Floating into Fluency
Growing Independence and Fluency
Rationale: Fluency is the ability to identify words
accurately, rapidly, and automatically, and is read at the rate
in which you speak. There are three significant skills needed to
become a fluent reader: the ability to read faster, smoother,
and more emotionally. To gain fluency, students need to read and
reread the same text multiple times so that they will learn to
recognize all of the words automatically. When students read
with partners, they have each other to help decode words and it
allows them to practice reading aloud.
Materials:
∙A copy of Night at the Shore for each student
∙A stop watch for each pair of students
∙A Speed Record Sheet for each student
∙A Fluency Literacy Rubric for each student
∙A dry erase marker
Fluency Literacy Rubric
Name:
____________
Evaluator:
____________
Date: ___________
I noticed that my partner (color in the circle)
After 2nd
After 3rd
O
O
Remembered more words
O
O
Read faster
O
O
Read smoother
O
O
Read with expression
Procedures:
1. Explain to the students what it means to be a fluent reader.
"To be fluent readers we need to read with expression, which
means that we put feeling and emotion in our voice; we read
smoothly and we read rapidly, at a speaking speed." Explain to
your students that today we will be reading and rereading the
story Night at the Shore. Rereading the text
will help us become more fluent readers. Reassure them that they
might not know every word the first time they read it through
but that they need to use their cover-up critters or use the
crosschecking method to figure out the word. Next time they read
this story they should be able to recognize the word with a
little more ease and by the last time they should know how to
read the word fluently.
2. Write the sentence "I row the boat to shore." on the board.
Model two ways to read this sentence. The first way you read it
should be slow and drawn out. For example, say "I r-r-o-o-w-w
th-e-e b-o-o-a-t- t-o-o sh-o-o-r-r-e." Next, model for the
students how to read this sentence fluently. "I row the boat to
shore." Ask the students which way sounds better: when I said it
slow or when I read it fluently? The students should answer that
the second time was the correct way to read fluently.
3. Engage the students in a book talk about the story Night
at the Shore. This story is about two friends who
race to the top of a lighthouse. They see large waves in the
ocean and a flare (or emergency signal) from a boat off the
coast. Someone needs help, so will they be able to help them?
4. Have the students partner up and go to different places in
the room. Each child should receive a Speed Record Sheet and a
Fluency Literacy Rubric. Explain to the students that one person
is going to be the "reader" while the other person is the
"recorder". The reader will read as much of the book as they can
in one minute. At the end of the one minute they will point to
the word they ended on and the "recorder" will write down the
number of words the "reader" read. The "recorder" will reset the
stop watch and the "reader" will read the book through a second
time. The "recorder" should follow the same steps as before. The
"reader" will read the text a third and final time. At the end
of this read, the "recorder" will record the number of words the
"reader" read and then fill out the Fluency Literacy Rubric.
They are instructed to bubble in the circle
that best describes how the reader did. After they have finished
this, the students will swap roles and follow the steps above.
The goal by the end of this activity is that the students will
be able to read the text more accurately and fluently.
5. For assessment, the teacher will call students up
individually and have them read as much of the text as they can
in one minute. Have the students recall what happened in the
story to assess their comprehension skills.
Resources:
Adams, Lacey. "Up, Up, and Away With Fluency!"
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/guides/adamsgf.html
Night at the Shore by: Matt Sims (2004).