Reading Fluency and Singing
- fluent reading sounds like talking -
 

ASSEMBLIES
Reading Fluency and Singing
“Fluent reading sounds like talking.” This simple principle is at the core of Phil's Reading Fluency and Singing presentation.

Through the use of rhymes, games, drumming, popular TV/movie audio clips, and historical speeches, students are engaged in an entertaining model of fluent reading. Developed with Reading Specialists, this program reinforces the fundamentals of reading fluency:

Students read along with historical speeches by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

1) Modeling Fluent Readers;

2) Reading Together (shared reading); and

3) Repetition and Feedback.

Your students also experience the connections between singing and reading which inspire a natural sense of phrasing, meter and expression.

In addition, students learn how meter is defined in poetry and song through the use of simple two and three syllable words, i.e., pickles and cucumbers. By combining and grouping these syllables, students create meters and rhythms that are popular throughout Africa, Spain, and Latin America — please also see Phil's Cucumber Pickle Machine.

Your kids learn how students in Ghana speak and drum phrases in their language.

The students make Rainsticks at the Reading in Rhythm family night.

All of this, coupled with Caribbean Steel Drums, African Talking Drums, and a variety of “homemade” instruments, make this a dynamic cross-curricular program to enrich your students.

FAMILY ACTIVITY NIGHTS
Reading in Rhythm

Get ready to move on this one!  Reading in Rhythm begins with an entertaining exploration of the rhythms of language through shared reading, hand and body movements, and a variety of Caribbean, African, and Latin American instruments.

The students then make their own Peruvian rain sticks, African stamping tubes, and Latin American guiros. After everyone finishes, we all join together for a concert of rhythm, movement, and shared reading.

In addition, Phil covers the major elements of how parents can read with their children and encourage their children to read through a number of helpful handouts and displays based on Jim Trelease’s classic, The Read-Aloud Handbook.

ONLINE  ACTIVITIES
The following multimedia activities relate to this program:

	Drum Language in Ghanaian Schools
	Cucumber Pickle Machine
	Reading with your child
	Encouraging your child to read

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