11 Free 7th Grade Reading Fluency Passages For Your Class

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Not only do middle school students have to deal with fluency passages of increasing word counts and read at a fast pace (150-184 WPM), but they should also be able to attain a high level of understanding to answer reading comprehension questions.

The good news is that you can easily help your students read faster and practice fluency inside the classroom. You don’t even have to spend hours scouring the internet for free resources or come up with lesson plans on the fly. Check the following list of 11 free 7th-grade reading fluency passages for your class!

1. Reading Sage 7th-Grade Passages

student with headphone reading a book

Students at all reading levels can leverage Reading Sage’s collection as a wonderful resource for both fluency training and vocabulary.

We recommend starting with the passage entitled Honest Abe if you’re interested in discussing the life of Abraham Lincoln in class without focusing too much on the American Civil War. Students into scientific topics will also enjoy passages like Prairie Keepers and Learning About the Solar System.

To ensure better fluency, let your students read the text on their own before starting a close reading session with them.

Most passages come with two questions tackling the main idea. However, you can always improvise and create your own worksheets.

2. Mr. Anker Tests Reading Passages

teens in a school project with laptop

With Mr. Anker Tests’ collection of fluency texts, revisit beloved stories like Peter Pan, the Jungle Book, and The Wind in the Willows.

Not only does the collection include passages laden with figurative language, but it also includes a couple of nonfiction text examples useful for students reading at the 7th-grade level.

Each passage has around four pages, so you can divide the total number of pages between classwork and homework.

Unfortunately, the collection doesn’t come with any worksheets, so you need to add your own comprehension questions.

3. E-Reading Comprehension Passages

E-Reading’s packet has a wide array of texts that’ll help students improve fluency, comprehension, and critical thinking skills.

Students into science will undoubtedly appreciate reading fluency passages like Asian Carp and the Maginot Line. On the other hand, if you think it’s time to focus onfigurative language, you can try The Cat That Walked by Himself or The Nightingale and the Rose.

Fair warning: this collection is a bit challenging.

So, make sure to point out themini glossary that comes with most passages to aid students in understanding new words.

4. National Geographic Kids History Collection

Technically, this collection isn’t intended for fluency training. However, we still think it can be a valuable resource for understanding historical concepts and building a repertoire of new words.

For example, one of the passages, America Heads West, touches on the first term of President Thomas Jefferson. On the other hand, another text focuses on disproving the myth of Friday the 13th by digging up historical evidence of its origins!

Since the passages contain many historical tidbits, some students may have difficulty when trying to summarize the information they present without close reading sessions.

The collection is suitable for above-average 7th and 8th-grade students.

5. K-12 Reader’s 7th-Grade Passages

Take your students on a journey to the Grand Canyon, discover the secrets behind earthquakes, and enjoy the eloquence of classics like Oliver Twist and the Prince and the Pauper with this fun and informative reading fluency packet.

Written in a simple style, all of the passages in this packet have a low word count and can be read in under one minute.

To increase reading accuracy, you can prepare graphic organizers beforehand to help your class better understand any challenging words.

Since each passage has only a couple of questions tackling contextual word meanings in addition to a short introduction to creative writing, you can print a separate worksheet with extra practice queries to discuss the main idea.

6. Fluency Packet for 6-8 Grade Band

If you don’t want to spend hours on your lesson plans, you can’t go wrong with this comprehensive fluency packet. This ultimate packet contains more than 40 comprehension passages suitable for any student in grade levels 6-8.

This extensive collection includes traditional reading comprehension passages, fables, poems, and even songs!

Each entry comes with a glossary and a few questions to gauge the students’ reading level.

Finally, a tip for struggling teachers: the cold read strategy, in particular, should be your go-to choice when covering this packet!

7. ReadWorks.org Fluency Collection

Want a fluency packet with a myriad of one-page texts? Look no further because this packet has it all, geography, history, engineering – you name it!

If you’re looking for an entertaining reading passage.

We recommend picking the packet’s Weird Ones collection of supernatural short stories.

They’re particularly on-brand for those spooky October classes.

You don’t have to worry about extra prep work since each passage has a worksheet containing multiple-choice and open-ended questions to encourage students to write more.

8. Summer Vacation

Combat the heatwave and improve your students’ grades while you’re at it with this summer-inspired fluency packet.

It consists of a collection of passages written in a short-story format, which readers in grade level 7 will indubitably find charming.

To put your middle school students’ comprehension skills and accuracy to the test, we recommend asking each student to summarize the passages’ main idea before moving on to the practice questions.

9. Fluency Passages with Comprehension Questions Packet

While this reading comprehension packet is intended for 6th-grade classes, it still offers a fun challenge for any 7th-8th grade student.

The two passages included in the packet will help your students develop their reading fluency skills and know more about the world they’re living in by discovering fun facts about rainforests and water safety.

The worksheet that comes with each passage has six open-ended questions to test the students’ understanding of the main idea and new words introduced in the text.

10. Friends

This heartwarming fluency packet will pique the interest of any young reader at the age of 13-14.

Perfect for grade levels 6-8, this collection of short stories discussing the topic of friendship will help your average and above-average students boost their reading levels and grades.

All of the thirteen linguistically rich stories in this packet are super short, only one page long.

So, any 7th-8th grade student will be able to go through them and answer the accompanying worksheet in less than 10 mins.

11. Content-Based Passages for Reading Fluency: Prehistoric Times

Have fans of prehistoric times in your class? Then, trying out this fluency packet will be a blast!

With two passages shedding light on the nature of plate tectonics and the nuances of life eons ago, this fluency kit will take your students on an unforgettable adventure.

Of course, it doesn’t also hurt that the passages include a variety of new vocabulary to further improve their skills.

The only drawback is that the kit has only long-answer worksheets, so you’ll need to create your own multiple-choice queries.

Jump In: Improving your 7th-grade students’ fluency is dependent on reading materials specifically written for them! See my article about The 57 Best Chapter Books for 7th Graders to Read (In 2022) and see their reading (and writing) skills rise.

Make Reading Passages Fun!

Now that you know that 7th-grade reading passages don’t have to be boring, spice up your lesson plans with our 11 free 7th-grade reading fluency passages!

Remember that some of the above reading passages can still be tricky for your young students. So, make sure to hold discussions, highlight the meaning of difficult words, and help them summarize the text’s central idea to boost reading fluency.

Don’t also forget to keep a close eye on below-average students because they might need extra reading materials to help them keep up with their peers.

Last Updated on July 24, 2022 by Emily