Growing Independency and Fluency
Rationale: Fluency is reading faster, smoother, more expressively, and more quietly. For children to read fluently they need to be able to read words automatically and accurately. When children read fluently and read with expression, it is more fun to read and the listeners also have a better time being read too. This lesson is designed to help students to recognize the forms of expression and to learn to read with expression.
Materials:
A book, A Real Seal, for each pair during buddy reading, one
book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day
for the assessment, journal per child that they will decorate, markers,
crayons,
Procedure:
1. I will start the lesson by asking the students, "Have you ever seen
a monkey?" "What things do they do?" Good. They jump and make noises. Some
can dance. Very Good Students! If they haven't, I will talk about how they
laugh, make noises, do hand gestures and some can dance. I will then relate
it to the fact that monkeys are expressive animals. I will tell them when
you are expressing yourself, you do things with feelings. When you express
yourself you can either be sad, excited, happy, mad or scared etc. I will
tell when they are reading they need to read with expression. I will give
them an example. If you said, "I lost my favorite toy." would you
sound happy or sad. (sad) Good Job! Now I want everyone to say thay sentence
together, but say it sad. On my count 1,2,3, Go! Great Job! Everyone sounded
real sad. See that is reading with expression. I will tell them reading
with expression is a part of reading fluently.
2. I will review with the students on how to cover up parts of the
word to help them read words better. I will write a word on the board,
grass.
I will cover up everything but the a. What is this letter? Good.
What sound does a make? Good. a = /a/ as in apple. I will
leave gr uncovered. What sound does this make? Very good gr
= /gr/. It sounds like a bear growling. I will continue this pattern.
I will review with them some of the different symbols of expression and
their meanings for example (!) means excitement,(?) means confused or puzzled.
I will remind them to use these symbols appropriately. I will write a few
sentences on the board with correct punctuation. Ex. The two girls play
together. Ouch! That mosquito bit me. Will you play with me? I will read
them with expression and we will talk about what expression goes with each
sentence. For example, I will read the second sentence with excitement
and surprise. I will tell them to notice the exclamation point and that
indicates excitement. I will read the sentences again and then we will
read them together focusing on expression.
3. I will then write down one sentence per child and ask each child
to read it using the correct expression. After completing this task, I
will pair the students and give them a short book. I will remind the students
to listen to their partner and to remain seated. The book will be a decodable
book but on an appropriate instructional level. As they sit side by side
each student will take turns reading. The other child will watch to see
if their partner is reading with expression. I will be walking around the
room and observing.
4. Next the children will write down in their journal some of the sentences
they read. I will ask them to write at least five different sentences.
They will tell me what kind of expression to use and why. I will give them
an example, Class if you were to say Yuck! That worm is icky. You would
write that sentence and out to the side write the expression, excitement,
and write an! which indicates excitement etc. I will look at their journal
and if I see mistakes I will talk to them about their sentences.
5. As an assessment, I will meet with a child individually. They will
read a book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day.
I will adapt a checklist off the Reading Genie Website to observe my objective
for that day. The checklist checks for the students using correct expression
and how to recognize the punctuation for each expression.
References:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/fluency.html
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/yorkgf.html
A Real Seal by Karen Harrington, Steck-Vaughn Company, 1991.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst, 2nd Aladdin Books edition, 1976
Assessment Checklist: Checking for expression
The sheet will have a picture of a monkey or a lamb. After they have
read you either circle the monkey or lamb depending on if they read with
expression. If they read with expression you circle the monkey. Take note
of some of the punctuation for the sentences. Notice what expression she
is not showing for example excitement. Talk to the child later about what
expression she should work on.
Expression Very little Expression
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