Reading Workout

By: Kacie Nickles

Fluency

Rationale:   Building fluency helps build comprehension. As students learn to blend words into sentences smoothly, they are able to focus more on the story and less on decoding each individual word.

Materials:

Stopwatches for each pair of students, copy of Doc and the Fog for each student, pencils, chart for each student that contains the following sections:

Name:_________

Partner Name:______

Read        Time:

1^st              ______

2^nd             ______

3^rd             ______

And another worksheet to evaluate partners with the following sections:

Name:__________  Partner’s name:_____________

My partner…

Read faster                            (  )  2^nd read         (  )3^rd read

Read more smoothly             (  ) 2^nd read         (  ) 3^rd read

Remembered more words     (  ) 2^nd read          (  ) 3^rd read

Read with expression            (  )2^nd read           (  ) 3^rd read

Procedures:

1)    Tell students that /t/ /o/ /d/ /a/ /y/ /w/ /e/ /a/ /r/ /e/ /g/ /o/ /i/ /n/ /g/ /t/ /o/ /p/ /r/ /a/ /c/ /t/ /l/ /c/ /t/ /i/ /c/ /e/ /r/ /e/ /a/ /d/ /i/ /n/ /g/ /f/ /l/ /u/ /e/ /n/ /t/ /l/ /y/. Then ask students if they can understand what you just said. Then tell students that you weren’t speaking fluently. Explain that reading fluently means that you move smoothly from one word to the next in a sentence instead of pausing after you sound out each letter or word. Ask students to name some sports that they like to watch or play. Ask them what the athletes have to do to get better. (practice).

2)    Next write the sentence, The dog chased the cat, on the board. Explain to students that the first time you read a new text you may have trouble blending the letters into words. Model reading the sentence as a beginning reader. Say, Th-th-the d-o-o-g-c-ch-cha-s-ed-the-c-c-c-at. Next tell students that by sounding out each word we missed the meaning of the sentence. Model how reading the sentence a second time, we are able to read more fluently. Say, The d-og ch-ased the c-at. Explain to students that this time I was able to read the sentence more smoothly and it am able to comprehend what I read. Next model reading the sentence a third time, this time stressing the importance of using expression. Say, we read with expression to make the sentence flow more smoothly and to make it more exciting to listen to. Watch me read this sentence a third time, this time using expression The dog chased the cat.

3)    Now tell students that just like athletes, good readers have to practice to become better. Break students into pairs and tell them we are going to start our reading workouts. Tell students that they are going to read the book, Doc and the Fog. Each partner is going to read the book 3 times to practice reading with fluency and expression. Presumably each time the student reads the story it will become  more familiar and their reading time will become faster. Give each set of partners a stopwatch, and each student a worksheet to log reading time. Explain that one partner will time while the other partner reads. After each time the story is finished the partner will write in the time on the worksheet. Remind students that the point isn’t to rush through the story but to read with expression and  understand the story.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on fluency. Take up worksheets and make sure that students’ time improved over the course of the three readings. Also walk around and listen to reads to make sure students are reading fluently and not just speeding through the book

Resources:

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/lewisgf.html (Ready Set Read! by: Amy Lewis