add the word to the next word-list read. |
| Prosody | Reading with expression: phrasing, stress, intonation, and pauses that match the meaning. | Voice drops at a period and rises at a question. The reader pauses at commas and reads in meaningful phrases. Dialogue sounds like the character. Important words are stressed. | Prosody Marks practice. Teacher models a sentence, student echoes it. Read it three ways: flat, with marks, to a partner. |
2. Quick One-Minute Read Check
- Choose an unpracticed passage at grade level, such as a Grade 4 Listen and Follow Along passage the student has not read yet. Give the student one copy and keep one copy to mark.
- Say: "Please read this out loud. Start here and read your best. If you come to a word you do not know, I will tell it to you." Start a one-minute timer when the student reads the first word.
- Mark errors with a slash: a word read incorrectly, a substituted word, a skipped word, or a word you supply after about three seconds. Self-corrections, repeated words, and added words are not errors.
- At one minute, mark the last word read with a bracket.
- Count and calculate.
| Measure | How to calculate | Example |
|---|
| Words correct per minute (WCPM) | Total words read in one minute minus errors | 126 words read, 5 errors: 126 minus 5 = 121 WCPM |
| Accuracy | Words correct divided by total words read, times 100 | 121 divided by 126 = about 96 percent |
| Prosody | Rate the read 1 to 4: 1 word by word, 2 two-word phrases, 3 mostly meaningful phrases with some expression, 4 smooth phrasing and expression throughout | Most sentences in phrases, voice rises at the question: 3 |
Grade 4 oral reading fluency norms (words correct per minute)
| Percentile | Fall | Winter | Spring |
|---|
| 50th percentile | 94 | 120 | 133 |
| 25th percentile | 75 | 95 | 105 |
Source: Hasbrouck, J., and Tindal, G. (2017). An Update to Compiled ORF Norms (Technical Report No. 1702). Eugene, OR: Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon. Norms are for unpracticed grade-level passages read for one minute. Hasbrouck and Tindal note that students scoring within about 10 words above or below the 50th percentile are reading within the expected range, and that rate is only one part of fluency: always look at accuracy and prosody too. Aim for at least 95 percent accuracy.
One-Minute Read Check record
| Date | Passage | Words read | Errors | WCPM | Accuracy % | Prosody 1 to 4 | Next step |
|---|
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
3. Feedback Sentence Frames
Name one thing that went well, then one next step. Keep it specific and short, and have the student reread the sentence right away.
Rate
"Your reading sounded like talking when you read ___. Keep that same speed in the next paragraph."
"You read ___ very fast. Slow down so your listener can follow. Let's reread it at talking speed."
"You stopped on several small words. Let's read the phrase list again so those words come quickly."
Accuracy
"You fixed ___ all by yourself when it did not make sense. That is what strong readers do."
"You read ___ as ___. Look at the syllables. Which syllable type is it? Try it again."
"Your accuracy went from ___ to ___ percent. Reading the list three times worked."
Prosody
"Your voice went up at the question mark in ___. It sounded like a real question."
"I heard you pause at the comma after ___. Read the next sentence in phrases the same way."
"Read ___ again and make it sound like how the character feels."
"I noticed you ___ like a fluent reader. One thing to try next is ___."
Student self-check
| After I read | Yes | Almost | Not yet |
|---|
| My speed sounded like talking. | | | |
| I read the words correctly and fixed my mistakes. | | | |
| My voice matched the punctuation and the meaning. | | | |