Ready, Set, Read!
Growing Independence and Fluency
By: Catherine Bonner
Rationale:
Reading smoothly, quickly, and expressively are all
characteristics of fluent reading. Reading fluently requires
automatic word recognition. Fluent readers are able to read
silently to themselves. The fluency formula is read and reread
decodable words in connected text. This lesson will use that
formula by reading a decodable text, and then rereading it to
aid in the development of fluency. Students become fluent
through reading and then rereading.
Materials:
A stopwatch, a copy of Iggy
Pig’s Silly Day, Fluency chart for each student (the chart
has a column with numbers counting up towards the top of the
page. The chart has a race theme),
dry erase board
with markers, cover-up critter.
Procedures:
1. The teacher will begin the lesson by defining fluency.
"Fluency is when you read fast, smoothly--so you don't sound out
each word--and when you read with expressions in your voice."
The teacher will explain that skilled readers are also fluent
readers. “We can all become fluent readers by reading a text
several times. Today, we are going to work on improving our
fluency by rereading a text."
2. The teacher will use a dry erase board to write a sentence.
The sentence will be, "I can skip all day, over the hills and
far away.” The teacher will review the necessary steps for
decoding. "What do I do if I get to a word and do not know what
it is? That's right! I use my cover up critter. Show me that you
remember how to use the cover-up critter by trying it with me
now." Write the word “skip” on the board and practice using the
cover up critter together. "Let's try it with the word skip.
First we find the vowel. Which one is the vowel? Right! It's i.
The letter i makes the /i/ sound. Then we uncover the
letters s and k which makes the /s/ and /k/ sound and say out
loud by blending the /ski/ together. Then we uncover the letter
p which makes the /p/ sound. Then we blend all the
sounds together to say:
skip." Next we must
check to make sure we blended correctly by rereading the
sentence to check that skip makes sense. Re read: “I can
skip all day, over the hills and far away.”
3. "Now I am going to show you the difference between reading with
fluency and reading
without. First I will read my sentence without fluency,
and the next time I will read it with fluency." The teacher will
write on the board the sentence, "I love my fun dog." Then demonstrate reading by
reading slowly "I-l-o-v-e-m-y-f-u-n-d-o-g. What did you notice
about my reading? I got stuck on a few words. Did that make you
have trouble understanding me? It did! This can happen a lot
when we read, but the more we practice reading the same words,
the better we become at reading. Now I will read the same
sentence again in another way, not getting stuck on the words.
'I love my fun dog.' Which one sounded better? Why do you think
it sounded so much better? The second one sounds better because
it is faster and more fluent that the first. The second time you
could understand me better because I was not getting stuck on
the words. I was not trying to sound out every word, so I could
focus on what the text was saying. This is fluency, and this is
what we are practicing today.
4. Give each student a partner. Pass out a book (Iggy Pig’s
Silly Day!) to each child. “This is Iggy Pig’s Silly Day! Iggy
Pig and all of his friends are skipping over the hills and far
away. They run into a big gray animal with a long bushy tail.
Are Iggy Pig and his friends in trouble? We will have to read
our book and see what happens to them! Follow along in your book
while I read the first two pages. I am going to read them three
times to practice reading fluently. When I finish you will do
the same thing with your partner. The teacher will read the
first two pages aloud to the students. The first time the
teacher reads he/she will read slowly and sound out each word.
The second time the teacher will improve his/her reading by
reading smoothly, quickly, and with emotion. "Now it is your
turn. Read the first ten pages one time, then reread it again.
The first time I
would like for you to whisper read to yourself, the second time
you and your partner can read together.
5. The teacher will move throughout the room and observe
students as they read with their partner. The teacher will take
fluency notes as he/she moves around the room.
6. Once every group has read the story twice, pass out a stop
watch and the chart to each group. "We are going to play the
Fluency Game! Listen closely so you will know what to do. One
person will be the timer and one will be the reader, then you
will swap. I want partner one to start as the timer and partner
two to start as the reader. Partner two will read the first ten
pages while partner one times them. Then, you will graph it on
the chart I have passed out. After you have graphed the reader’s
number, I want you to swap jobs." As you are explaining the
graph, show the students what you mean. Use an extra graph to
visually demonstrate the oral instructions. "Do this three
times. Use the different "trackers" to mark each one-minute
read, so each partner should have three "trackers" on the chart
marking their number for each read."
7. After students have completed their three readings, the
teacher will collect the graphs. The teacher will use these
charts as an assessment. This will allow the teacher to teach
the students according to the level they are on and know which
students need additional help. The teacher can ask follow up
questions to assess students’ comprehension of the text they
just read. The questions should include: What was the problem?
How did they solve it? Who were Iggy Pig's friends?
Reference:
Jennifer Falls "Go, Go Speed Reader"
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/fallsgf.html
French, Vivian. “Iggy
Pig’s Silly Day!” Scholastic Inc., New York, 1998.