Cloudy with a Chance of Fluency!
Rational:
Fluency is developed after learning many correspondences and becoming automatic
with word recognition. Reading fluently is reading at a pace that keeps
others interested and can be read for understanding. When students read
with fluency the story flows together and becomes exactly what it is, a story.
By working with a partner the students will help record their partner’s fluency
by marking words that are stumbled through or a lot of time is spent on certain
words. The students will gain a better understanding of what it means to
read fluently and ways that will help them improve their fluency as readers.
Materials:
- Book- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (one for every student) 1999.
- Copies of pages(1-5) that will be read by each student,
the copies are for the students to record their partners fluency
on and the copies will also have the words numbered so it is
easier for the students to record their time and words a minute
- Stopwatch
- Pencils
- Crayons
- Fluency bar graph chart
Procedure:
1. “Today students we are going to work on reading fluently.” “What
does fluency mean to you?” “Fluency is not just how fast you read, but it
is reading smoothly and allowing the words that are being read to sound as if
they are just being said, like you are talking to somebody.” “I am going
to read a page from this book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; I want
you to pay close attention to how I am reading.” I will proceed to read a
page or two from the book, and I am going to drag out my words, reading them
choppy and sounding out most words that I am trying to read. “Did you
enjoy me reading this story?” “Could you tell me what the story was
about?” “Ok, now I am going to read the same thing to you a second time” I
will begin to read the same pages a second time this time reading regularly with
fluency and expression. “Did you enjoy me reading that to you?”
“Why, tell me what you enjoyed about my reading.” “Did you understand what
I read?” “Well I want us to practice your reading so that each and every
one of you will read fluently and with expression.” The teacher will model
reading a passage from the book with expression.
2. I will write a sample sentence on the board after introducing fluency
to the students. I went to the beach this summer with my friends.
“I want you to read this sentence with me sounding out each letter in each word
slowly.” “Did this sentence come together and make sense to you?”
“Ok, I am going to read it to you super fast.” I went beach this summer
friends. “Did I leave out any words or mispronounce anything?”
“Now, I am going to read this sentence to you using fluency.” “I want you
to read it with me the second time.” The students join in with me and we
read the sentence together using fluency and saying each word correctly.
3. I am going to explain to the students that they will be paired up with
a partner, and they are going to read 3 pages from the Cloudy with a Chance
of Meatballs, until they are reading it fluently. “Your partner is
going to help you with mistakes and they are going to keep count of the words
that you read correctly. You will then make note of how many words you
read correctly. You are going to take a break while you listen to your
partner read. I will use the equation wordsX60/seconds to test the fluency of
the student’s reading. I want you listening because you need to make marks of
words that your partner skips through or has a hard time reading. If
someone is having a hard time reading, and you are not sure of the word I want
you to try your best at decoding the word, but as I’m walking around you can
point the word out to me and I can try to help you decode it. We will then
go back and reread the sentence to put it all together to make sure that you
understand. Ok, I am going to show you an example of what you are going to be
doing with your partner. Ok, Sadie and I are partners. I will listen
to Sadie read. I am going to mark all of the words that she misses, and
then either when the stopwatch goes off or she is at the end of the chapter, I
will count up all of the words and make note of that. I will share the
number of words that Sadie has read per minute. She is going to color in
that number in her bar graph. Then we will switch, Sadie is going to
listen to me read and do the same for me. After I color in my number of
words a minute, she will read again. We are going to repeat this for about
20 minutes. The idea here is for you to read the same passage over and
over that way you become familiar with how reading with fluency sounds and
feels. After reading this a few times you should start getting familiar
with the text and with the story.”
4. The students are going to break into their pairs. Each student
will be given a copy of the pages that they will be reading, and will also be
given the book that the copies were made from. The stopwatch will help
them keep track of their 1 minute reads, and will be better for the student to
hear the alarm to go off instead of their partner interrupting and yelling at
them STOP! Or TIMES UP! The students will use the copies of the story to
mark their partner’s words that have been missed and to record where their
partner stopped reading. By having the students color in the different bar
graphs for each time they have completed reading for 1 minute, hopefully the
students will begin to see a curve going up because of them becoming familiar
with the text and with the words that are being read.
Assessment:
I am going to walk around to each group and listen to them read. I will
determine if the students are reading quickly and fluently by using the formula
wordsX60/seconds. Looking at this formula for each student will help me
determine if the students are reading fluently or if they need more help before
moving on to a more difficult book.
Reference:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by: Judy and Ron Barrett, 1978
Stewart, Nicole. Sailing Away with Reading!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/stewartgf.html
Click here to return to Awakenings index