Marked Phrase Boundaries

Purpose: To help students build reading fluency by moving away from word-by-word reading to reading in chunck or phrases. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes 

Materials Needed: Reading passage slightly above student's independent reading level. 

Procedure:

1. Find a reading passage slightly above the student's independent reading level. You will also want to generate some sentences for practice. It is best to do this ahead of time!
2. Explain to the student that good readers don't read word-for-word but rather in chunks or phrases. Reading in chunks helps you understand what you are reading.
3. Show a sentence to the student. Read it out loud and model putting marks where a good reader would pause slighty when reading. E.g. Now is the time/for all good men/to come to the aid/of their country. 
4. Have the student reread the sentence, paying attention to the marks.
5. Model and practice with more sentences. As the students get more comfortable, have them tell you where to put the marks and then have them do it independently.
6. Give the student a text and have them work through the passage, putting the marks where appropriate.