Using Poetry to Build Fluency and Reading Comprehension

Running Head: USING POETRY TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION
Using Poetry to Build Fluency and Reading Comprehension
Critical Response to Literature and Instructional Plan
Kari Hoffman
San Francisco State University

Using Poetry to Build Fluency and Reading Comprehension 1
Abstract
Fluency and reading comprehension are areas of weakness for students with dyslexia due to the phonological
nature of the disability. This paper ponders the question, how does poetry improve reading comprehension
and fluency? Research surrounding phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency and their implications for
reading comprehension are explored and analyzed. The theoretical framework is followed by an analytical
summary of the poetry, which will be used in a one-week lesson, and background information about the
students involved.
Key words: poetry, dyslexia, reading comprehension, fluency

Introduction:
Poetry is a genre that, unlike many other forms of written expression, is not confined by traditional
norms or conventions. When reading poetry, students may encounter words that evoke consciousness,
emotional intensity, imagery, insight and unique elements of sound. Some poets write with a rhythmical
cadence that can be appreciated by the reader before he or she may even truly understand the meanings of
the words. Other poets write more formally, blurring the line between prose and lyrical speech. Poetry is not
limited to one principle or style; it is a way to share experiences, feelings and thoughts (Gill, 2007).
Temple, Martinez, Yakota and Naylor (2002) provide a powerful definition of children’s poetry
as, ...a concise and memorable case of language, with intense feeling, imagery, and qualities of
sound that bounce pleasingly off the tongue, tickle the ear, and give the mind something to
ponder (quoted by Gill, 2007, p. 623).
My goal is for students to use their creativity and imagination to bring these poems to life while honing these
essential skills for reading. Students will learn to read poetry using rhythm and rhyme to read each line and
stanza fluently and with expression. I have chosen to take advantage of National Poetry Month and utilize
poetry in my small reading group in order to provide exposure to the genre and also as a tool to help students
build their decoding skills, sight word recognition, fluency, and ultimately build vocabulary and
comprehension.
Theoretical framework:
Prior to an introduction to Ehri’s four phases of reading, Ehri argues that we must understand how
readers process and remember the written form of words. Because each student is unique, the process may
vary from student to student. Readers learn each skill and eventually become capable of reading words in all
five ways (Ehri, 1997):
1. By sounding out and blending letters, referred to as decoding or phonological recoding.
2. By pronouncing common spelling patterns, a more advanced form of decoding
3. By retrieving sight words from memory.
4. By analogizing words already known by sight.
5. By using context to predict words.

The process of learning to read sight words relies heavily on the phases involving phonemic
awareness.
Any word that is read sufficiently often becomes a sight word that is read from memory…
The process of learning sight words involves forming connections between graphemes
and phonemes to bond spellings of the words to their pronunciations and meanings in
memory. (Ehri, 2005, p. 169)
Ehri (2005) theorizes that there are “…four phases [which] characterize the course of development
of sight word learning” (p. 167). Readers move fluently between these four phases throughout the process of
learning to read. Based on the phases laid out by Ehri (2005), most of my students are reading at the partial
alphabetic phase and are able to use letter–sound cues to remember the words and are growing into the full
alphabetic phase. “Children become full alphabetic phase readers when they can learn sight words by
forming complete connections between letters in spellings and phonemes in pronunciations” (Ehri, 2005, p.
171). Ehri’s developmental theory is important for teachers to understand in order for students to learn to
transition between decoding words and reading sight words from memory. At this point, students can use
context and previewed knowledge to read challenging words and will begin to commit these words to
memory in order to read them as sight words. When reading poetry, it is my experience that students have
opportunities to predict what word might come next due to context and to rhyming pattern. They can also
commit the text to memory due to the rhythm and fluidity that the rhyming pattern creates at the end of each
stanza.
According to Samuels (1976), the need for automaticity in decoding is important for students to
build reading fluency and comprehension. LaBerge and Samuels (1974) argued that human beings could only
do one thing at a time. “If attention is drained by decoding words, little or no capacity is available for the
attention demanding process of comprehending. Therefore, automaticity of decoding - a critical component
of fluency - is essential for high levels of reading achievement” (Pikulski & Chard, 2005, p. 511). Due to the
rhythmic and musical nature of poetry, students can more easily remember the pattern and structure of each
stanza and rely less on decoding when reading independently. Because students are less preoccupied with

