Grade 3 Reading Challenge: A Key Action to Take

Developing reading stamina helps third graders comprehend grade level text. Reading stamina is the ability to read increasingly longer texts with ease. It develops through consistent (daily) practice. Building  to 30-minutes of sustained reading daily ought to be a goal both schools and parents champion. Parents and teachers can invite children to chart the number of minutes of reading they do each day until they build up to and then maintain a minimum of 30-minutes. This practice of charting motivates and allows children, parents, and teachers to track progress. 

For grades 2-5 students, reading series books is a great way to develop stamina. Once a child has read the first book in the series, that reading allows them to be familiar with the reoccurring characters in the series. This knowledge allows for three important things: 

1. Readers fall into the next book quickly due to familiarity. This helps readers finish books. 

2. Readers tend to want to keep reading to see what happens next in the series.

3. All of this practicing builds reading stamina, develops vocabulary, and increases confidence. 

Here are links to series books: https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/multicultural-early-chapter-books-for-kids/

https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/multicultural-reading-resources/diversity-book-lists-for-kids/diversity-books-by-genre/diverse-easy-readers-early-chapter-books/

Measuring Reading Stamina

How is my child doing? This is often a question parents have. We want to know if our child is making progress and reading at grade level. Oral reading fluency tests quickly help a parent, a child, and the teacher answer that important question!  Words correct per minute has been shown, in both theoretical and empirical research, to serve as an accurate and powerful indicator of overall reading competence, especially in its strong correlation with comprehension.  - Hasbrouck & Tindal (2006).  

An easy and quick way to formally assess reading is to take a timed sample of a child reading a grade level passage and compare the performance (number of words read correctly per minute) with published Oral Reading Fluency Target (ORF) Rate Norms (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 1992). Grade level norms are listed below in a chart. 

MAZE is the assessment offered from grade 2 and higher that will provide educators and parents with a quick, free fluency and comprehension assessment. The materials and instructions can be downloaded from here:

 https://dibels.uoregon.edu/materials/dibels.