“Hats off” to Good Reading
Growing Independence and Fluency
Rationale: To become fluent readers children must build their
sight vocabulary. The best way to do this is to transition from
decoding to automatic word recognition. This lesson focuses on
student’s developing the ability to read quickly, smoothly, and
expressively. Therefore, if a student accomplishes these tasks,
they have gained fluency. Fluency is gained through repeated
reading and timed reading.
Materials:
Multiple copies of the book, Did it Fit?; stopwatch for each pair of students,
pencil for each student; reading progress chart; stickers for
each student
Procedure:
1. Introduce the lesson by telling the students the importance
of fluency and what it means to be a fluent reader. Today
we are going to practice becoming fluent readers. To
become a fluent reader, we must be able to read words without
stopping, pausing, or slowing down to sound out words.
In other words, fluent readers can read words automatically,
which can help you better understand the story. We are
going to practice becoming fluent readers today by reading and
rereading Did it Fit? By reading this book a number of
times, you will be able to become fluent readers by
recognizing the familiar words.
2. Now I am going to read a few sentences to you and I want you
to tell me whether or not I am reading them fluently. Wwwwweeeee
pppllllaaaayyyyeeeddd ooutttssiidee aaattt thhhee pppaarrkk. (Not
fluent)
We gave the dog a bath. {Pausing between words}. (Not
fluent)
The dog chased the cat. (Fluent) Great Job! Now
lets see if we can practice reading some other sentences
fluently just how I did the last sentence, smoothly and
accurately.
3. Now we are going to read Did it Fit? with partners to
practice reading fluently. “Dog, Pig, and Tim try on funny
things to use as hats. Pig tries to use a pot top for a hat and
Dog tries to use a tin pot! Do you think these pots will work
for hats? Tim tries to find the perfect hat for him!” It is
important to remind the students to cross check when
they are reading the story. If they do not recognize a word then
they should cover up part of the word and sound it out in
pieces. It is also important that they also make sure that the
word makes sense in the sentence. If they can’t figure out the
word, then they should have their partner help them and if both
of the children can’t figure out the word, then they should ask
me and I will assist them.
4. Now the students will divide into groups of two each with a
copy of Did it Fit? One student will be the reader while
the other is following along. Tell the students that they
should read a chapter, and then put a sticker after the last
word read. Inform the students that they will take turns partner
reading while adding up the number of words they have read each
time. Then students will mark the number of words on their
progress sheets. While the students are partner reading, I
will be walking around the room listening to them read and
monitoring their progress.
Assessment: I will have the students come show me, individually,
their progress sheets. Then we will engage in reading part
of the book, Did it Fit?
I will be checking for things such as: skipping words,
inserting words, saying words incorrectly, and not reading
smoothly. I will then assess the student’s comprehension of the
story by asking them specific questions about what happened in
the story. Example comprehension questions:
What kind of hats were the animals trying to fit on their heads?
Did they work?
What happened with Tim’s hat?
Do you think Tim and Pig should wear the same hip hat?
References:
The Reading Genie,
http://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=16
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/