decoding, they are able to read the words in the text and recognize sight words while pointing to the text
while reading. According to Ehri (1998), the term ‘word family’ applies to word sets that contain a commonly
spelled and pronounced rime; for example, hall, ball, tall, call. When reading in the full alphabetic phase,
students learn word families when reading poetry and recognizing rhyme patterns at the end of each line or
stanza. This is important to my practice because my students typically struggle with reading comprehension,
reading fluency and expression due to the lack of phonological awareness and decoding skills.
My students have a particular curiosity in learning about animals. In our science class, we have
studied animals and habitats. Students have also had the opportunity to research an animal at home and write
a report to share. Due to this interest in learning about animals, my students can access their prior knowledge
in order to connect to the text and build comprehension. Accessing prior knowledge is a fundamental aspect
of the act of comprehending and remembering (Bransford, 1984). This interest in learning about animals can
also build intrinsic motivation for students to read more literature on the topic. My goal is to develop student
enthusiasm and passion in reading poetry incorporating animals in order to build their fluency and
comprehension skills and broaden their vocabulary.
The Text:
In this lesson I am using poems that focus on animals. The theme of the first poem Baby Chick
(Fisher, 1991) revolves around new experiences. The language of the text is simple due to the decodable
nature of the text and the limited use of basic, grade level sight words. The decodable words in the text are
mainly C-V-C words, which include short vowels, r-controlled vowels, vowel teams and digraphs. Students
will segment sounds in these C-V-C words, then blend together to read words. For first grade, the sight
words are appropriate for the readers including: brown, how, come, does, out, and about. The most difficult
word, “discover” will be broken down into syllables and the vocabulary will be understood through
discussion and context. Students will be able to recognize the word “Dinosaur” as they build fluency when
reading the poem because it starts with a “D” and through understanding that the context involves reptiles
and dinosaurs.

Slow Sloth’s Slow Song (Prelutsky, 1990) is a poem that revolves around the theme of being content
who and where one is. The spaces between the words allow the reader to take time to read the text without
the stress of reading at an appropriate pace. In fact, the slowness of the text makes the poem fun and
enjoyable to read. This poem is also written at an appropriate level for first graders due to the decodable
nature of the text and the limited use of basic, grade level sight words. The decodable words in text are
mainly C-V-C words with short vowels, digraphs, consonant blends. The sight words include: I, a, trees,
can’t, slow, where, and fly. The more challenging aspect of the poem is comprehension. The end of the
poem, “But I am where I want to go.” (Prelutsky, 1990) will be better understood through discussion and the
opportunity to connect by reflecting on personal perspectives. Students can talk about their favorite place to
be, and discuss how the language describes students’ desire to stay.
The Lizard (Gardner, 1983) is a poem about longing to be something different. The text is slightly
more challenging than those aforementioned. There is an increase in sight words and the addition of
multisyllabic words. For my students, the word Lizard is a sight word in itself. Many of the sight words will
be more easily understood within the context and as students draw upon their prior knowledge. For example,
students can read the words dance, fly, and sing by thinking about the actions other animals can do, and what
a lizard cannot. They can also build an understanding of the words that talk about how the lizard finds bugs
to eat. Students will learn the word “dinosaur” through their understanding of the relationship between
lizards and dinosaurs (they are both reptiles) and the differences that make being a dinosaur
desirable. Students who enjoy learning about reptiles and dinosaurs will be able to connect to the text and
build an interest in memorizing sight words though intrinsic motivation. There are limited decodable words
in the text, including words with glued (or welded) sounds, suffix -s and long vowel sounds. The vocabulary
is also more advanced. Students will need to discuss the meaning words such as: timid, cannot, beneath,
longs.
The Little Turtle (Lindsay, 1999) is a poem about the possible relationship between the reader and a
turtle. The text is also slightly more challenging considering the use of sight words and more complex
decodable words. The sight words and more challenging decodable words will be more easily understood

