Fluency Folders

I needed an easy way to help my students practice the CAFE strategies we learn for Fluency.  This year each student has a purple "Fluency Folder" in their chair pocket.  The folder is a plastic two pocket/three brad folder that has 5 page protector sleeves in it.

As we learn jingles, transition songs, chants, poems, or short stories, I copy a set for the class and put them into the fluency basket on our Daily 5 centers shelf.  When students take a turn in the fluency center they grab the new sheet for the week and add it to their fluency folder.  Because we have already used the poem or song in class for several weeks, students know all the words and the rhythm in which it should be read.  

More fluent children will use the phonics chants I got from Pinterest (robot read, baby talk, whisper read, etc) to change their expression and voice when reading.  Students store their "fluency fun voices" sheet (download the phonics chants from I Love 2 Teach) in the pocket as well as any other fluency tracking tools (Popsicle stick mini pointer, word highlighters, etc) they have learned to use in small group.  Whenever the kids read their poems or songs using one of the fun voices, they color a piece of the box on their sheet. 

I printed the phonics chants in black & white and set the zoom at two pages per sheet so all the boxes would fit on a single page.  Students color a part of the box for the fun voice strategies they have practiced with.

My kids look forward to the new fluency sheet every week.  Since we say so many different songs and poems in class as a way to manage behavior and transition between activities, students never know which chant will be in the fluency basket next!  They are always excited to add another paper to their page protectors.  I decided to limit their folders to five page protector sleeves so that students wouldn't have 42 papers in their folder.  

Students put the poems and songs that they really want or need to work on top in the sleeves.  Most kids have their work "layered" in the folder (I get the easy load sleeves that the papers slide right into).  As the year has progressed, ever child's folder begins to look a bit different depending on what they need to work on.  The folder is theirs so I tell them that it's up to them to choose to work on what they know will help them improve their reading fluency and phrasing.