Fluency passages worksheets
Aligned with Common Core RF.3.4
Printable third-grade fluency worksheets: timed reading passages with word counts and questions, a reading speed graph, phrase reading and reading with expression.
The worksheets
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My Reading Speed Graph
A bar graph for 12 timed reads, up to 160 words correct a minute, with a goal line.
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How to Read Fluently
How to do a 1-minute timed read and score it, plus four tips for smooth reading: right words, just right speed, phrases and punctuation.
Timed Reading Passage
Third-grade stories and nonfiction passages with running word counts, a score table and three questions.
Phrase Reading
Eighteen longer phrases, like "in the middle of the night," to read smoothly.
Read It with Expression
Sentences and lines of dialogue to read as calm, asking, excited, quiet, sad, scared or angry.
Print the whole packet
One copy of every sheet above, in order. Tap + for more copies (up to 10).
For the parent or teacher
What it is
Fluency is reading accurately, at a good pace and with expression, the way people talk. Third graders read longer stories and nonfiction passages, and fluent reading frees up their attention for understanding. Timed one-minute reads track progress, and practice with phrases and end marks builds smooth, expressive reading.
What comes next
Main idea, cause and effect, and point of view.
How to teach it
- Read the passage aloud first so your child hears what smooth reading sounds like.
- Time a one-minute read, count the words, and subtract any mistakes.
- Read the same passage three times over a few days. Speed and accuracy usually grow each time.
- Practice reading phrases as one chunk instead of word by word.
- Talk about how a question, an exclamation or a whisper should sound.
Common mistakes
- Racing through the words and skipping punctuation.
- Reading word by word in a flat voice.
- Focusing only on speed and not on what the passage says.