through discussion and the opportunity to illustrate the poem and the events that unfold. Students can
discuss the events in the first stanza and create an illustration or mental image of the story to read challenging
words within context to build reading fluency. Students can associate the repetitive nature of the text and use
the anticipation of rhyme to read words such as snapped, caught, mosquito, flea, and minnow. The
revelation at the end of the repetitive poem allows students to connect to the text because they will anticipate
the element of surprise.
The theme of Can You Hop Like a Rabbit (Traditional) is how different animals move. The text is
simpler than those mentioned above due to the decodable nature of the text and the use of grade level sight
words. The decodable words include C-V-C words, glued (welded) sounds, long vowels using V-C-E, and
consonant blends. The sight words are appropriate for first graders, including: you, a, walk, fly, as, and
this. The animal words in the poem are made easier to read due to the movement described in the text, the
use of rhyme at the end of each line, and the illustrations I have added at the end of each line.
The full alphabetic phase, which I aim to guide my readers into, “requires systematic instruction in
phonemic awareness and phonics. Progress through this phase is enhanced when students are provided with
text that is well matched to their decoding skills and that does not cause undue frustration.” (Farrall,
2012) The poems I have analyzed are at an appropriate difficulty level for my students in this
sense. Students can decode words within the text using phonemic awareness and context clues. They can
also apply their knowledge of sight words to read new and familiar words within the context of the text.
The Readers:
My readers are in first grade at a school for students with language-based learning differences such as
dyslexia. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin, and impacts the way in
which an individual processes and acquires language (International Dyslexia Association, 2007). Dyslexia is
characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding.
Developmental dyslexia is characterized by an unexpected difficulty in reading in children and adults who
otherwise possess the intelligence, motivation, and schooling considered necessary for accurate and fluent
reading (Shaywitz, 1998). A deficit in phonological processing impairs the ability to decode and identify

meaning from written word (Shaywitz, 1996). Deficits in the phonological component of language are
thought to be the cause of these difficulties, and these deficits are not consistent when compared with other
cognitive abilities.
Reading fluency and phonological short-term memory characterize the “phonological nature” of
Dyslexia (de Carvalho, Kida, Capellini, and de Avila, 2014, p. 7). Compared to normally developing readers,
students with dyslexia have more difficulty learning to read words and acquiring sight word vocabulary due to
limited knowledge of decoding and analogizing strategies (Ehri & McCormack, 1998). This deficit in
decoding, or “lower-order linguistic function” (Shaywitz, 1996, p. 100), poses a challenge for gaining meaning
from text.
Reading comprehension, reduced reading experience that can result in impaired vocabulary growth
and background knowledge are secondary consequences of dyslexia. Children with dyslexia may perform
lower in aspects of written language including phonological processing and vocabulary development, however
many students with dyslexia have excellent verbal reasoning, comprehension or other language skills
(Thompson 2009). This deficit in phonological knowledge and decoding, or “lower-order linguistic
function,” poses a challenge for gaining meaning from text. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is
neurobiological in origin, and impacts the way in which an individual processes and acquires language
(International Dyslexia Association, 2007). Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or
fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding. Deficits in the phonological component of
language are thought to be the cause of these difficulties, and these deficits are not consistent when compared
with other cognitive abilities. Reading comprehension, reduced reading experience that can result in impaired
vocabulary growth and background knowledge are secondary consequences of dyslexia.
Each of my students’ learning profiles is somewhat similar to one another, although of course all
students are unique. My students are incredible at making inferences and using their creativity to build
understanding and to solve problems. They enjoy learning about the world around them and connecting
stories and lessons to their own lives. The students in my reading group have a particular interest in learning
about animals and habitats in science class and in exploring books, websites and films about animals and

completing research projects with their families at home. Some students came into my reading group having
weak phonemic awareness and without knowing basic sound-letter correspondence. Many of my students
struggle with processing language in different forms such as reading and listening. My students have learned
to acquire language skills through a multi-sensory approach to learning. They have been taught to segment
sounds in a word by “tapping” one finger for each sound, then blending the sounds together to read
words. My students also segment sounds in words with glued sounds and are able to identify rhyming words
based on their knowledge of these sounds. They have also been taught multisensory strategies for learning
common sight words and use their hands and fingers to scoop phrases to assist in building fluency.
The Context:
The information presented by the articles previously mentioned by support the idea that poetry can
be a powerful tool in the classroom. When reading poetry, students can explore language through a creative
lens, finding a multitude of meanings within the text and can engage with the text by creating mental images
and connections to the subject and evoking feelings. Poetry can be presented in many different ways and
comes in many different formats and subject areas. It can be used as an instructional tool for the diverse
classrooms that so many teachers have today.
Figure 1, shown below, is a diagram, which lays out the process of reading a word and building
meaning in order to comprehend text:
Figure 1

