One of the aims of this intervention is to move children beyond word by word, ‘lumpy’ reading into reading which sounds smoother, less staccato, more like someone talking to you. This makes it easier for the reader to hear themselves as they read and pay more attention to the meaning of what they read.

We can use this idea of smooth reading as an activity within the practise stage of the fluency lesson. Working on a small section of a familiar text, ask children to read together in pairs, reading to each other. The aim is to read the text smoothly, so that it flows and sounds good.

• Use a familiar text – one that the group have worked on over the lesson
• The adult models smooth reading to the group. The children could echo read, reading smoothly
• The adult identifies and discusses parts of the text which might be difficult to read aloud – the bumpy bits. The group discuss ways of dealing with the bumps
• In pairs, one child reads the same text as smoothly as possible to the other
• The partner comments kindly on the reading, highlighting the parts where their friend read smoothly
• The adult demonstrates smooth reading on the next section of text and so on…