One way for people to become more fluent readers to to recognize more words by sight. Certain words, such as "was" and "the" have to be recognized by sight because they can't be sounded out or decoded. Other words are so common, such as "in" and "there" that they should be memorized as soon as possible. So the first step toward improving fluency should be memorizing the most common sight words.
Create or buy flashcards from the lists of common sight words. Have your child or student practice the words. An effective way to study the words is to go through the cards one at a time and have the child say the word, spell it and say it again. For unfamiliar words, tell the child the word before they say, spell and say.
Other activities you can do with the flashcards is to play Memory or another matching game; look at the cards while writing the words in different ways ( such as with crayons or paint); or look at the cards while making the words with blocks.
Other sight word activities are to make or find word searches using sight words, or go through magazines or newspapers and circle or cut out all the sight words found.
In addition to knowing sight words, fluent readers do a lot of rereading. Rereading a familiar text allows children to focus on punctuation, inflection and understanding as opposed to just sounding out or decoding new words. When the text is easy, children can read more quickly and gain more confidence. Much like young children learn from hearing the same story over and over, older children learn from reading the same story over and over.
Listening to other fluent readers also helps children become more fluent themselves. When you read to your child, point out your thinking: why you paused for the period, or how you knew which word came next. Model what fluent readers do.
Another way children can improve their fluency is by tape recording themselves reading. Record them reading a book that's easy for them and one that is slightly more challenging. Talk to them about what sounded different in each reading.