Although reading fluency has been dismissed and overlooked as an important component of effective reading instruction, the author makes that case that fluency continues to be essential for success in learning to read. Moreover, many students who struggle in reading manifest difficulties in reading fluency. After defining reading fluency, the…

Based on a first grade teacher's search for approaches to promote successful reading acquisition in her first grade classroom, the authors present a curricular engagement in which the teacher explored using music, specifically singing songs, as a fun and motivating way to accelerate reading progress. The premise is that singing (while at the…

Literacy scholars appear to have reached consensus that a balanced approach to reading instruction holds the greatest promise for improving reading achievement among students. Following the lead of the National Reading Panel (2000), curricular manifestations of a balanced reading program include instructional components in phonics or word…

This study examined the effects of Making and Writing Words (MWW), a variation of the Making Words word study activity by Cunningham and Cunningham (1992), on second-grade students word learning. MWW was implemented daily with a group of second-grade students' over a five-month period. Results indicated that students who received the MWW treatment…