English Language Development

interpreted cautiously with students who are speakers of languages other than English. Fluency rates
are particularly difficult to apply to students who are deaf and hard of hearing who use American Sign
Language. When students storysign, they are actually interpreting the story from a one language
(printed English) to another (American Sign Language). In this case, fluency rates as listed below do
not apply.

Figure 4.29. Mean Oral Reading Rate of Grade Three Students

Percentile Fall WCPM* Winter WCPM* Spring WCPM* Improvement**Avg. Weekly

90

75

128

99

146

120

162

137

1.1

1.2

50 71 92 107 1.1

25

10

44

21

62

36

78

48

1.1

.08

*WCPM = Words Correct Per Minute **Average words per week growth

Source

Hasbrouck, Jan, and Gerald A. Tindal. 2006. “Oral Reading Fluency Norms: A Valuable Assessment Tool

for Reading Teachers.” The Reading Teacher 57: 646-655.

Although rate is important, in part because it indicates skill with decoding and automaticity, the
goal of fluency instruction is not speed for its own sake. The goal is to develop automaticity with
accuracy (in addition to prosody) so that attention is given to meaning. Racing to read may result in
loss of comprehension. Rate should be appropriate for meaning making. Some text will be read aloud
more slowly than other text intentionally.

Fluency is supported in grade three as teachers continue to read aloud to children regularly.
(They also read aloud, as noted previously, to build children’s knowledge, expose them to a variety
of text types, and enrich their vocabulary.) Third-grade students also engage in activities that prompt
rereading of text. They rehearse for Reader’s Theatre presentations, choral renderings of favorite
poetry, sharing their own writing, and recording text for others (such as younger children). Rehearsal
involves repeated reading with a focus on accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression. Most important,
grade-three students have daily opportunities to engage in independent reading of text that is not too
simple or too challenging.

An Integrated and Interdisciplinary Approach

As discussed in the overview of the span in this chapter, the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and the
CA ELD Standards call for an integration of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. In addition,
these two sets of standards are inextricably linked to every area of the curriculum. Learning subject
matter demands understanding and using the language of the subject to comprehend, clarify, and
communicate concepts. The following snapshots illustrate the integration of the strands of the
language arts and the integration of ELA/literacy with other content areas.

Grade 3 Chapter 4 | 365