Speedy
Readers
Reading Fluency- Speed
Rationale: In order to help children gain
confidence
and fluency in reading, there are many approaches that can be taken.
You should
work with a fifty to one-hundred word passage, choose a passage at the
students' instructional level, and have them read this same text over
and over
until they have mastered it by becoming a faster reader. It's
also
important for you as the teacher to emphasize the importance of
re-reading as
well as reading expressively and speedily. The fluency formula is this:
students should read and reread decodable words in connected text.
There is no
room for guessing using context when students are able to decode the
words.
Materials: Vast selection of decodable
books in
classroom (color coded for different levels) For example, Water, The Big Cat, or Woof!
Books for each child at their instructional level
Butcher paper to graph children's reading results
Procedures:
1) "Let's review how to blend words that we don't recognize by sight.
If I
see the letters b r u s h, but I cannot read the word, I first
look at
the vowel sound. In this word, u says /u/. Next I go to the
beginning
sounds. Br says /bbbb/ /rrrrr/. If I add the vowel sound at the
end, I
have "bbrrrrruuuu." Finally, I look at the last sound. It is /sh/.
So, now I can combine all three sounds to read "bbbbrrrruuuush."
"Brush!" When you see any words you don't know today, you should use
this vowel-first method to figure it out."
2) "Have you ever wanted
to
read your favorite books a little faster? Well today we're going to
learn how
to practice reading so we can get a little bit faster. When we read
books
faster, we can also read with more expression. We can make parts happy,
sad,
suspensful, or really exciting! I would like you to go to the
shelf and
pick a book with the colored dot that represents your own reading
level."
(Teacher needs to have a book ready so he/she can model next.)
3) After students return
to their
seats, show them your book. "When I first picked up this book, there
were
some words I did not know. First, I read the book once and used the
vowel-first
method we talked about to figure those words out. Then, I read the book
again.
Do you know why? Because the more times we read a book, the easier it
gets to
read!"
4) "Let me show you how I
read
this book the first time." Out loud, read a few sentences from your
selected
book very slowly and use the vowel-first method to decode some words
(out loud
so children can hear you). Then read again a little bit faster. "Since
I
decoded the first time, now I know all the words so I can concentrate
on
reading faster." Finally, read the sentences at conversation speed.
"See how I got a bit faster each time I read? That's what happens!"
5) "Now I'd like you to
read
the book you chose at your desk. Keep reading until I say stop. When
you finish
reading it once, read it again so it will get easier. Remember to use
our
vowel-first method!"
6) After about 10
minutes, say,
"STOP!"
7) Now have students
partner up and
read to each other. The student who is not reading should time the
other with a
stopwatch and record the time it took for their partner to read. Switch
accordingly. Have each student read their text two times and record
both times.
8) After all students
have read to
a partner, say, "Now let's chart our results and see how we read just a
bit faster the second time we read!"
9) "You may take your
book
home to read to your family. Show them how fast and how well you can
read the
story! Be sure to use expression so your family will enjoy the book as
much as
you do. I'm so proud of all of you. Isn't it fun to read books a bit
faster?
All it takes is reading the book a few times over and over, and you'll
become
speedy readers!"
Source: http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/onealgf.html
Author: Leslie O'Neal, Auburn University student