When students come across words they do not know in the poems, they can decode the word and
use prior knowledge to build vocabulary and word meaning in order to understand the text. In Ehri and
McCormick’s (1998) full alphabetic phase:
Students should use sight word memory to read familiar words. They should apply decoding or
analogizing strategies mainly to read unfamiliar words. They should use a prediction strategy to
confirm the accuracy of the words that are identified by the other strategies. (p. 153)
Phonemic awareness plays an important role in the ability to decode words that will eventually become sight
words read by memory. Ehri and McCormick (1998) caution in order for students to gain sight word
recognition and build fluency without relying too heavily on context, students should, have a “working
knowledge of the alphabetic system sufficiently so that graphophonic connections in words are processed
spontaneously during text reading” (p. 151). Consequently, a working knowledge of the alphabetic system is
necessary for students to look at words in text and match graphemes to phonemes. Using Phonemic
Awareness, students learn to decode words by segmenting individual sounds and blending them together to
form words. Ehri and McCormick continue, “Students who have practiced reading new words in this
way...retain the new words in memory and can read them by sight. As a result, the learner's sight vocabulary
grows steadily and rather substantially during the full alphabetic phase” (p. 151).
Ehri and McCormick (1998) describe the shift from reading individual words by decoding to reading
words by sight in context as “analogizing.”
[Students] store the sight words in memory in sufficient letter detail to recognize that the
new words resemble but are not identical to the known words and to adapt their knowledge
of known words in blending sounds to form new words. (p. 151)
Reading sight words, which Ehri (2005) calls the full alphabetic phase, allows students to read with
fluency. “It is important for students to practice reading words in connected text in a way that combines
graphophonic processing with comprehension” (p. 153). Samuels (1976) states that reading text with fluency
and automaticity allows readers to focus on comprehending text. Students can build sight word vocabulary
and reading fluency through repetitive, structured reading of the words on a word wall or flash cards to build

automaticity. As students build sight word fluency, thus reading fluency, they can more quickly comprehend
the text by skipping the step of decoding. There are a number of multi-sensory approaches for connecting to
the text, including: following along while connecting to the text by tracking with their finger, choral reading
(reading aloud together), reading aloud individually, and illustrating the poem using key images within the
text. Through practicing these approaches, students can build sight word fluency to move from the partial
alphabetic to the full alphabetic phase (Ehri, 2005).
According to Staudt (2009):
Combining intensive word study with the repeated reading of poetry proved a successful
plan for improving the reading fluency, word recognition, and comprehension skills of my
students with learning disabilities while at the same time improving their understanding of
how our language works. The poets' love of language presented a bounty of new and
interesting words for my struggling readers to study. The rhythms, rhymes, and nonsense
made their reading fun. (p. 150)
Poetry is a format, which allows students to focus on theme, details, emotions, rhythm, and rhyme rather
than to focus on decoding skills. This ability to focus on fluency rather than decoding is essential for reading
comprehension (Samuels, 1976). Students can connect to the themes in poetry and build fluency through
reading text, which has natural rhythm due to the structure of language and use of rhyme.
In order for students to build fluency, thus reading comprehension, they must be introduced to text
which is appropriate for their individual reading level and which does not create frustration due to the
inability to read words from sight or seamlessly decode words. It is imperative that teachers assess students’
reading abilities and analyze the difficulty of text introduced. Students with dyslexia may have deficits in not
only phonemic awareness and decoding skills, but working memory, which effects the ability to hold on to
information in the brain and switch between tasks while reading (de Carvalho et al., 2014). Through reading
poetry at the appropriate difficulty level, students will build sight word vocabulary and fluency, and will learn
to use word families and rhyme to read both familiar and new words.

