Race to the Finish
Growing
Rationale:
In order to become successful readers,
students must
be able to read fluently. In this
lesson students will reread texts and practice with one
minute reads to gain the ability to read fast, smooth, and with
expression. When children become fluent readers, they increase
their
comprehension which is the ultimate goal of reading.
Materials:
Chalkboard/Chalk
Teacher
Copy of Di and the Mice Educational
Insights, 1990
1
copy of Di and the Mice Educational
Insights, 1990 per pair of students
1
racecar time sheet per student numbered by 10’s (see below)
1
stopwatch per pair of students
Procedures:
1. I will introduce the lesson by reviewing with the students some of the
characteristics of a good reader. “Can anyone tell me some things that
are
typical of a good reader?” After listening to the students responses I
will
also go over the importance of being a fluent reader. “The whole point
of
reading is to understand the text and to enjoy it. If we are having
trouble
reading, and struggling on the sentences in the story, we cannot fully
understand and enjoy what we are reading. Today, we are going to
practice
reading a story so we understand what is going on and so we can enjoy
it.”
2. I will next review with the students that
when
there is a silent e at the end of the
word, the vowel in the word says its name. I will write some words on
the board
to model how to read words that end in a silent e. “
Here I have this word that is spelled f-i-n-e. I look
at this word and I know that i makes a sound like
icky sticky so I think this word is fffiiinn. But now
I see there is a
silent e at the end which means that i is
going to say its name so therefore
the word is fine.”
3. Next I will take out a copy of the book Di and the Mice and explain to the
students that this will be the story that we are going to read today.
“We will
be using this story, Di and the Mice
to practice reading fluently today. When we first are beginning to read
fluently, sometimes it is best of we keep reading a story over and over
again
until we are really good at it so we can understand what we are
reading. Let me
show you. I am going to read a sentence out of this book three times in
a row.
I want you to listen to me as I say it each time and see if you can
tell a
difference.” I will then read the sentence Di
like to ride her bike three times. The first time I say it I will
sound it
out phoneme by phoneme and talk with no expression. The second time I
read it I
will read it a little more quickly but still with no expression. The
third time
I read the sentence I will read it fluently with expression. “Okay, now
who can
tell me which time the sentence sounded the best? I bet you all are
going to
say the third time, and I agree! Sometimes it just takes a little
practice to
make it perfect, and by rereading the same thing over and over again, I
was
able to practice.
4. Next I will have the students partner up
with their
reading buddy. I will explain to the students that they will be doing
what we
call one minute reads. “Now I want you all to get with your reading
buddies.
Between your pair you need a copy of the book and a stopwatch. You also
need
your racecar time sheets to record how fast you are reading. You are
going to
take turns with your partner reading the book for one minute. At the
end of the
minute you will record how many words you read. Each of you will do
this three
times. But remember, it is important to make sure you are reading the
words
fluently and accurately. I do not want you to rush through reading and
make
mistakes. Make sure that you record how many words that you read per
minute
with your reading buddy.”
5. As an assessment tool I
will use the racecar timesheets that the children completed. In
this way
I will be able to see that the children completed the activity and
hopefully
see that they improved along the way. For those who did not
improve very
much I will work with more often to improve on their fluency.
Reference:
Smith,
Rebecca. Hurry on Your Trip, Cat!
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/smithgf.html
Cushman, Sheila & Kornblum,
Rona. Di and the Mice Educational Insights,
1990.
Click
here to return to Constructions.