Read decodable and grade-level texts with accuracy, automaticity and expression, and fix mistakes by rereading

Learning goal: Read connected texts with sufficient fluency to support comprehension: orally read decodable, controlled texts containing previously taught patterns with accuracy, automaticity and appropriate expression; orally read grade-level text with accuracy (targeting 95% or better), automaticity and appropriate expression, targeting 100 words correct per minute by the end of second grade; and self-monitor word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. This lesson teaches Ohio's 2026 English language arts standard for grade 2, first implemented in the 2027-28 school year. The 95% and 100 words-correct-per-minute figures are the targets written in the standard; they describe where a reader is aiming by the end of the year, not a test to pass on the first day.

For the adult: the four parts of fluency. Accuracy means reading the words correctly. Automaticity means reading them without effort, so that the brain is free to think about meaning. Rate is how many words are read correctly in one minute, which is one way to see automaticity. Expression (sometimes called prosody) means reading in phrases, pausing at punctuation and using a voice that matches the meaning. Fluency matters because it supports comprehension: a reader who must sound out every word loses the thread of the story. Speed alone is not the goal. A child who reads fast and does not understand is not fluent.

Two kinds of text. A decodable, controlled text uses only phonics patterns and high-frequency words the child has already been taught. It lets the child practise new patterns in sentences. A grade-level text is a text written for second graders that uses many patterns and words at once, as ordinary books do. Children need both: decodable texts build accuracy with new patterns, and grade-level texts build the ability to read real books.

Original decodable text — The Storm at the Farm (practises vowel-r and vowel teams: ar, or, er, ai, ay, oa, ee; it also assumes earlier-taught short vowels, blends, digraphs, FLOSS doubles (Nell), open syllables (we, she, a-fraid), y as a vowel (by), vowel-consonant-e, soft c (voice), oo, aw, oi, ou, ow, air, -all, the endings -ed and -ing, two-syllable words and the high-frequency words the, was, said, to, of, come, one, another, their and here)

Mark and Nell ran to the barn. A dark storm was coming. "We need to get the goats in!" said Mark. The wind made the corn sway. Rain hit the tin roof. Nell got the gate. Mark led the goats to their stalls. One small goat hid by the cart. It was afraid of the thunder. Nell bent down in the straw. "Come here," she said in a soft voice. The goat took a step, then another. At last it ran to her. Nell took it to the stall. Then the storm passed, and the sun came out. The farm was wet, and the air smelled sweet. Mark and Nell sat on a hay bale and grinned.

Original grade-level text — The Lost Library Book

Rosa had looked everywhere. She had checked under her bed, behind the couch and inside every backpack pocket. The library book was due tomorrow, and it was nowhere to be found.

"When did you last read it?" asked her brother, Luis.

Rosa thought hard. "On the bus, I think. Or maybe at Grandma's."

Luis grabbed his jacket. "Let's call Grandma first. It's faster than riding the bus all day."

Grandma answered on the second ring. Yes, she said, there was a book with a green cover on her kitchen table. It was about ocean animals. Rosa let out a long breath. "That's the one!"

Measuring accuracy and rate. (For the child: if you get stuck on a word, try its sounds and patterns; if the adult says the word, say it and keep going.) Use a grade-level passage the child has not read before (a "cold read"). The adult marks each error on a copy: a word read wrongly, a word skipped, or a word the adult had to supply after about three seconds. A word the child corrects by themselves is not an error. After one minute, mark where the child stopped.

- Words correct per minute (WCPM) = words read in one minute − errors.
- Accuracy = words read correctly ÷ words read, shown as a percent.

A fully worked model. A child reads for one minute and reaches word 104. The adult marked 4 errors. WCPM = 104 − 4 = 100. Accuracy = 100 ÷ 104 = 0.9615..., about 96%. The accuracy target of 95% or better is met (95% means no more than 5 errors in every 100 words read), and the rate equals the end-of-grade-2 target of 100 WCPM. A second child reaches word 80 with 8 errors: WCPM = 80 − 8 = 72; accuracy = 72 ÷ 80 = 0.90, or 90%. For this child, the first job is accuracy, not speed: the errors should be studied to see which phonics patterns need reteaching, and the child should practise with decodable text for those patterns.