Because I have chosen to use poems about animals in my classroom, I will build upon my students’
previous interests in learning about animals in science class and on their own. My students can build upon
their prior knowledge and learn new information about animals through videos, images, and resources for
learning scientific animal facts. Think, Pair, Share, Reflective Discussion, Read Aloud (several times with
focus on rhetorical devices- rhyme, meter, line etc.), and Think Alouds are all cognitive strategies that I have
found to be particularly successful when teaching poetry in addition to direct instruction in decoding and
sight word fluency in order to build reading comprehension. When supporting students' access to the text,
activating or developing their prior knowledge is included on my list of comprehension strategies. According
to Bransford (2004), reading comprehension is:
a fundamental aspect of the act of comprehending and remembering…. some children may
appear to have poor comprehension and memory not because they have some inherent
comprehension or memory ‘deficits,’ but because they lack, or fail to activate the background
knowledge that was presupposed by a message or a text. (p. 608)
My students will use their growing understanding of the context through accessing prior knowledge and
thinking aloud about the text with the goal of building reading fluency and comprehension.
I will assess my students’ learning through closely observing students during Read Alouds and
prompting questions to assess their understanding of the context. While a student reads aloud, I can better
understand their comprehension of the text by asking questions about the images they are creating, asking
students to identify key words within the text, and asking questions about the structure of words with
elements such as digraphs, suffixes, and long and short vowels, and word families or rhyming words. For
some poems, students can even demonstrate their understanding through movement prompted by the
text. Students find reading poetry to be a creative, fun, and nonthreatening experience while building their
abilities to decode, read with fluency, and comprehend texts on many different cognitive levels.
Titles
Baby Chick (Fisher, 1991) is a poem about a chick hatching from an egg. Fisher who wrote a large variety of
children’s books including history, poetry, plays, and biography.
Slow Sloth’s Slow Song (Prelutsky, 1990) is a poem about a sloth that lives in a tree. Prelutsky has written a
variety of children’s books and writes poems for both children and adults.

The Lizard (Gardner, 1983) is a poem about a lizard that longs to be a dinosaur. Gardner wrote novels,
essays, and literary criticism and is possibly best known for his novel Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf
myth.
The Little Turtle (Lindsay, 1999) is a poem about a turtle that lives in a box. Lindsay is an American author
who was once a kindergarten teacher, commonly wrote poetry to be sung or chanted.
Can You Hop Like a Rabbit? (Traditional) is a poem about different animal movements.
Topic: Poetry Grade Level: 1 Subject: Reading
Established Goals
Derived from Common Core
Grade 1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.10
With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.5.B
Define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., a duck is a bird that swims; a tiger is a large
cat with stripes).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.3.B
Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.4.C
Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5
Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Essential Questions
How does reading poetry improve fluency and reading comprehension?
Understandings
Students will understand that...
poems often use words to
describe feelings
rhyming words end in the same
sound
repetition of words and
phrases is often used in poetry
when a sentence ends with a
question mark, readers can
read with inflection (or the
voice going up) so it sounds
like a question
“don’t” means “do not”
“who’s” “who has”
Students will know that…
point to words to keep
track and to connect to
text
can sound out words by
tapping out sounds and
blending
read words then read
through phrase fluently
different facts and
characteristics of animals
Procedural - skills
Students will be able to…
read common grade level sight words
point out common sight words in the text
sound out C-V-C words, words with digraphs,
blends and vowel-consonant-e
read phrases fluently and with proper rhythm
and prosody
read words with suffix -s -ing - ed
read common contractions words such as
who’s don’t and cannot
read common animal words
describe the difference between animals,
categorize into different attributes
list words in rhyming families
Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks:
What is a task that you are
assessing?
Reading out loud - fluency,
accuracy, prosody
Comprehension -
vocabulary, meaning,
connecting to text
Self Assessments:
How are they going to assess their learning?
Read aloud
Identifying vocabulary words in the text
Explaining vocabulary
using vocabulary words in a sentence
Think, pair, share, Think Alouds
Reflective discussion
Other Evidence:
Classroom artifacts,
conversations, anecdotes, etc.
Poetry coloring book
Writing assignment “I long to
be a…”

Learning Plan
Day 1
Inquiry Hook: What do you know about poems? they have words that rhyme, they are short, they are funny, they use
words to describe feelings, they can be about animals or people, or about anything!
Step 1: introduce the poem Baby Chick and show illustration in order to activate prior knowledge through
discussion.
Step 2: read the poem aloud with the class.
Step 3: write key sight words on the board and discuss rhyming words and vocabulary.
Step 4: direct students to color the illustrations for this poem in their poetry book.
Step 5: read the poem together.
Step 6: students read aloud on their own or with partners, teacher assess reading abilities and skills.
Step 7: discuss and reflect on the poem and lesson with the class.
Day 2
Inquiry Hook: What do you know about sloths? they are animals, they live in the rainforest, they are slow, they are
mammals, they live in trees
Step 1: introduce the poem Slow Sloth’s Slow Song and show illustration in order to activate prior knowledge
through discussion. Show YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4MOnqjm42U
Step 2: discuss the structure of the poem, slowly read the poem aloud with the class.
Step 5: read the poem together. Discuss “I am where I want to go.”
Step 8: read poem from previous day.
Day 3
Inquiry Hook: What do you know about lizards? they are animals, they live in the desert, they have a tail, they are
reptiles, they eat bugs, they have four legs, they have scaly skin
Step 1: introduce the poem The Lizard and show illustration in order to activate prior knowledge through
discussion.
Step 2: read the poem aloud with the class.

