Read aloud to your child several times a day to model fluent reading, suggests Lisa Blau in the Scholastic article "5 Surefire Strategies for Developing Reading Fluency." Choose stories that flow easily, and be expressive as you read. Choose simple, beautiful poetry to read aloud to your child. If possible, provide a second copy of the book and invite your child to follow along as you read. After you read, talk about how you read the story, and ask your child what he noticed about your tone, expression and pacing. Listening to books on tape is another excellent way to improve reading fluency. As the tape plays, encourage your child to follow along in the book with his finger. A bookmark can also help your child follow along line by line.
Read out loud together to help your child develop reading fluency. You may choose to read a line and then have your child repeat it. You may also read aloud together simultaneously. Read at your natural pace; do not mimic your child's reading pace. Include expression in your voice as you read. If your child stumbles, keep going and let him follow along until he is ready to begin reading again.
Reading a section over and over can help improve reading fluency, notes Lisa Blau for Scholastic. Choose a short section of text and have your child read it out loud several times. After the reading, discuss performance without providing criticism, and offer hints for breathing and expression. Encourage your child to practice words that he stumbled on previously. When the child is ready, have him read the section again. Repetitive reading will help your child recognize words and become familiar with the text. You may also wish to read the section aloud before asking your child to read it.
Reading fluency is often halted when children come across words that are unfamiliar to them. Sight words are memorized words commonly found in texts or words that children cannot determine through common reading strategies like decoding. Ask your child's teacher for a list of sight words, and add words to the list whenever you see your child struggle with a word as you read together. Post a list of sight words on the refrigerator for your child to see. Make flash cards using index cards, and quiz your child on the sight words you have chosen.