Fluency Fluency Fluency!!

Growing Independence and Fluency Lesson 

By:  Timberly Farley

Rationale:

To become successful readers, it is important that we first learn to read fluently. Fluency is fast, smooth, and expressive reading that sounds like speech. A good way to become a fluent reader is to regularly read and to repeat what you have read. Repeated reading helps students gain a better understanding of the text and become more familiar with the text. Fluent readers can recognize words automatically and with this automatic recognition, students will improve their reading skills. This lesson is designed to help students learn tools that will help them to read fluently and become more successful readers.

Materials:

Book – Out of the Egg [need for sentence reading and modeling]  [Also need one copy for each student]

Dry Erase Board

Dry Erase Marker

Cover-up critter for each student  (The cover-up critter is made from a Popsicle stick with little googly eyes glued on)

Assessment/reading chart for each student

Procedures:

1. I will start the lesson by explaining to the students the meaning of fluency and why it is important that we become fluent readers.

Say: Today, we are going to learn about fluency. Fluency is fast, smooth, and expressive reading that sounds like speech. It is important that we read fluently, so that we can   gain a better knowledge of the text that we are reading. Reading fluently sounds like a conversation that you may have with your friend. It is important that we read fast,  smooth, and expressively, so that understand what we are reading.

 2. [I will now model for the students how to use repeated reading to help them read fluently.]

Say: Now I am going to read a sentence to you. Listen as I read the sentence fast, smooth, and with expression. [During the first reading, read the sentence with hesitation and pauses.]

Say: Did I read that sentence fluently? You are correct! That didn't sound so good. Let me try again.

[Now re-read the sentence using a fast, smooth, and expressive voice. Explain to the students that when re-reading a sentence, they must start the sentence over to get back into the story.]

Say: Now listen as I read the sentence a second time, starting at the beginning of the sentence.

Did that sound like a fluent reader? You are correct! I did read the sentence fluently using a fast, smooth, and expressive voice. This time I read the sentence faster because it was my second time reading it. Repeating the sentence helped me to practice and become familiar with the text. Okay, who can raise their hand and tell me what fluency is?

Right, fluency is reading fast, smoothly, and with expression.

3.  Introduce the book they will be reading.

Say: Out of the Egg is about a red hen who has all these things she needs to get done. When she asks for help, none of her friends want to help her. Do you think she will get everything done by herself? You will have to read to find out!

[Model how to re-read a passage from the text.]

Say: I am going to read a sentence from the book to you in different ways. After I am finished, I want you to tell me which sentence was read using fluency. [During the first reading, read the sentence choppy and slow. During the second reading, read the sentence fast and smoothly.]

Which time did I read fluently? Great job, I did read fluently during the second reading because I re-read the sentence and became familiar with the text.

4. Teach the students about the cover up method before they start independent reading.

Say: It is perfectly fine if you do not know all the words in the book. When you come across a word that is unfamiliar to you, use the cover up. The cover up method helps us recognize words automatically when we see them later, and it helps to improve our reading fluency. I am going to show you how to use the cover up method.

[Write the word hen on the board.]

Say: If I were reading and came across the word hen, I would use the cover up method to help me pronounce it if I didn't know how. I would cover up every letter except for e." Cover up the letter h and n. I know that the letter a makes the /e/ sound. Now look at what comes before the letter e, the letter h. Blend them together to get /he/. Now uncover the letter n for the students. "Now look at the letter at the end of the word n=/n/. Put it all together and you have the word hen. Whenever you see unfamiliar words use the cover up method to help you figure it out.

5. Tell the students that they are going to work on their reading fluency by doing independent repeated reading.

Say: To help you improve your reading fluency, you each will independently read Out of the Egg two times for one minute each. After each minute is up, you will make a tally mark where you stopped and count how many words you read that minute. Then write how many words you read each minute on the Speed Record Sheet, in the section titled independent reading.

[After the students have read the book twice independently and recorded how many words they have read on the Speed Record Sheet, pair the students into groups of two.]

Say: Now I am going to pair you in groups of two. You each will do a one minute read to your partner, and record how many words you have read on the Speed Record Sheet section titled partner reading. Try to read with accuracy and expression.

[Walk around the room observing the students as they read.]

6. Assessment: I will call each student up to do a one minute read with me to individually assess their reading fluency. I will record how many words the students read in that minute. I will collect the student's Speed Record Sheets to see how the students have improved from reading independently, to reading for a partner, and to reading for the teacher.

References:

Ivey, Danielle. It's a Good Day to Start Reading Fluently.

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/iveygf.html

Matthews, Tina. Out of the Egg. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2007.