Speed Up Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency

Rationale: Fluency is a very important attribute that a reader must learn when they are becoming independent readers. Fluency means that a reader can read with automatic word recognition. It is important that students learn to read with expression at a constant flow. Once a student becomes a fluent reader, they are able to decode and comprehend the reading material better. My goal for this lesson is for my reader to fluently read the decodable book Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson and illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. This lesson will improve fluency because the students will read and re-read the book through practice and they will be able to decode at a quick speed.

Materials:

• Sentence strip with sentence: Spike felt the water split and splat on his hand.

• One copy of the book Split! Splat!, by Amy Gibson and illustrated by Steve Bjorkman Published March 1st 2012 by Scholastic Inc., for each student .

• stop watch (to time my student reading)

• paper and pencil

• reading record sheets

• reading record chart

Ex. Reading record sheets

Directions: I want you to check off how many times you read the book to me before the fluency test.

Name:	1	2	3	4	5

Ex. Reading Record Chart

This chart will be used to determine how long it takes the student to read, if the student reads fluently, and if the words were read accurately.

Name of student:	Reading Time	Miss Words	Fluency	Overall Score

Procedure:

1. Say: I hope you have had a great week! Today I we are going to see how fast you can read. The reason why we are going to practice and see how fast you can read at a smooth pace is called fluency. I want you to learn how to read quickly with expression! Reading with expression means that you will read how the book tells you too. For example, in a story the book said, “Stop!”, you would read that with expression because you want the listener to know that the person needed to stop quickly. I want you to focus more on how to read at a smooth space instead of focusing on the difficult words.

2. Say: I am going to show you how to read this sentence, Spike felt the water split and splat on his hand, fluently. I want you to listen carefully on how the words blend, “Sppiiikkkkeeee feellltttt thheee waattteeeerrrrr sppllliiiittttt annddd spplllaaaattttt onn hiisss haannndddd. Now I want all of us to practice blending the words together.” Say: Since we all know how to blend the words together, let’s try to say the sentence at a smoother pace, Spike felt the water split and splat on his hand. After the student reads the sentence at a smoother pace, I will explain that this is how you read fluently. I will explain the importance of knowing how to read at a quick and smooth pace. Say: Student, can you tell me why it is important to read words at a quick and smooth pace? It is important to read fluently so that you can comprehend the words.

3. During this portion of the lesson I will give a brief book talk about the book, and I will allow the student to read the book Split! Splat! independently a few times to practice fluency. I will check a few times to check on the student’s progress and I will remind the student to practice blending the words to be able to read quickly and smoothly!

4. After the student practices reading the book, I will have the student practice several times reading as I time the student reading the book. I will explain that it is important to blend the words that you do not know to help you figure out the words during your practice times so that you will do great on the fluency test. The student will check off each time he or she reads to me before the fluency test. I will have a record sheet for the student to record each time he or she reads the passage to me before the fluency test.

5. During the fluency practice, I will tell the student what he or she needs to work on and to clear up any pronunciation errors so that the student can make improvements before I test the student.

6. After the student completes the fluency practice, I have the student read the book and I will grade the student based on if he or she can read the book at a smooth pace and if the words were accurate and how long it takes the student to read the book. The highest score that is achievable for this test is a 100. Once the student finishes reading and I show the student his or her score, I will record the score on the chart, and I will encourage he or she to keep practicing to move up the fluency chart, which means that the student will have to show improvement on reading accurately and reading at a smooth and quick pace.

7. Assessment: I will assess my student’s reading by keeping a file of the student’s fluency record sheets to keep up with his or her fluency progress.

Reference:

"Growing Independence and Fluency." Auburn University. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

<http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/adventures/shipmangf.htm>.

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