Rationale:
 Fluent readers have developed the skill not only read faster than non-fluent readers, but to read smoother and with expression.  Therefore, the goal of this lesson will be to teach students how to speed up their reading.  This will involve reading and re-reading a decodable text to help the students learn to read faster.

Materials:
 Just My Luck  books for all students, board in the front that everyone can see, monkey charts for everyone (A monkey chart should consist of a tree that lists numbers to represent how many words are read.  There should be a velcro monkey that can stick to the tree to show how many words a student read), stopwatches for each pair of students, pencil and paper to write in times each person's time

Procedure:
1.  We will begin the lesson by reviewing the a few correspondences.  The correspondences I will be reviewing will be a = /a/ and u = /u/.  I will ask students to display their knowledge of these sounds by showing our device for remembering.  For the /a/, students will go /a/ like at the doctor's office.  For the /u/, students will go /u/ like the foghorn sound.
2.  Next, I will do a book talk for the book, Just My Luck.  This book is about a boy.  One day, nothing goes his way.  When he wakes up for school, he finds snows all over the ground.  He wondered if he would get to miss school today.  He turned on the radio and the tv, but they didn't work.  How would we find out if he had school?  Then, he calls his friend and finds out his school is the only one that has to go today!  Could this day get any worse?  We will have to read the book and find out!
3.  After the students finish their books, I will start at the beginning and read the first page very slowly to model how not to read.
4.  I will ask the students how my reading of the book could be improved.  I will have the students work in groups to come up with idea of how to improve my reading.
5.  Then I will have the groups tell me what they came up with.  I will write their suggestions on the board.  They should suggest that a faster pace and expression would greatly improve the reading.  If not, add it to the list, then re-read the page faster and with expression.  When you are finished, ask the students if they noticed and approved of the difference.
7.  Pair the students up.  Then give each pair a stopwatch and two monkey charts.  The students should time each other reading the book for one minute.  At the end of the minute, the student should count up the words and move the monkey to indicate how fast the reading was.  Also, each student needs to record the time on his paper.   Have the students switch up and time each other.  Have them do at least 3 readings.
8.  To assess the students, compare the first and last reading.
 

References:
Eldredge, J. Lloyd, (1995). Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms. Prentice Hall Inc. pg. 8, 19.

http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/waitsgf.html
 

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