Apps and Tools / Seesaw · February 25, 2020

Checking Reading Fluency in Seesaw

Using Seesaw for Performance Checks

Seesaw Activities are a great way to assess student growth. The activity template is simple: there is a screenshot of a short reading. The activity template is a Drawing and students respond with the Record (microphone icon) option. They use the pointer to follow the reading while speaking out loud. This recording is then submitted so I can listen to the student reading. It is nearly the same as sitting next to the student during the read aloud!

Record student reading in Seesaw.

The student response goes in a folder that only I can see so the students don’t have to worry about how they sound to another classmate. The second slide is something fun for them to do as a reading response.

Reclaiming Time

Before I had students record, I struggled to get to every student during the reading blog. Now, there is no longer a feeling of panic for me since they are all recording their reading segments. I can listen to the recordings when I have time and leave a private note as feedback. My students can also go back and listen to their fluency over time. At conferences, I shared recordings with parents to show their student’s growth. I had several parents comment on how they heard their students just replace or skip words completely. This led to more in-depth discussion on how to support their child as a reader while at home.

I have seen big growth in my students’ sight word fluency while still having the time available to have true guided reading time with struggling readers. Making these practice items independent has reclaimed time we didn’t have previously.


The featured image is “Book Clock #1,” a flickr photo by David Singleton shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license.