Growing
Shhh!!! I’m reading
Rationale: A very important part of reading fluency is the
ability to
read without saying the words out loud. As teachers, we need to
explain
to our class that reading out loud is a good idea when you are reading
to a
group, but that most of the time in life we will need to read silently
to
ourselves. In these times, it will only be important that we
understand
what we are reading. Silent reading can help in comprehension and
decoding
skills. This lesson will provide students with practice reading
silently by
allowing them to read and reread decodable text until they achieve this.
Materials:
Class set of the book Wemberly Worried. Henkes, Kevin. Greenwillow Books, 2000
Chart with the
sentence “The cat
is ten years old.”
Silent
Check List:
___Reads aloud
___Reads in a
whisper
___Reads
while moving lips
___Reads
silently
Procedure
1.
Introduction:
Go over with the students the
importance of reading and the ability of reading silently. “Class today we are going to begin to read
silently rather than aloud. You all have
done such a great job reading aloud I know you’re ready to read
silently to
yourselves.
2. Explain
how students can use silent reading. When we go to
the library what is the number one rule? (to be quiet!) If everybody in
this
class read aloud at the same time do you think you would be able to
concentrate
on what you where reading? (No! It would
be way too loud). Instead you should
read the book to yourself.
3. Model to students how to read the sentence “The cat is ten years old.” First, I will read this sentence out loud. The cat is ten y…….: I don’t know what this word is, so I will use cover-ups to the read it.” I know that ea = /E/ and y says /y/. rs=/rs/ so /y/ /E/ /rs/. “Oh, that says years. “The cat is ten years old.” Now I will try reading this in a softer voice. (Read sentence). Now I will read this sentence in a whisper (Read sentence). Now I will read this sentence just moving my lips. (Read sentence). Now here’s the last step. I can read this sentence silently. Also, it is important for me to think about if I understand what I have just read in my head. How old was the cat? (10 years old.)
4. Whole
texts used will be Wemberly Worried. Provide
each student with a copy. Give book
talk: "A mouse named Wemberly is a
bit of a worrier. She worries about everything in fact! Soon, Wemberly
has a
new thing to add to her list of worries: her first day of school is
coming
soon, and now Wemberly is really worried. Does Wemberly make it
through
the first day without much worry? We will have to read our book to find
out." Have students try reading the book silently. If they have
trouble,
instruct them to use the method taught above to try to achieve silent
reading.
5.
Assessment will be in the form of a
checklist. Make observations of each student while they read and mark
the
following.
___Reads aloud
___Reads in a
whisper
___Reads
while moving lips
___Reads
silently
To see if the
students comprehend the story, have them
write about Wemberly Worried.
Another
assessment is to write a passage on board and have
them read it silently and then ask them what the passage meant.
Passage: John
had one dog. John’s dogs name is Bud. Bud is black and white. John and Bud like to
play with a red ball
Questions:
What was the boys name? What was John’s
dogs’ name? What color was
Bud the dog? What did John and Bud like
to play with?
References:
Henkes, Kevin. Wemberly Worried. Greenwillow Books, 2000.