The books you use for read-alouds and small groups may look simple with thier fun storylines, engaging pictures and familiar characters—but beneath the surface many include concepts that can cause readers to stumble.

Take A Bad Case of Stripes, for example. Understanding that feelings can show up in physical ways, like rashes, matters before students can follow the story’s nuance.

Corduroy, a book often read to Kindergartn and First graders is problemaic. That's because knowing what a department store is (something many children might never visit) impacts a child's ability to understand the setting and the illustrations.

Even Caps for Sale features a "peddler" as the main character, a concept that may be foreign without support.

That’s why building background knowledge is so important when you want students to truly comprehend what you read aloud or work through in small groups. If students already have a mental sense of the ideas, vocabulary, or settings in a text, fewer surprises will slow them down. They’ll spend less time puzzling over context and more time following characters, noticing themes, and making meaning.

The Knowledge and Fluency Passages are designed to solve this problem.

Each one introduces key concepts, vocabulary, and themes that will show up in the paired text. By giving students a preview in a short, accessible passage, you ensure they come to the main book ready to engage. Instead of stumbling over unfamiliar ideas, students approach the story with confidence. Background knowledge becomes a bridge into comprehension, helping them notice more, talk more, and think more about the texts you share.

The Knowledge & Fluency Passages are designed to do more than prepare students for comprehension. They also provide powerful support for fluency growth and word automaticity.

Students read each passage multiple times, listen as you model fluent reading, and practice with partners or in small groups. These repeated readings—especially with texts that feel connected to the books they know—help build speed, accuracy, expression, and overall confidence.

Each passage highlights high-frequency (Fry) words that align with the grade level of the paired text. Because these words appear again and again across children’s literature, early and repeated exposure in the passages helps students recognize them automatically.

By blending fluency practice with purposeful encounters with high-frequency words, the passages help students read more smoothly and with deeper understanding. The goal is not just faster reading—it’s meaningful reading.

Assessment isn’t just something you do at the end of a unit; it’s how you keep a finger on what’s happening as students grow. The Knowledge & Fluency Passages include tools that let you check in on fluency, comprehension, and word recognition—so you can respond quickly, not wait until confusion builds.

Here’s how you can use those tools effectively:

• Baseline Fluency & Expression
  Before students work with a passage, have them read it aloud for one minute. Record how many words they read correctly (Words Correct Per Minute, or WCPM) and listen for expression: phrasing, tone, pauses, or slowness or stiffness in reading. This gives you a starting point for growth.


• Repeated Measures
  After the first reading, plan repeated readings of the same or very similar passages. Between readings, model fluent reading so students hear what fluent expression looks like. Over time you’ll see gains in speed, accuracy, and how natural the reading sounds.Plan repeated readings of the same or similar passages.
  
  Model fluent reading, then have students reread or partner read.
  Over time, you should see gains in speed, accuracy, and natural expression.
  


• Track Comprehension in Parallel
  Use the buildt-incomprehension questions (literal, inferential, vocabulary) in the passage to see not just whether students can read, but whether they understand what they read. If comprehension lags even while fluency improves, that signals where you might need more background knowledge or vocab support.
  


• High-Frequency Word Recognition
  Monitor how well students recognize and use the included Fry words. Are those words still stumbling blocks? Do they appear often in context in their other reading? Tracking familiarity with those common words helps you know when to pause and reinforce automatic recognition.


• Regular Intervals & Instructional Adjustments
  Do these checks regularly—weekly, bi-weekly, or at whatever interval works in your classroom. When data shows steady progress, maintain your strategy. If growth is slow in any area (fluency, expression, comprehension), adjust: maybe more modeling, more background building, more time with the passage or targeted instruction.
  


• Simple Records Students Can See
  Keep a chart or a notebook for each student with their fluency and comprehension scores over time. Seeing lines go up in WCPM, expression, comprehension helps both you and students notice growth. It also makes it easier to decide: continue the same support, intensify it, or shift focus.

These tips make the most of your fluency and comprehension work. Below are classroom strategies followed by a sample schedule showing how they might fit into your week alongside the books and texts you already use.

Classroom Tips

• Model first. Read a short paragraph yourself so students hear phrasing, tone, pacing. Then let them try, using your read-aloud as the reference.
  
  
• Use repeated readings of short passages. A second or third read usually yields noticeable improvement in speed, expression, and comfort.
  
  
• Make high-frequency words visible and familiar. Preview the Fry words, post them in the room, practice them in short bursts, and point them out as they appear in texts.


• Pay attention to expression, not just speed. After students are reading more accurately, prompt them to notice how punctuation, character voices, and phrasing affect meaning.
  
  
• Link practice to the texts you already use. If a passage shares vocabulary or theme with the read-aloud or chapter book for small group, use that connection. Students transfer skills more easily when what they practice feels relevant.
  
  
• Keep routines simple and consistent. You could use echo reading, partner reading, or choral reading. Rotate roles so everyone gets to read and to listen.
  
  
• Check comprehension regularly. After fluency practice, ask a few literal or inferential questions. A short discussion confirms understanding and reveals what to support next.
  
  
• Maintain a visible record of fluency growth (WCPM, expression) and comprehension. Even a simple chart helps you and students see progress and shape next steps.

Sample Week

Here’s one way to weave the Knowledge & Fluency Passages into your instruction alongside read-alouds, small groups, vocabulary, and comprehension work. 

Always use the Knowledge & Fluency Passage before you read the book or text in read-alouds or small groups. It’s not an add-on; it’s the prep. That way students arrive with vocabulary, concepts, or settings already in mind.

• Monday:
  Preview Fry words; read the background passage; baseline fluency (1-minute reading); literal comprehension questions.
• Tuesday:
  Model fluent reading; repeated reading of the passage; vocabulary discussion; link passage vocabulary to the week’s read-aloud or text.
• Wednesday:
  Inferential & vocabulary comprehension questions; small-group fluency practice; practice of high-frequency words in context.
• Thursday:
  Revisit passage & text connections; partner or echo reading; expression/fluency focus; discussion of character or theme from the paired text.
• Friday:
  Reflect with students: What reading felt easier this week? How has fluency or understanding improved? Use the included extension prompt (writing or speaking). Read main text aloud or in segments with expression.

All of our fluency passages are written to mirror the level of the paired text, which means students practice reading fluently at a level that connects directly to the book or text you have chosen. Because fluency skills (accuracy, rate, expression) are universal, this means even if a 4th grader works with a passage written at a 3rd grade level, they are still practicing the same foundational fluency behaviors that RF.4.4 expects—reading with purpose, accuracy, and expression.

In other words, you don’t have to match passage level to current grade perfectly. What matters is growth in fluency, recognition of high-frequency words, and comprehension. The passages give students repeated practice in the habits that the standards call for—no matter the nominal grade of the text.

By using these passages thoughtfully—monitoring progress, choosing when to scaffold or stretch—you help students build toward the fluency expectations of their grade while giving them accessible, scaffolded practice rooted in texts you already use.