Quick Practice: Reading with Expression

DeAngela Huggins: One thing that's really important when we read is to read fluently and reading should sound like you're talking to someone like you're having a conversation. So we're going to practice. We're just going to read the first two sentences. I'm going to show you how I would read it fluently and then you're going to repeat, okay?

Narrator: Reading specialist DeAngela Huggins is in the middle of a fluency lesson with first graders at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta. Her students have already read the story once to accurately decode each word. Now it's time to bring it to life with expression.

DeAngela Huggins: "Jess and Jack had a splendid plan." Your turn.

Students: "Jess and Jack had a splendid plan."

Narrator: Ms. Huggins reads each sentence aloud, modeling fluent reading. Then the students reread each sentence as a group.

DeAngela Huggins: "The plan was to run."

Students: "The plan was to run."

DeAngela Huggins: "To the Summit of Rabbit Hill."

Students: "To the Summit of Rabbit Hill."

Narrator: The final step is for students to reread the text quietly on their own.

DeAngela Huggins: All right. And the more we read it, the more natural it will become and the better we'll become at reading it fluently. So nice job, you guys.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillen Fund; an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

DeAngela Huggins: This is Reading Universe.