Ms. Zelkowitz’sFluency Friends

What does a good reader sound like?

The Reading Robot

If.You.Sound.Like.A. Ro.Bot.Your.Book.Is.Too.Hard.

Just-Right Rabbit

If you hop along in your oral reading but take time to "land and understand," your book is just right. You can hear it with your ears.

Cheatin’ Cheetah

If you blast through too fast and you speed when you read, you’re cheatin’ yourself of meaning.

Ms. Zelkowitz’s Decoding Strategies

Adapted from Angela Bunyi’s adaptations of Tanny McGregor’s

Reading Connections

Chunky Monkey

1. Break your word up into “chunks” by and read what you know.

2. Sound out the rest of the chunks.

3. Use the “Banana in the Blender” to smooth it out.

Banana in the Blender

1. Read all of the chunks of a word, or use Covering Cat to read part-by-part

2. Use your “Blender” to make a “Smoothie” and blend your chunks together out loud

Skippy Frog

1. When you come to a hard word, skip it

2. Read the rest of the sentence to figure out what the word means

3. Use the initial sound of the word and its meaning to say the word

Covering Cat

1. Place your “paw” on most of a word

2. Read only the part you can see

3. Keep moving your “paw” until you have read every part

4. Use Banana in the Blender to smooth out the parts

Stretchy Salamander

1. S-L-O-W-L-Ysay each letter’s sound or blend. 2. Use Banana in the Blender to smooth out the sounds.

Picture-Perfect Panda

Look at pictures, captions,

diagrams, charts, and graphs to get more information about what you are reading

Beginning Sound Bear

Just like a bear prepares for winter, prepare to read your

wordby ROARING thefirst sound!

Word Ending Elephant

Just like an elephant, NEVER FORGET to read word endings like –ing, -ly, -er, -es, -ed, -ful, -est, -tion, -ment, -ous,

and –y!

Pointer Penguin

Remember to use your finger, a bookmark, or an eraser to keep your place and glide as you read!