Step 5: read the poem together. Discuss “I am where I want to go.”
Step 8: Writing assignment “I long to be…”
Day 4
Inquiry Hook: What do you know about turtles? they are reptiles, they have four legs, they have a tail, they have a shell
that is their house, they can swim and walk on land
Step 1: introduce the poem The Little Turtle and show illustration in order to activate prior knowledge through
discussion.
Step 2: read the poem aloud with the class, discuss repetition and surprise at the end.
Step 8: read poems from previous days.
Day 5
Inquiry Hook: Do all animals move the same way? No! Name an animal, show how it moves.
Step 1: introduce the poem Can You Hop Like a Rabbit? and show illustration in order to activate prior
knowledge through discussion.
Step 2: read the poem aloud with the class, students move like animals in the text.
Step 8: read poems from previous days.
Materials
Facilities: Equipment (non-tech): Equipment (tech):

An open space to move about
Table and chairs for teacher and
students
Poetry book with illustrations
Coloring tools
Whiteboard and markers
Paper and pencils
Smartboard/Smart Notebook
Computer
Access to YouTube
Search engine for images

References
Anderson, R. (1984). Schema activation and schema acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson's
remarks. In learning to read in American schools: Basal readers and content texts (pp. 607-619).
Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Blachman, B. (1997). Sight word learning in normal readers and dyslexics. In foundations of reading
acquisition and dyslexia: Implications for early intervention (pp. 163-189). Mahwah, N.J.: L.
Erlbaum Associates.
de Carvalho, C. , Kida, A. , Capellini, S. , & de Avila, C. (2014). Phonological working memory and reading in
students with dyslexia. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 746-753.
Ehri, L. (2005) Learning to read words: Theory, findings, and issues. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(2), 167-188.
Ehri, L. , & McCormick, S. (1998). Phases of word learning: Implications for instruction with delayed
and disabled readers. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 14(2), 135-163.
Farrall, M. L. (2012). Reading assessment : Linking language, literacy, and cognition. Somerset, NJ, USA:
John Wiley& Sons.
Fisher, A., & Sandin, J. (1991). Always wondering. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Prelutsky, J. (1983). The random house book of poetry for children. New York, NY: Random House.
Gill, S. (2007). The Forgotten Genre of Children's Poetry. Reading Teacher, 60(7), 622-625.
Hall, D. (1999). The Oxford illustrated book of American children's poems (p. 44). New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
International Dyslexia Association, 2007
LaBerge, D., & Samuels, J. (1974). Towards a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive
Psychology, 6, 293-323.
Pikulski, J. , & Chard, D. (2005). Fluency: Bridge between decoding and reading comprehension The Reading
Teacher, 58(6), 510.
Prelutsky, J., & Stevenson, J. (1990). Something big has been here. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.
Temple, C., Martinez, M., Yokota, J., & Naylor, A. (2002). Children’s books in children’s hands. Boston:

Allyn & Bacon.
Thomson, M. (2009). The Nature of Dyslexia. In The Psychology of Dyslexia: A Handbook for Teachers
(2nd ed.). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Samuels, S. (1976). Automatic decoding and reading comprehension. Language Arts, 53(3), 323-325.
Shaywitz, S. (1996). Dyslexia. Scientific American, 275(5), 98-104.
Staudt, D. (2009). Intensive word study and repeated reading improves reading skills for two students
with learning disabilities: By combining intensive word study with the timed repeated reading of
poetry, this teacher was able to improve the reading skills of learning disabled students. The Reading
Teacher, 63(2), 142-151.
Temple, C., Martinez, M., Yokota, J., & Naylor, A. (2002). Children’s books in children’s hands. Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.
Voeller, K. (2004). Dyslexia. Journal of Child Neurology,19(10), 740-744.

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