Fishing for Fluency
Growing
Independence
and Fluency
By: Lauren Emily Shipman
Rationale:
Fluency is being able to read quickly, at an even pace with expression. It is an
important skill for students to obtain. If students are fluent readers,
reading becomes more efficient and they can begin reading for understanding at a
better pace. In order for students to become fluent readers, they must read and
re-read decodable books practice decoding and decoding at a quick speed. This
lesson calls for students to practice reading decodable books many times in
order to be able to read them quickly and smoothly. Students will read the
books independently and then read to a peer.
Materials:
Sentence strip with sentence: The snake was slithering on the ground;
copies of James and the Good Day for each student; stop watch for every
group of students; paper and pencils for each group to record reading times;
speed reading record sheets; speed reading chart (fisherman)
Procedure:
1.
Say: Today, Boys and Girls, we are going to be practicing how to read fast
but smooth at the same time! Being able to do read quickly and smoothly is
called fluency. It is important that we learn to read quickly and with
ease so that we can focus on understanding what we read rather than how to
decode the words!
2. Say: Now, I am going to show you how to read a sentence fluently.
Put a sentence strip on the board with The snake was slithering on the
ground, on it. Say: Listen to me as I say the sentence a loud
and listen to how the sounds blend together so smoothly. Thhheeee
sssssssssnaaaaaaakkee wwwaaasss sssswwwiiiiiitttthherrriinnnggg oooonn ttthheee
gggrrrooouuunnd. I will then read the sentence faster than the time before
and then repeat. The last time, I will blend the words together and read
the words at the same pace and smooth the words together in the sentence.
Say: This is how we read fluently. Do you see why it is important
for us to read this way? When we read like this, it is much easier to
understand. We are improving our reading by reading and rereading to make
it more fluent.
3. It is your turn to practice reading fluently now! Everyone spread out
around the room and I will give you a book to practice reading quickly and
smoothly. Please read it a few times because practicing reading the books
multiple times are a great way to improve reading fluency. The book we are
reading is James and the Good Day. In the story, this boy decides
to have a really good day. He gets a tug boat and fills up the tub. All of a
sudden he sees water coming down the hallway from the bathroom. What do you
think happened? Let us read to find out! Remember to put the words
together smoothly in the sentence as you reread the book!
4. Once you practiced reading your book, come back to the group and I will pair
you with a partner to read together. You are each going to read the book
to your partner 3 times. With the stopwatch I give you, you are going to
time your partner for one minute while listening to them read. At the end
of that one minute, you will count how many words they read during that minute.
I will give you a check lists that has a space to write how many words they are
reading one minute the first, second and third time. After one partner has
read 3 times, you will then switch and do the same thing!
5.During the peer assessment, I will monitor the students working and try to
ensure that all students are following directions and assessing each other
correctly.
6.After the students read to one another, I will call them up to my desk
individually and explain to them what how many words they read per minute means
and how it relates to fluency. I will then have a chart with a fisherman
reeling in a fish. There will be increments of 5 starting at the bottom of
the lake as 5 going up to the top of fishing pole to 85. I will put the
fish on the corresponding number of words they read per minute. I will
encourage the student to keep practicing by moving their fish up each time they
increase their words read per minute.
Assessment:
I
will assess their speed reading by keeping their times documented and watching
their improvement on the charts.
Reference:
Sarah Daughtry. Reading Genie Website. Speed
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/