Fall into Fluency

Growing Independency and Fluency

Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to present a lesson that will help and assist students in developing reading fluency and expression. Beginning readers start off reading at a slow pace, but their reading rate increases as their word recognition rate increases as well. Children begin to read faster, read with more expression, and read more independently as they become fluent readers. This fluency lesson will have students read a decodable text and partner up with other students to work on repeated readings and one minute readings.

Materials:

Dry erase board

Dry erase markers

Cover-up (This can be a popsicle stick or anything small to cover up a letter in a word when decoding words).

Book: Henry and Mudge, Under the Yellow Moon for every student in class.

Stopwatch for each student in class

One minute record chart for each student in class

Fluency rubric charts for each student in class

Procedures:

1. To start off the lesson I will ask the students if they know what the word fluency means. After I receive some feedback I will tell the students that fluent readers read fast and with a lot of expressions. I will explain to the students the difference between a beginning reader and a fluent reader by doing an example. I will write the sentence on the dry erase board, fall is the best time of the year! I will read the sentence and explain to the students that this is what a beginner reader sounds like. Faaaaall fall is the beeeessssst best tiiime time of the yeeeeear year. Was that sentence hard to comprehend? You're right, it was hard because I read the sentence slow and choppy. To go from being a beginning reader to a fluent reader the key is to read and reread. This is how a fluent reader reads the sentence with fluency and expression. Fall is the best time of the year! Do you see the difference between the two ways I read that sentence class? I read the first sentence really slow and choppy, but improved in the second sentence by reading the sentence as if I were talking to someone, not so slow and choppy. Today we are going to practice on becoming fluent readers. You can become a fluent reader by reading and rereading a book so let's practice.

2. I will explain to the class that when they come to a word that they are having trouble with, they can use something called a cover up to help them decode a word. I want someone to please help me show everyone how we read a word using a cover up. I will write the word, stop on the board. Very good, we cover up the short vowel /o/ first with the cover up. Then we look to see what letter follows it which is p so we know it is op. Then we look at the first and second letter to see it says st- then we add that to op. Now lets blend those letter together /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/, stop. Great job!

3. Now I am going to pass out the book Henry and Mudge, Under the Yellow Moon to each student to read, but before I do I want to tell you a little about it. A little boy, Henry absolutely loves his dog, Mudge. They explore the leaves in the fall, ghost stories during Halloween. Next comes Thanksgiving. Henry has so much to be thankful for after all of the recent events that just took place. You're going to have to read this book to find out what Henry is thankful for this Thanksgiving.

4. Pass out the book, one minute record chart, and a fluency rubric chart to each student.

5. Partner the students up with students that are close to their reading level. Between you and your partner I want you to decide which of you will be the reader and which one of you will be the recorder. If you are the reader you are going to read as many words in the book as you can in one minute. If you are the recorder you are going to write or record how many words your partner reads in one minute. If you are the recorder make sure that you record the number of words your partner reads on the one minute record sheet. The reader will have three chances to read as many words as they can in one minute. The reader will be able to move their bird closer and closer to its nest in the tree based on the number of words they read correctly. After the reader has read three times swap roles and allow the recorder to now be able to read as many words as they can in one minute. I'm going to model for you first how to complete this task by reading as many words as I can in one minute and then I'll record my time on the one minute record sheet.

6. The students will then read the book one more time on their own. After each of you finishes reading the book, I want you to fill out the fluency rubric chart on your partner. I will model how to do this. If you are the reader you are going to read the book again and after you have finished reading the recorder will fill out the first part of the fluency rubric chart. Then after the first reader has finished swap roles with your partner and repeat the process.

7. The students will read the book two more times, and then have they will repeat the process one last time. I will tell them that after your partner has read the book for the third time, I want you to fill out the second part of the fluency rubric chart, and swap roles one last time. I will talk to the class about how much they feel that this helped their fluency while reading.

8. I will collect all of the one minute record charts and the fluency rubrics. Finally I will assess the students by having each student read a passage from the book to me in the reading center for one minute. I will check the fluency of the students by using a one minute record sheet. I am also going to check the students' comprehension of the story by asking them questions about their reading from the story. While I am working with one student at a time on their one minute reading the rest of the students will be reading a book independently and practicing on their fluency.

One Minute Record Chart:

Name: ___________________________ Date: ________________

1^st minute: ________

2^nd minute: ________

3^rd minute: ________

Name:______________________________ Date:_______________

Fluency Reading Chart

Name______________________ Date____________________

	After 2nd Reading	After 3rd reading
Read faster
Read smoother
Used expression
Remembered more words

References:

Beth Crenshaw, "Ready, Set, Race to Read," http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/realizations/crenshawgf.htm

Abbie Simpson, "Building Fluency With Building Snowmen," http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/realizations/simpsongf.htm

Rylant, Cynthia. (2002), Henry and Mudge, Under the Yellow Moon. Scholastic: New York, NY.

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