Flap Your Wings and Fly Into Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency

Linzee Garrison

 

Rationale:

          Comprehension is the end goal of reading. In order for comprehension to be successful, children need to be fluent readers. Fluency involves automaticity and speed. Automaticity involves automatically recognizing words; the child is no longer decoding. This lesson will help children improve automatic word recognition and increase their speed by reading a text multiple times, keeping track of changes in reading rate.

 

Materials:

Sentence strips that say:

Sam is a sweet boy.

Sam wants to eat cake all day.

Book: Silly Dreamers (Author: Matt Sims)

Timer/stopwatch for each group

Speed Reading Fluency Checklists

Worksheet with the following questions:

1. If you found a letter addressed to someone else, would you have read it? Why do you think the boys chose to read the letter they found?

2. What about the letter made the boys think a store was going to be robbed?

3. Did the boys handle the situation the same way you would have? Why or why not?

 

Fluency Checklist 

Name of Reader: ______________________

 

Name of Partner: ______________________

 

When my partner read, he/she:

                                                     2nd                   3rd

          Read smoothly:                  ______            _______

 

          Read faster:                        ______            _______

 

          Read with expression:        ______            _______

 

          Remembered text:              ______            _______

 

Speed Checklist:

 

          1st time: _________

 

          2nd time: _________

 

         

 

 

 

 

Procedure:

1.       Say: Today we are going to learn about becoming fluent readers. It is important to be fluent readers so we can read easily. A fluent reader can read without stopping between words. Fluent readers understand what they are reading because they do not have to stop and decode words. Reading decodable books more than once will help you to become a more fluent reader. As we reread, we will time your reading.

2.       Say: I am going to show you how a reader who is not fluent would read (sentence strips should be taped to the board). Sssaaammm iiisss a ssweeettt booooy. A fluent reader should sound like this: Sam is a sweet boy. Is there a difference between the two? (Student response) Which reader do you think is better? (Student response) Yes! The fluent reader is better. We remember what we read more easily when we read smoothly. Now, I’m going to read another sentence; I want you to tell me if I read it like a fluent reader or not. Sam wants to eat cake all day. (Student response) Yes! I read that like a fluent reader! I read it smoothly without pausing.

3.       Say: Now we are going to read the book Silly Dreamers. This book is about two boys who find a mysterious letter while cleaning an office. This letter makes them think someone is going to rob a store! I wonder what the letter said! Will someone rob a store? I want each of you to read the story silently to yourself. Then we will begin the repeated readings with our partners!

While you’re reading, you may find a few words you don’t know. What do we do if we come to a word we don’t know? Do we skip it? (Student response) Exactly! Try to decode the word and see if it makes sense in the sentence. Then reread the sentence to be sure we understand what we said.

 

When each child has finished reading independently, the students will go with their partner to do the repeated reading with the checklists.

 

4.       Pass out checklists to students once they are in their groups. Explain how to use the checklists. Who likes races? We are going to see how quickly we can read one whole chapter! I know you all will be fantastic! This is going to help us practice fluency and work on speed. With your partner, you will each do two timed readings. When you aren’t reading, you are going to follow along and see if your partner reads with speed and with smoothness. It is very important to see if he/she remembers what was read. If your partner does all of this, put a checkmark on the line. Also, each time your partner reads record the time in which he/she reads one chapter on the checklist. I will be happy to help you write; if you need help, raise your hand.

 

 

 

 

Assessment:

Have a sheet prepared to pass out to all of students with the following questions:

 

1. If you found a letter addressed to someone else, would you have read it? Why do you think the boys chose to read the letter they found?

2. What about the letter made the boys think a store was going to be robbed?

3. Did the boys handle the situation the same way you would have? Why or why not?

They can complete them after being timed.

 

References:

 

          Murray, B. Developing reading fluency: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html

          Whitlock, Brooke. Deep into Reading.  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/solutions/whitlockgf.htm

         Sims, Matt. Silly Dreamers. High Noon Books, Novato, CA. 2004.