Assess Fluency in Reading

How to use this book This resource has been designed to give you a consistent whole‐school approach to assessing reading fluency from Reception to Year 6. It provides a series of quick, easy and accurate reading fluency assessments to both inform children’s next steps as readers and to indicate the accuracy of their reading.            

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Select and copy the pupil and teacher pages of an assessment from the appropriate book band for the child you are working with. See page 8 for a chart of approximate correlation of band to age and year group.

Ensure that you have a pen or pencil, a stopwatch or timer, and a copy of the Whole class record sheet (page 7).

Find a quiet and comfortable space where you are unlikely to be disturbed whilst administering the assessment.

Explain to the child that you are going to hear them read and that they should read the text as well as they can.

Sit next to the child so that you are easily on hand to offer support should they need it.

Once the child is ready to begin, set the timer for one minute.

Record the child’s reading using the Reading behaviours chart (page 5) to help you mark your copy of the text as the child reads.

Clearly mark the place reached by the child after one minute. Don’t stop the child (unless they are struggling) but allow them to continue to the end of the text.

Ask the child the comprehension questions, noting their responses on the teacher’s copy of the assessment.

Complete the words per minute (WPM), errors and words correct per minute (WCPM, calculated by WPM  errors) on the teacher’s copy of the assessment.

Use the Reading rate table (page 6) to determine whether the child’s WCPM score is within, below or above the expected rate for their year group.

Calculate the accuracy percentage by dividing the WCPM by the WPM and then multiplying by 100: WCPM ÷ WPM  100 = accuracy % Use the Reading accuracy table (page 6) to determine whether the child is reading the correct level text.

Record the WCPM, the accuracy percentage score and the book band on the Whole class record sheet.

For more detailed information about the assessments, please see page 9.

Assess Fluency in Reading

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Pupil’s page

Pink B/Band 1B Assessment 1

Read the sounds

f

h

b

g

o

c

k

u

r

l

ck ff

ll

ss

e

Blend and read the words

fog

lock

less

hot

Read the caption

A big hot dog

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Teacher’s page

Pink B/Band 1B Assessment 1

Read the sounds

Tick each grapheme or word that is read correctly.

Blend and read the words

Ask the child to say the sounds and blend them to read the word. It is acceptable for the child to automatically blend the word without sounding out.

Ask the children to say the sounds and blend them to read each word. It is acceptable to blend the words without sounding out.

Read the caption

Read the sounds

f

h

b

g

o

c

k

e

u

r

l

ck

ff

ll

ss

Blend and read the words

fog

lock

less

hot

Read the caption A big hot dog.

Number of graphemes read correctly

…………….

Number of words blended and read correctly

…………….

Number of words in the caption read correctly

…………….

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Pupil’s page

Blue/Band 4 Assessment 3

Zebra’s Tent Zebra had a bright green tent.

Sheep got snacks from his bright red backpack.

“Yum, sweets!” said Croc.

Zebra got cups for the drink and Duck got spoons for the yogurt.

“Look at my pink and green dressing up box” said Zebra.

Croc took the bright green hat.

“I’m looking good!” he boasted.

Sheep sang a sweet song and Duck had a bang on the drum.

Zebra said, “We must sleep soon.

It is dark.”

“I will sweep up the mess,” said Sheep, getting a broom.

Duck collected the green sheets and Croc got the books.

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Teacher’s page

Blue/Band 4 Assessment 3

Zebra’s Tent by Laura Hambleton

Zebra had a bright green tent.

Sheep got snacks from his bright red backpack.

“Yum, sweets!” said Croc.

Zebra got cups for the drink and Duck got spoons for the yogurt.

“Look at my pink and green dressing up box” said Zebra.

Croc took the bright green hat. “I’m looking good!” he boasted.

Sheep sang a sweet song and Duck had a bang on the drum.

Zebra said, “We must sleep soon. It is dark.”

“I will sweep up the mess,” said Sheep, getting a broom.

Duck collected the green sheets and Croc got the books.

Word Analysis count

6

14 18

31

42 53

66

75 86 96

Comprehension questions 1. What colour was Zebra’s tent? (Green/ bright green) 2. Find a word in the text that means ‘showing off’. (Boasted) 3. Why did the friends need to go to sleep? (It was dark) WPM

Errors

WCPM

Accuracy /reading rate %

Assess Fluency in Reading

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Pupil’s page

Purple/Band 8 Assessment 1

Elephant Rescue A baby elephant is called a calf. When a calf is born, it’s already about one metre tall! It can stand up soon after it’s born and after a day or two, it can walk and follow its mother.

