Baseball Fun!
Growing
Rational: In
order for
students to read in a timely manner, fluency is needed. Gaining fluency
is an
important part of reading education.
Materials:
-Stopwatch for each group of students
-A baseball field with a baseball that goes around the field (use
velcro to
move the baseball). The field will have numbers all the way
around it
from 0-100 counting by 5’s. Each time the student reads, calculate the
number
of words read correctly in one minute. Then move the baseball
around the
field to the number of words read correctly.
-Chalk and chalkboard
-Book: Lee and the Team (Educational
Insights book)
-Pencil and paper
Procedures:
1. I will begin by explaining to the students how important fluency is
in
reading, and give examples of a fluent and nonfluent reader. "Today we
are
going to practice reading passages quickly, smoothly, and with
expression. When we read fluently our reading sounds more like
we’re
“talking” because it is much smoother! Then I will model for the students how to read with
fluency.
Write on the chalkboard the following sentence: The pig went up the
hill.
Tell students, "First, I am going to read the sentence without
fluency. T-t-t-the p-p-p-pig w-w-w-went u-u-u-up t-t-t-the
h-h-h-hill.
Now I am going to read the sentence as a fluent reader would. The
pig went
up the hill. Did you hear the difference between reading with
fluency and
reading without fluency? Listen as I read the sentence once
again. The
pig went up the hill. This time I read the sentence faster
because it was
not the first time I had read these words. The first two times I
read the
sentence gave me practice and helped me read the sentence fluently the
third
time."
2. I will now introduce our book by doing a book talk: Lee is the
leader
of a baseball team. His team is going to be late for the game because
they
don’t want to run. They want to sit under a tree. Will they make it to
the game
on time? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
3. Pair students up. "Read the second sentence out of our book to
your partner. Then each of you read the sentence 5 times to
yourself. By
reading it over and over you will be able to understand it better and
read it
quickly and smoothly. Now, read the sentence to each other out
loud
again. Notice how each other reads the sentence." (Read sentence
out
loud to students.)
4. I will give stopwatches to each pair of students. I will tell them
they are
going to read the books to one another. "One person is to read
the
book while the other times for one minute. Then count the number
of words
read in one minute. Write down the number of words to keep track.
The
student then should move their baseball around the bases to the number
of words
in the book. Keep reading the same passage and book 3 times.
Practice
makes perfect." There are 102 words in the book. Before
turning the students loose to do the activity, model timing and reading
for one
minute. “Tommy is going to read the passage for me while I time him.
When I say
go, he is going to start reading and I am going to push the start
button on the
watch. After one minute, I am going to tell Tommy to stop while I push
the stop
button. Ready, go! Ok, stop! I stopped it at one minute and Tommy
stopped
reading. Now I am going to record the number of words that he read to
keep
track. Tommy will now move his baseball to the number of words that he
read on
the bases. He will reread the passage 3 more times to practice. Now it
is your
turn.”
5. "Now that everyone has gotten all the way around the bases its time
to
write your name on the paper where you wrote down the number of words
per
minute. Please bring those papers to me."
6. Assessment: Have students turn in paper with number of words read
correctly
in one minute. There should be a steady increase in the number of
words.
References:
Cushman,
Shelia and Kornblum, Rona. Lee and the Team Phonics
Readers. Educational Insights, 1990.
Homan, Amy. Crazy Racers! <http://www.auburn.edu/reading_genie/innov/homangf.html>
Click here to
return to Catalysts.