Third in a series! Poem: "Falling Down"
"Falling Down" was inspired by a group of students who enjoyed falling down just for fun! A repeated phrase in each verse reinforces their delight in this game and helps emergent readers keep track of the words.
When teachers use student-friendly poetry for repeated reading opportunities, reluctant readers can be encouraged and motivated to engage in literacy activities that will increase their fluency, phonics skills, decoding abilities, sight word recognition, and, ultimately, their comprehension. Familiar rereading of poems can be especially effective for struggling and emergent readers.
Copies of the poem, "Falling Down," can be used for fluency and word work activities during initial instruction. Copies can also be included in booklets for partner reading. A two-page teacher's guide with suggested week-long mini-lessons is included with the original poem.
The poem and activities in the guide have been used successfully with elementary students in urban and suburban school settings. The students included ESL, RTI, and Special Ed students, along with Regular Ed students.
Consistent use of weekly poems for familiar rereading and word work have contributed to increased reading fluency results for my students on Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) assessments. Increased fluency has also positively impacted their reading results on Discovery Education tests.
Susan Weaver Jones