Finding a Just-Right Reading Speed

Good readers use a just-right speed. If you read too fast, you might skip words and the listener cannot keep up. If you read too slowly, the story feels stuck and it is hard to remember the beginning of the sentence.

Try 'The frog jumped into the pond with a splash. ' Racing makes it a blur. Crawling makes it sound like a list of words. A just-right speed sounds like how you talk to a friend.

A good test is to ask yourself, 'Could a friend follow along and enjoy it? '

• 1Too fast causes skipped words.
• 2Too slow makes the story hard to follow.
• 3Just-right speed sounds like talking to a friend.