In the wild, a baby elephant lives with a herd of female elephants. They help to feed it and protect it from danger.

Some people kill adult elephants and sell the animal’s meat or tusks. The baby elephants left behind can’t take care of themselves.

In countries where elephants live, such as Kenya, India and Thailand, there are elephant rescue centres. These are based near elephant habitats so rescue teams can find and collect orphan elephants as soon as someone reports seeing one.

At the rescue centre, keepers take care of the orphan calves.

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Teacher’s page

Purple/Band 8 Assessment 1

Elephant Rescue by Louise Spilsbury

Word Analysis count

12 23 36 39

50 52 62

71 80 84

93 100 108 117 122

133

A baby elephant is called a calf. When a calf is born, it’s already about one metre tall! It can stand up soon after it’s born and after a day or two, it can walk and follow its mother.

In the wild, a baby elephant lives with a herd of female elephants.

They help to feed it and protect it from danger.

Some people kill adult elephants and sell the animal’s meat or tusks. The baby elephants left behind can’t take care of themselves.

In countries where elephants live, such as Kenya, India and Thailand, there are elephant rescue centres.

These are based near elephant habitats so rescue teams can find and collect orphan elephants as soon as someone reports seeing one.

At the rescue centre, keepers take care of the orphan calves.

Comprehension questions 1. How tall is a baby elephant when it is born? (One metre) 2. Why do people kill adult elephants? (For their meat or tusks) 3. Who cares for the orphan elephants? (Keepers) WPM

Errors

WCPM

Accuracy /reading rate %

Assess Fluency in Reading

75

© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Pupil’s page

Copper/Band 12 Assessment 3 The Story of Nian: a Folktale from China

Long ago in China, there was a terrible creature called Nian, which lived deep in the ocean. It had a huge body covered in spiky scales, and sharp horns on its long head. Its powerful pointed tail could shatter a boat with just one swoosh.

Nian didn’t often come up from the water. But when it did, sailors shone their lights and blasted their horns to warn other ships and nearby villages about the creature. Only then did it quickly sink back into the sea.

The fish nearby had to hide in the corals and reeds so that the monster didn’t eat them in one gulp.

Thankfully, for most of the time, Nian stayed at the bottom of the ocean.

However, on the eve of every Chinese New Year, Nian clambered onto the shore and terrorised the villages. It attacked the village folk. It charged at the animals. It gobbled up the crops and destroyed whatever was in its path. Then it looked for other villages to attack.

Everyone cried, “Run! Run!” as they heard its stomping footsteps approach.

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

Teacher’s page

Copper/Band 12 Assessment 3

The Story of Nian: a Folktale from China by Dr Wee Bee Geok

Word Analysis count

10 22 32 42 45

56 66 75 85

97 106

116 120

130 139 149 159 168

177 179

Long ago in China, there was a terrible creature called Nian, which lived deep in the ocean. It had a huge body covered in spiky scales, and sharp horns on its long head. Its powerful pointed tail could shatter a boat with just one swoosh.

Nian didn’t often come up from the water. But when it did, sailors shone their lights and blasted their horns to warn other ships and nearby villages about the creature.

Only then did it quickly sink back into the sea.

The fish nearby had to hide in the corals and reeds so that the monster didn’t eat them in one gulp.

Thankfully, for most of the time, Nian stayed at the bottom of the ocean.

However, on the eve of every Chinese New Year, Nian clambered onto the shore and terrorised the villages. It attacked the village folk. It charged at the animals. It gobbled up the crops and destroyed whatever was in its path. Then it looked for other villages to attack.

Everyone cried, “Run! Run!” as they heard its stomping footsteps approach.

Comprehension questions 1. Where did Nian live? (Deep in the ocean) 2. Find a word that has a similar meaning to ‘climbed’. (Clambered) 3. What day of the year did Nian come ashore? (The eve of Chinese New Year) 4. What do you think will happen in the story? (Any reasonable prediction, e.g. Nian will come ashore and destroy a village; someone will defeat Nian.)

WPM

Errors

WCPM

Accuracy /reading rate %

Assess Fluency in Reading

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© HarperCollinsPublishers 2020