11 Activities for Reading Fluency Centers

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Creating effective reading fluency centers can be a game-changer for improving students’ reading skills. These centers provide engaging, targeted practice that builds speed, accuracy, and expression while fostering independence. From fluency grids and partner reading to timed repeated readings and fun activities like Reader’s Theater, there are countless options to support your students.

Reading fluency is the ability to read texts accurately, quickly, and with expression. When setting up your centers for fluency, be sure to plan out activities that address all the areas of fluency and not just speed and accuracy.

This guide will list some practical, low-prep activities you can include in fluency centers that keep students motivated and on task. Whether you’re new to fluency centers or looking to refresh your approach, you’ll find something to get started!

redinf fluency venn diagram

Fluency Grids or Strips

Fluency grids are specifically designed to offer focused practice on a particular phonetic skill. This repeated reading activity features a small set of words (usually 5-7) arranged in rows. The same words appear in each row but in a different order. As students read through the lines, they develop fluency and automaticity with the targeted words. See the image below for an example using nonsense words.

fluency grids example

Fluency strips are similar, though they can be sentences. You often see them cut up into strips and attached on a ring so students can flip through each strip.

Repeated reading is one of the most effective methods for improving reading fluency according to research. This activity works best if you use grids and strips with skills your students already know. They can practice and review to improve their automaticity.

Both of these activities can be done independently or with a partner who checks the reader.

fluency grids bundle

Word Chains & Word Ladders

Word chains are activities that involve making small, systematic changes to one word to create a new word, focusing on altering a single sound at a time. For example, students might start with the word cat and then change it to bat, bit, and finally sit.

word ladders example

These activities help students develop phonemic awareness, reinforce phonics skills, and improve their decoding and spelling abilities. Word chains are also known as word ladders and are an effective tool for building reading fluency and confidence.

word ladders and word chains bundle

Partner Reading

With this method, students read aloud to a partner. The key for this to be effective at improving fluency is to pair a more fluent reader with a less fluent reader. Have the stronger reader read the text first to model, then the less fluent reader re-reads the text aloud.

This is a routine you can include after you have done it with your class enough times that you think your students can do it on their own. The video below shows a teacher doing this with her whole class.

Decodable Texts

Having students read decodable texts is another easy low prep activity. As long as you can find some texts that align with what you are currently teaching and what you’ve already taught, you can have students work on reading the chosen texts in a center. They can read and search for words with specific phonics patterns, then underline or highlight them. You can also use these for partner reading.

decodable text example

Timed Repeated Reading

Timed repeated reading is a very effective research backed method. You can set it up for students to work with a partner in a fluency center.

According to Reading Rockets, the goal of timed repeated readings is to increase reading speed, accuracy, and expression through repeated practice of a specific passage or text. You should use a text students have already read and can read independently. They should repeat it 3-4 times in one session.

To do a timed repeated reading, set up two copies of the passage, a timer or stopwatch, and a pencil. One student reads for 1 minute while the partner counts the number of words read correctly in one minute (WCPM). Repeat this 2-3 more times then switch.

It helps to have students track their progress by graphing their scores. Younger students will need help with this so it may not be a good idea to do if you’re having students do this independently while you work with other students.

Record & Listen

Use a free software (like Audacity) on a computer or a recording device to have students record their own reading. Then they play it back and assess themselves. You can create a little checklist that they can use to assess their fluency. They can re-record to try to improve.

Reader’s Theater

I feel like this one is obvious, (and you probably knew you’d see it on this list). But that’s because research has shown this to be a very effective activity for boosting reading fluency. It’s also one most kids love because it’s more fun and engaging, as they can move around and act.

I really like the book Build Reading Fluency: Practice and performance with Reader’s Theater and More for science of reading aligned reader’s theater lessons and ideas.

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02/17/2025 04:36 pm GMT

Audiobooks

Have a listening station where students listen to audiobooks as they follow along with the text using a tracker (finger, pointer, light, whatever works).

Listening to books is great for improving fluency because it models good reading, including pacing, phrasing, intonation, and expression.

This is also a great way to have your lower readers access grade level content!

Intonation Practice

Print off some index cards with directions for reading phrases with specific expressions, like “read like a robot” or “read like you’re scared” and provide some phrases for students to read. Then students take turns pulling an expression card and a phrase, and then they read the phrase the way the expression card indicates out loud to the other students in the group. They take turns. This one is always fun for kids, especially the fidgety ones.

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Sentence Pyramids

These are another great no-prep activity! A sentence pyramid is a literacy activity designed to help students build reading fluency, comprehension, and writing skills by gradually expanding a sentence word by word or phrase by phrase. The sentence starts with a single word on the top line, and each subsequent line adds another word or phrase, creating a “pyramid” shape.

For example:

  • I
  • I see
  • I see a
  • I see a dog
  • I see a dog run

Sentence pyramids encourage students to focus on word order, sentence structure, and meaning while practicing reading with fluency and accuracy. This activity is especially helpful for beginning readers or English language learners. You can have students read and write the sentences to build both fluency and writing skills.

Fluency Task Cards

If you have or find any task cards that focus on fluency this a great setup for an independent fluency station. There are tons of them on TpT and you may have some content from your curriculum that you could print off and use in a station like this.

More Reading Fluency Tips

If you want to learn more about reading fluency and how you can teach it in a whole group setting, you can check out this blog post Activities That Improve Reading Fluency and The Megabook of Fluency which is an amazing resource!

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02/17/2025 04:26 pm GMT
activities for reading fluency centers

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