Speedy
Reader!

Growing
Independence and Fleuncy
Rationale:
In order for children to read more smoothly and with expression, they must be
able to read faster and more efficiently than when they were beginning readers.
Materials: Whiteboard (chant), Sheets with sentences written on them e.g. The dog sits on the hill, Progress chart with columns and cutout of monkey, stopwatches, and several different books for each group. (Jake Makes the Team?)
Procedure:
1.
First I want to begin talking about how it is important for readers to read
smoothly and with expression. When we do this, our words sound better and
it helps us make sense of the words we are saying.
2.
The first thing we should introduce is the cover-up technique. "Do you
remember this technique?" Write the word chant on the white board.
If I saw this word I would cover all of it up except for the a.
(Cover up the ch and nt). I know that a =/a/. Now look at
what comes before the short vowel, ch= /ch/. Now blend those two together
/ch/ and /a/. Now lets look at the end of the word. It
says /nt/. Let's put it all together
/ch/
/a/ /nt/.
Whenever you come across an unfamiliar word, I want you to use this method to
try and figure it out.
3.
I am going to read a sentence like a beginning reader would. Th-e d-o-g
s-its o-n th-e h-i-ll. That didn't sound very smooth did it? Now
this time I am going to read it like a really good reader. The dog sits
on the hill. Did you notice the difference? It sounds much
smoother.
4.
I am going to put you into small groups and I am going to give each group a
sentence. I want you to read the sentence through the first time.
Make sure to listen to the way it sounds while you are reading it. Then I
want you to each read it silently a few more times. Then I want you to
read the sentence out loud again to the rest of the group. Did you notice
a difference? Was it faster? Did it sound better the first time you
read it or the last? Did reading it silently to yourself a few times help you
read it more smoothly and with expression?
5.
Now, I am going to give each group a book. One person will be the reader,
another will be the timer and whoever is left will be the audience. You
will be timed reading for one minute. See how many words you can read in
this time. We will practice this for a while so you will become a fast,
efficient reader. (e.g. Jake Makes the Team)
6.
After you have finished a minute, you will count up how many words you read.
You will then move the monkey up the tree closer to the bananas, to however many
words you read. Be sure and mark where the monkey makes it each time.
Take turns going and see how far you can move the monkey up the tree. Each time
you read, the monkey
will get move farther and farther up the tree
and you will be a more efficient reader!
Assessment: I will do the assessment by observing the monkey progress chart. Since they marked their progress on the chart, I can collect this information for evaluation.
References
Jake Makes the Team
Miller, Britain. Speedy Reader Peter
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/begin/millerbgf.html
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