Phrasing is reading smoothly by scooping or grouping words together into meaningful phrases. I often refer to this fluency skill as “scooping” since students can picture themselves “scooping” up groups of words while reading, just like a pelican scoops up fish or a shovel scoops up a pile of sand at the beach.
Phrasing is a huge part of oral reading fluency and is crucial to comprehension. Children who read word by word instead of in phrases often struggle with making meaning from what they read. Luckily with targeted instruction and practice, choppy readers can become fluent readers!
Introducing Phrasing + Phrase Types
When introducing phrasing, the first step is to model again and again! Students need to see and hear the scooping strategy used repeatedly so that they have a good model of what it should look and sound like when applying it to their own reading independently. It’s also helpful for them to hear what scooping does not sound like (reading one word at a time), so they can recognize when their phrasing needs to be improved.
The second step is to explicitly teach the different phrase types. When the students can independently identify the “Who,” “Did What,” “Where/When/Add-On” in a sentence, they will be better able to group their words together into meaningful phrases while reading.
- “Who” is the sentence’s subject (e.g. the pirate, my Dad, a green snake)
- “Did What” is the verb/action (ate the town, swam in the ocean, scared the teacher)
- “Where” and ” When” expands the sentence with phrases that tell where and when the action or excitement
- “Add On” phrases add extra detail and elaboration to the sentence
Improving Phrasing with a “Scoop + Phrase” Activity
“Scoop + Phrase” is a great activity for your students to practice identifying phrase types and applying phrasing to their reading. It targets the specific fluency skill of phrasing (aka “scooping”) and is the perfect for students who need to practice grouping words together while reading (instead of reading one word at a time).
Your students will love this engaging activity, and it may even have have them laughing out loud during literacy centers or independent work stations. The idea is to mix and match phrases to create silly sentences for them to then practice reading with phrasing. They’ll have so much fun, they won’t even realize they’re learning!
To try this activity, you can create your own phrase cards using index cards, sticky notes, or ones you type and print using your computer. Have your students brainstorm Who, Did What, Where/When/Add-On cards to use for this activity. Or if you don’t have the time to create your own, you can download this Scoop + Phrase resource to just print and go!
Scoop + Phrase is the perfect tool to reinforce reading fluency skills throughout the school year. Whether you make your own or download my resource, you can use it for morning work, literacy centers, or during small group instruction or intervention groups. This activity is great to use with your entire class as an intervention, or to save for when you have a substitute!
“Scoop + Phrase” Activity Directions
To complete this Scoop + Phrase activity, students will:
- Cut out the phrases
- Sort by phrase types (Who, Did What?, When/Where/Add-On)
- Mix and match the phrases to create silly sentences. (NOTE: You may want to remind your students to look for capital letters and punctuation marks to help them find phrases that would go at the beginning or the end of the sentence.)
- Read the silly sentences aloud using the phrase cards to guide their scooping
- Share the funniest phrase with a partner, small group, or the class!
- Glue the phrases onto paper or save them in a baggie to create new sentences to keep in their book bin
“Scoop + Phrase” Activity Extensions
- For your kinesthetic learners, have them add scoop lines with a pencil or marker beneath each phrase. They can follow the scoop lines while reading to practice fluent phrasing.
- Have your students close their eyes to visualize their silly sentences. They can illustrate their sentences in their reading notebooks or on a sticky note as an exit ticket out the door! With visualizing, students will be able to attach meaning with the “mind picture” in their heads.
- We all know how dramatic our learners can be. Why not put that to good use by having students “act it out”? Tell students that once they have created their sentences, they will have the chance to act it out for the class or their small group. This is a great way to ensure that they dedicate extra effort and attention to putting together their sentences.
- Take this activity a step further by asking your students to write their OWN phrases with the template that’s included in the resource. After they make their phrases up, they’ll mix and match to generate more creative combinations!
Additional Resources
Interested in additional ideas for students to practice phrasing? Learn more about how to use scooping in the classroom, and be sure to check out the following phrasing resources in my shop:
