Growing
Rationale: Children need to learn how to read silently to themselves because 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 so that everyone can hear 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, everyone else does not need to hear. This lesson will teach children how to read “in loud” instead of out loud. It will give them the ability to read in any situation, and it will hopefully increase their interest in reading as they pick their own books.
Materials:
Classroom
library or school library with a variety of books in clearly marked
levels
Dry
erase board and markers
“Stuck
on a word?” bookmark for each child
“Stuck
on a word” strategies written on board
Big
book copy of Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Assessment
checklist
Student
journals and pencils or pens
Procedure:
1. Begin the
lesson by explaining to the
children what reading quietly is, and why we do it.
“Have you ever been in a place where your
parents wouldn’t let you play or talk and you had to just sit quietly? Maybe you were in a doctor’s office or a
waiting room somewhere. Did you ever
think about reading a book to yourself instead of just sitting there
being
bored? Well, today we are going to learn
how fun it is when you read a book silently to yourself! By practicing
reading
this way, you will all become better readers! When you read a book to
yourself,
silently, you are able to focus more on what you are reading, and you
are not
bothering anyone else! It is a lot of
fun! Let’s learn about silent reading!”
2. Pass out the
“Stuck on a word?” bookmarks to
the class (webpage for bookmark is at the bottom of the page), so that
they may
use it if they have trouble. Model how
the strategy works. "Sometimes when I am reading a book, I stop after I
read a sentence and think to myself, I don't think that made sense! I
am going
to show you an example.” Read the sentence you have written on the
board. “My
pink hot is on top of my head.” Ask the class if the sentence makes
sense?
Model on the board the strategy cover-up. "My pink (/a/, /h/ /a/, /h/
/a/
/t/) hat is on top of my head "Does this make more sense? I think so!
Refer to the board with the "Stuck on a word?" strategies. Explain all
of the ways you can use to figure out why a sentence is not making
sense.
3. Get out the big book Caps for Sale
by
Esphyr Slobodkina. Explain to the class
that we will now be learning how to read silently, but we are going to
do it in
a few steps. Open the first page of the
book and read it to the class in a pretty loud voice.
“Do you think this would disturb anybody if I
was sitting in a quiet room?” (Wait for
an answer) “That’s right! This would not
be ok for me to do. Model quiet reading. Read the same page of the book
in a
quiet voice. Model whisper reading. Read the same page of the book in a
whisper. “Now I am going to read only my
moving my lips with the words and no sound will come out.”
Read the same page moving your lips to the
words. “Now I am going to read silently
or in loud as I like to call it. When we
read in loud, we are hearing all the words in our head and thinking
about them,
but no one can hear us.” Read through
the page with your lips closed, modeling silent reading.
Explain to the children that you can either
move your lips with the words or read in loud to be a silent reader. Tell them it is up to them.
Go through the steps of reading the next page
of the big book with the whole class.
“Alright, boys and girls, now I want you to try.
First let’s read aloud, then whisper, then
lips only, and finally silently.” Go
through the page this way. (Use this time to assess which students are
reading
silently without using their whisper voice, regular voice, and even
note the
students who are not having to move their mouth as they read.) Great job!
3. “Alright, I think you all are ready to
try
reading silently to yourself. Let’s all
pick out a book from the classroom library.
Remember to stick to a book that is in your reading level by
paying
attention to the reading level color that is on the spine of the book. After you pick out your book, you can sit
quietly in the reading corner or at your desk.” (Give students time to
pick out
books that interest them. Assist them if
they need it and monitor that they are picking out books at their
level.)
4. “Now I would like for everyone to
practice
silent reading to themselves. Remember we can't read out loud, we have
to read
in loud! Our lips are zipped! We will
read for 15 minutes. When you hear the buzzer sound, you may put your
book up
and return to your seat."
5. For assessment, observe the students
while
they are reading silently to themselves. Have a checklist with each
students
name, checking whether they are reading:
__aloud (voicing)
__whisper
__lips only
__silent
If
you finish assessing this early, then pick up your own book, so that
they can
see how you can read silently as well.
6. Assessment continued: Once the students
have
finished reading, have them return to their seats and get out their
journals.
Ask them to write about what they have just read, and what they thought
about
the book. Once they have finished that, have them write one or two
things they
liked or disliked about silent reading. The teacher may collect the
journals to
complete the assessment on whether or not the students comprehended
what they
read, and whether or not they were able to successfully read silently.
References:
Slobodkina,
Esphyr. Caps for
“Shh!
I am Trying to READ” by Meaghan Lambert
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insp/lambertgf.html
“How to
Help Beginners with Oral
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/oralrdg.html