Flying High with Fluency!
Growing Independence and Fluency
Rationale:
Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. Becoming a fluent
reader is important for comprehension. In order for children to become more
fluent they must be able to recognize words automatically and
effortlessly. Children achieve word automacity by repeated reading. The
purpose of this lesson is to build fluency by having children read over and over
again.
Materials:
Procedures:
1. I will begin the lesson by introducing fluency to the students. I will
explain to the students that reading with speed, ease, and skill makes it easier
for the text to be comprehended.
2. “Now we will do an activity with pseudo words. Who can tell me what a pseudo
word is?” Teacher will explain to students that a pseudo word is a false word
with no meaning. I will explain to the students one way to read a pseudo word
is to use the vowel-first body-coda method. I will model for the students how
this method is used with a regular word. ”Let’s take a look at how we would use
the vowel first method with the word sack. We will start with the
vowel. In this word the a says /a/. Now lets look at the first
letter s. In this word the s says /s/. When we put those
two letters together we getssssaaaa. Now lets add the last letters. In
this word ck says /c/. When we put all three sounds together we
get ssssaaackckck. The word is sack. We can use this method to
sound out our pseudo words.” I will hold up a flash card with a pseudo word
written on it and ask the students to read the word. I will tell them to use
the vowel first method if they do not know how to say the word.
3. I will continue with the pseudo words in order to make sure all students can
read the majority of them (5out of 8 words).
4. I will illustrate fluency to the students by reading the sentence I love
my dog named Lady. The first time I read I will sound out each sound I
hear. I l-o-ve m-y d-o-g n-a-m-ed L-a-d-y. Next I will read the sentence
smoothly I love my dog named Lady. Ask the students which sentence was
easier to understand, the first sentence of the second sentence? The second
sentence showed fluency when reading. I will say another sentence The boy ran
across the street two times. One time real choppy and one time smoothly and
fluently. They will tell me which sentence sounds better.
5. I will now write the sentence I like to swim in the ocean on the chalk
board. I will have the students read the sentence several times until they
accomplish reading it smoothly and effortlessly. I will explain to the students
how reading something over and over again improves their fluency and speed of
reading.
6. I will pass out the book Pat’s Jam to each student. Give book talk
before reading book. Book talk: Pat is a rat who has a friend Pam who is also a
rat. The two of them both climb in their van, but the van will not run. What
do you think Pat and Pam will do? Let’s read Pat’s Jam to find out. I
will read it to them one time out loud. I will then ask them to read it to
themselves three more times. While the students are reading, I will walk around
the classroom to assist those who might need help.
Assessment: Students
will be assessed by one minute reads. I will time each student 3 or 4 times
with a stop watch for one minute and record their WPM on a chart. For every
time the student improves they can move their kite up to the next level on the
bulletin board.
Reference:
It’s Fun to be Fluent by Lara Wiggins
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/guides/wigginsgf.html
Up, Up, and Away with Fluency by Kathryne Clark http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invent/clarkgf.html
Cushman, Shelia. Pat’s Jam. Educational Insights: Carson, CA, 1990