Expression. Read in phrases, not word by word: "Luis grabbed his jacket" is one phrase. Let punctuation guide your voice. Stop at a period. At a question mark, sound like you are asking: a yes-or-no question often goes up at the end ("Can you find it?"), while a question that starts with a question word often goes down ("When did you last read it?"); any natural asking voice is fine. At an exclamation mark, read with strong feeling; the story tells you which feeling it is (excited, scared, angry or relieved), so "That's the one!" sounds relieved and happy. Punctuation is one clue, and what is happening in the story is the other. Quotation marks tell you a character is speaking, so read those words the way the character would say them. Rosa's "That's the one!" should sound relieved and happy, because she has been worried the whole story.

Self-monitoring and rereading. Good readers keep asking, "Does that make sense? Does it look right? Does it sound right?" Suppose a reader says, "Grandma answered on the second ring" as "second rung." The sentence stops making sense, which is a signal to look again at the letters, fix the word and reread the whole sentence so the meaning comes back together. Rereading is also for understanding: if you reach the end of a paragraph and cannot say what happened, go back and read it again, more slowly.

The misconception, and why it is wrong. Many children believe that fluent reading means fast reading, so they race and skip words. A fast reading full of errors lowers accuracy and loses meaning. Racing does not always lower the WCPM number, though: a reader who reaches word 80 with 4 errors gets 76 WCPM (95% accuracy), but the same reader racing to word 100 with 10 errors gets 90 WCPM with only 90% accuracy. So WCPM is never read alone: the adult always looks at accuracy and at whether the child understood. The right order is accuracy first, then smoothness and expression, and speed grows from those.

Worked example 1 (for the adult) — calculate WCPM and accuracy. The adult does this arithmetic; children are not asked to compute percentages. Leo reads a new grade-level passage for one minute and reaches word 90 with 3 errors. WCPM = 90 − 3 = 87. Accuracy = 87 ÷ 90 = 0.9666..., about 97%. Leo meets the 95% accuracy target; his rate is still working toward the end-of-year target of 100 WCPM, so he practises repeated reading of grade-level text to build automaticity.

Worked example 2 — self-correction does not count as an error. Maya reads "Mark led the goals... no, goats to their stalls." She noticed that goals did not make sense, looked at the letters and fixed it herself. The adult marks a self-correction (SC), not an error. This is exactly the self-monitoring the standard asks for.

Worked example 3 — expression. Read "We need to get the goats in!" said Mark. First, flat and word by word. Then with expression: faster and urgent, because a storm is coming and the sentence ends with an exclamation mark. Explain which reading helps a listener understand that Mark is worried. The second one does, because the voice matches the meaning.

Representation task — the fluency graph: Choose one grade-level passage. Read it cold for one minute on Monday while the adult marks errors, then practise it (echo reading with the adult, then partner reading) and read it again for one minute on Wednesday and Friday. The adult calculates WCPM and accuracy each time; you color one bar on the chart for the adult's WCPM number, and you write or say one sentence about your expression each time ("I paused at every period").

Independent performance: (a) Read "The Storm at the Farm" aloud. Success: every word with the taught patterns (ar, or, er, ai, oa, ee) read correctly, phrases smooth, the goat part read in a soft voice. (b) Read a new grade-level passage for one minute while the adult marks errors. Success: you stop to fix at least one mistake yourself if one happens; you pause at punctuation; the adult calculates WCPM and accuracy and records them next to the standard's targets (95% accuracy; 100 WCPM by the end of grade 2). (c) Retell the passage in two or three sentences. Success: the retelling shows you understood it. The adult records all three parts, because fluency is only useful when it supports understanding.