Escaleras de fluidez

Hola!  Today I (Alison from Learning At The Primary Pond) am bringing you a sample of one of my most popular Spanish products - my Escaleras de fluidez!

In December of last year, I was working with some bilingual readers who were struggling. They were stuck at a Guided Reading Level A because their decoding was slow and belabored. If they had to read the word "mesa," for example, they might read it like this:  "mmm....eee....me....ssss......aa......sa." Sometimes even after all the effort they put into reading the sounds and syllables, they still couldn't figure out what the word said.

If you teach reading in Spanish, then you already know that Spanish is a syllabic language. When readers can quickly recognize and read syllables, their decoding speeds up, also improving their fluency and comprehension.

I knew that I needed to help my readers improve their syllable reading fluency. But I wasn't entirely sure how to do that. We'd done flashcards and games - I felt like I'd tried it all. I needed something new and different to really engage them.

After a few days of thinking, an idea suddenly popped into my head. What if I created a simple routine that they could practice independently - at home, at school, on the bus - to give them more practice reading syllables? My time with them each day was limited (I'm a reading specialist), so an independent routine would give them much more practice time, which they desperately needed.

I sat down and began creating a series of syllable ladders. Each ladder was printed on a half sheet of paper, and students would practice reading 10 syllables, one at a time, "up" the ladder. Once a student felt confident in reading all of the syllables, he would read the ladder to a teacher or adult for a timed test.

For the first level (Level A), I began with open syllables. I placed a syllable like "ma" at the bottom. Then, one "rung" above "ma," I placed a syllable that was a one-letter change from "ma." For example, I could put "me" (the "a" changed to an "e") or a syllable with "a" like "pa" (changing the "m" to a "p"). I continued up the ladder, changing just one letter at a time to make a new syllable.

After finishing all the ladders for Level A (open syllables), I created ladders for the following syllables and words:

- 2-syllable words with open syllables (palabras de dos sílabas abiertas)
- 3-syllable words with open syllables (palabras de tres sílabas abiertas)
- Syllables with blends (sílabas trabadas)
- 2- and 3-syllable words with blends (palabras de dos y tres sílabas trabadas)
- Inverse and closed syllables (sílabas inversas y cerradas)
- 2- and 3-syllable words with open, closed, and inverse syllables, as well as syllables with blends (palabras de dos y tres sílabas abiertas, cerradas o inversas, y sílabas trabadas)

When I finished, I was excited to start the program with my kids, but I didn't expect that it would be such a hit. My students were SO excited to practice their ladders! When they finished a ladder, they got to color in an icon on their progress sheet, which was really motivating. When they finished an entire level and progress sheet, they received a little certificate.

Eventually, the program caught on even beyond my small group of students. Now other students in the bilingual Kindergarten through second grade classes at my school will be using the Escaleras de fluidez for extra practice.

To download Level A of the program and try it out, please click on the image below. If you want to purchase the whole program, you can do so here. The full program includes a parent letter, assessment, organization materials, and 6 additional levels of ladders for your higher readers.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me here. Happy teaching!