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Fluency STRATEGY

Use punctuation to enhance phrasing and prosody

Readers look to punctuation to signal phrases in text and to alert them when they need to change or adjust their intonation, vocal stress, pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm—aspects of language known collectively as prosody.

Get to know this strategy

Definition

Readers look to punctuation to signal phrases in text and to alert them when they need to change or adjust their intonation, vocal stress, pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm—aspects of language known collectively as prosody.

When to teach this strategy

If you see readers who . . .

  • read through punctuation and misinterpret the meaning of what is read.
  • read in a monotone, lack intonation, or use incompatible tempo.

Why we teach it

The meaning of what is read is embedded in phrases we read, not just in the isolated words themselves. Word order and the way words are put together to make a sentence and then a paragraph help convey the meaning of the text.

Secret to success

When reading aloud, we need to read the way we speak. Paying attention to punctuation helps us read more fluently.

How we teach it

We begin with our read-aloud. We model and explain explicitly what fluency is, how it sounds, and why it is important. Before we even introduce phrasing, we cue readers into the intonation of our voice, or prosody, showing them how we make our voice go up and down, and how that affects what we are saying.

  1. Teach the students that their voices rise at the end of the sentence Will you please be my partner?
  2. Use your finger and draw a line showing how your voice follows a straight line, drops or rises, and ends at a higher pitch than when you started.
  3. Talk about how it feels if someone ends the statement with a rising voice or a falling voice.

Scooping the phrase:

  1. Using a shared text, we show a sentence. For example, He looked for her in the sweep of his flashlight, calling, “Kitty, kitty, kitty.”
  2. We tell the students to look at the punctuation to help figure out the phrasing in a text.
  3. With a pencil or our finger, we start at the word He and draw one scooped line to the comma after the word flashlight, another under calling, and a final one from the first kitty to the last kitty.
  4. Then, reading this sentence back, we scoop the words and read them together in those three phrases.

Suggested language:

  • Did punctuation help you read that phrase?
  • Show me by drawing in the phrases you will say here.
  • I am going to draw in this phrase; now you say those four words together quickly. Let me show you what that sounds like.

Instructional Pivots

Possible ways to differentiate instruction:

  • Check readers' book choices and make sure they are reading good-fit books.
  • Draw the phrase in a sentence, right under the words, using a scooping motion with a pencil.
  • Point out the punctuation that helps readers decide where a phrase begins and ends.

Reconsider materials, setting, instruction, and cognitive processes.

Partner Strategies

These strategies may provide support before, during, and after teaching this strategy:

  • Read Text That Is a Good Fit
  • Adjust and Apply Different Reading Rates to Match Text
  • Reread Text
  • Check for Understanding; Monitor and Self-Correct

Common Core Alignment

K
1stRF.1.4
2ndL.2.2
3rdL.3.2
4thL.4.2
5thL.5.2
6thL.6.2, L.6.6
7thL.7.2
8thSL.8.6
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VIDEOS

How to introduce this strategy

From Hadley’s Perspective aka Kid Teacher

Want to hear about this strategy from a student's perspective? Let Kid Teacher, Miss Hadley, tell you—in her own words—how this strategy helps her grow as a reader. We think it will help your students too!

ARTICLES

Articles That Support This Strategy

Fluency Does Not Equal Fast

Help children understand that fluency is more about comprehension, phrasing, and expression than speed. 

BOOKS

Books with Lessons to Help Teach This Strategy

Each book below has a coordinating lesson with an explicit example to teach this strategy. Select a book cover below, then download the lesson to see for yourself. At The Daily CAFE these were called Lit Lessons.

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