Practicing Fluency on One Winter Day
Growing Independency and Fluency
Rationale:
Fluency is one of the most important skills to master in reading. When a reader
reads fluently, he or she can read quickly, automatically, and with expression.
This lesson will teach children that you can become more fluent by reading and
re-reading a text. Students will keep each other accountable for their readings
by partner reading and analyzing their partners' improvement.
Materials:
Beginning chapter book- One Winter Day (Enough for at least half the
class); Stopwatch (Enough for half the class); Class set copies of the following
sentences: 1. I want to go to school and learn about math and reading. 2. Sam
and Susie are friends, but they do not always get along. 3. Charlie cuts his
paper and glues the pieces together to make a puppet. ; A piece of paper for the
reader to record how many words were read each time to turn in so they can see
progress; Cover-up critter (Popsicle sticks with googly eyes); Pencils
Procedures:
1. Explain what fluency is, because children need to know what it is and why
it's important. Say: "Fluency is when you are able to read quickly and correctly
without trying very hard. When you are a fluent reader, you can think about what
the words mean, instead of thinking about how to "sound out" each word. Here's
an example. (Hold up book One Winter Day, and read title). I can read
this title, "One Winter Day" quickly and correctly because I am a fluent reader.
I can think about the meaning of the title instead of sounding out each word.
2. I will then go over the cover-up technique with the students. I will remind
them of the purpose of the cover-up critter (to help us decode words we don't
know). Say: "Sometimes when I read, I come across a word I don't know right
away. To help me figure out the word, I can use a cover-up critter. Here's an
example. (Write the word shell on the
board.) Let's see if I can use my cover-up critter to decode this word. Now
watch what I do. (Cover up whole word, and reveal letters one by one.) /S/…/h/….
Oh! /Sh/…. /e/…. /l/…. Oh, I think I know!
Shell! See how much easier that was,
going sound by sound? The cover-up critter can make words less scary-looking.
Sometimes it also helps to cover up consonants and see what the vowels in words
look like. Here's an example. (Write tame
on the board.) Now watch what I do. I will cover up the
t and the
m, the consonants. I am left with an
a and an
e…. oh, it's an a_e word, which means
the a will make a long A sound, /A/!
Now let's use the cover-up critter. /t/…./A/…./k/…silent e, Take!
Next time you come across a word that doesn't look familiar, you can use
your cover-up critter to help you.
3. Since most of you are such good readers, you might not need to cover-up
sounds to help you read. Another technique is to do something called
"cross-checking". If you don't know a word, you can take a guess and keep
reading the rest of the sentence. Then you can go back and see if that made
sense. If it didn't, you might be able to figure out another word that would go
there. Let's try an example. [Write "I wish I could go to the zoo" on the
board.] I'm going to try to read this sentence.
I…wish…I…
/c/…cold…
go…to…the…zoo.
I wish I cold go to the zoo. Hmm. That doesn't make sense. Let me go back
and look at that sentence. I wish I
cold….could? COULD go to the zoo.
Oh, I know! I wish I could go to the zoo!
4. Say: "Another way we can become more fluent is by re-reading words to become
more familiar with them. I am going to read this sentence two times, and I want
you to judge which one sounds the best. (Write "I want to visit the store" on
the board.) [First time:] I /w/ /a/
/n/ /t/…. Want?
To vvvv--iiiiii--sssss--iiiii----t the
/s/ /t/ /o/ /r/ /y/? story? Oh,
store! See how I cross-checked? Let
me read this a second time. [Second time:]
I w…ant, want to visssssiit the st-ore.
Which time was easier for me? (first) Was the first time difficult for me? (yes)
Did I get better the second time I read? (yes) I still had some trouble with
words like store, but since I was familiar with the words, it was easier for me
to read. The first time I read, I was not fluent and I'm sure it was hard to
understand what I was reading because the words were all chopped up. The second
time, however, I was gaining fluency and it was easier to understand me.
5. Say: "Now I'm going to give you some sentences. Get with your partner
(pre-assigned by teacher) and practice reading them. See if you get better the
second and third times you re-read. Read the sentences as many times as you can,
and see if you are a more fluent reader!" Give students copies of sentences.
Walk around and listen as students read to see if their fluency is improving.
Remind them that they are welcome to use their cover-up critters for additional
help if needed.
6. Gather everyone back together. Say: "Did you see how much better you got the
more you re-read? What are some things you noticed about your partner's
reading?" (wait for response.) You are going to read this chapter book One
Winter Night with your partners, and you will chart your partner's progress
to see how re-reading helped you read more words.
7. Say: "Now you are going to get with your same partners. One person will be in
charge of the stopwatch (time-keeper), and the other will be the reader. The
time-keeper will time how long it takes the partner to read one chapter. The
reader will quietly read one chapter of the text, and the time-keeper will time
how long it takes. The time-keeper will write down how long it took for the
partner to read one chapter. Then the reader will read that same chapter two
more times, and the time keeper will write down the time it took for the 2nd
and 3rd times. Then the reader and the partner will switch, and the
same thing will happen. After you both have three turns and fill out your time
sheet, you and your partner can take turns reading chapters and finishing the
book together. After the book is over, I want you to ask each other questions
about the book, for example: Who are the main characters? How did they get
locked in the museum? How did they get out? (etc.)".
8. Give a book talk. Say: "Let me tell you a little bit about this book before
you begin. Peter and Jenny are best friends who couldn't decide what they wanted
to do on a boring winter day, so they decided to go to a museum called the art
center. They enjoy looking at the exhibits, but after a while, they realize the
lights have been turned off and they have been locked in the museum! Will they
ever get out? You'll have to read to find out!"
9. Assessment: After the students have read to each other, have them
individually come up to the teacher's desk and read a chapter of a book they
have never seen before (that is on reading level). Take notes of their improved
time and fluency, and ask comprehension questions as well (to make sure they are
paying attention to what they are reading). Collect timed reading sheets and
keep for further analysis.
Resources:
Jones, Lindsey. "Practicing Fluency with Miss French".
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/jonesgf.htm
Sims, Matt. One Winter Day. High Noon Books: Novato, California. 2004.
Timed Reading Sheet (see below).
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/vanhoosergf.htm
