Learning Fluency with Gloria the Dog
Growing Independence and Fluency
Rationale:
Students must become fluent readers in order to
read faster, smoother, and with more expression. This lesson helps students
learn to read quickly, smoothly, and expressively through teacher modeling and
guided repeated readings. By
gaining these tasks, students will be fluent readers. Fluency refers to a
student's ability to read words accurately and automatically.
Materials:
Chart paper with "The cat
ran up a tree" written on it.
Enough sentence sheets for
each pair of students.
The dog went down the hill.
We went to the store to buy
some candy.
I like to play on the slides at the
park.
Enough copies of
Officer Buckle and Gloria for each
pair of students.
A copy of the literacy
formula for each pair of students.
A stopwatch for each pair
of students.
Dog reading tool: each
student will receive a dog cut-out and some graph paper. Students will move
their dog down a sidewalk drawn on the graph paper according to how many words
they get correct.
Procedure:
1.
Explain what
fluency is and why it is so important for readers: "Boys and girls, today we are
going to be working on fluency. Fluency is when you can read quickly, without
stopping to sound out each word. You can make more sense of a text when you read
it fluently because you don't have to try so hard to sound out the words. Today
we are going to work on our fluency by practicing with sentences and reading a
text multiple times."
2.
Model fluent
reading. On a large chart paper, write out the phrase: The cat ran up a tree.
"Okay students, first I am going to read this sentence without fluency. Ttthe
cccaaaattt rrran uuup a tttrrreeee. Now I will read the sentence as a fluent
reader. The cat ran up a tree. Did you all hear the difference between reading
without and with fluency? Listen to me read it one more time. The cat ran up a
tree. This time, I read it faster and with more expression because the words are
familiar to me. Because I practiced the sentence twice, I was able to read it
fluently the third time."
3.
Practice
sentences with a partner. "Now I am going to pass out some sentences to you and
your partner." Partners are pre-assigned according to seating arrangement.
"The first two times whisper read the sentences to yourself, covering up or
cross-checking if you need to. The third time, read your sentence out loud to
your partner." I will walk around and monitor students' reading as the practice.
"See how your reading improved when you practiced the sentence first?"
4.
Explain how to
work on fluent reading with a book. "In just a few minutes we are going to work
on improving our fluency with the book
Officer Buckle and Gloria. It's okay if you don't recognize a word in the
book, you can use one of our tools to help you out. Remember to cross-check by
re-reading a sentence if a word in it doesn't make sense, and cover up the word
to make it easier to sound out. I will give you all instructions on how to read
with your partner." Before I give step 5 instructions, I will give the book
talk. "In the book, Officer Buckle's police station gets a new police dog. What
will happen when the dog, Gloria, goes around to the school safety talks and
suddenly makes the usually boring performances exciting?"
5.
Repeated reading
with chapter book. "Okay boys and girls, we are now going to read the book
Officer Buckle and Gloria. Get with your partner please. One of you will be
in charge of the stopwatch and one of you will read, and then you will switch.
For the student who is reading, whisper read the book to yourself. When you're
finished, your partner will tell you what your time was. At this point, plug
your time into your formula (number of words x 60/seconds). You will do this
three times. For the student who is timing, time how long it takes your partner
to read the book. After each read, count the time your partner read and mark the
numbers on your dog counter. Then switch roles and repeat three times again."
6.
Assessment: After
the students finish their timed readings with a partner, I will have them come
to me individually and have them do one more timed read for me. While they are
reading, I will assess if the students are reading fluidly and with expression-
changing their voice for different types of sentences, using different tones. As
I am assessing, the other students will read quietly at their desks.
Resources:
Lindsay Jones. Practicing Fluency with Miss French.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/jonesgf.htm
Rathmann, Peggy.
Officer Buckle and Gloria. Putnam;
New York, New York. 1995.
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