Carrie Norris
"Learning to be a Super Speedy Reader"
Materials:
Liz is Six book. Writing paper for the students to write
down what they remember from what they read, graph for students to record
their reading and class set of Lester, Julius. (1999). John Henry.
(Picture Puffins). Here is an example of the graph:
Procedures:
2. Today we are going to work on fluency. We all need to be able
to read smoothly and fluently. To do that we need lots of practice.
So let's begin. Let's begin with reviewing some things. Let's
review the steps we follow when we come to a word we do not know.
(The students will take out their booksmarks with the steps to help them
when they get stuck on a word.) Let's review the steps. The
first step is to cover up the word, but uncover the first letter.
Slowly sound out the letter and uncover the other letters one at a time.
(Model for the students.) Does everyone see how I have the word covered
up, revealing each letter and sounding out the rest of the letters one
at a time. The first letter is /c/. The next is /o/. (Continue
until the whole word is revealed. The word is consideration.)
Review: Let's review blending. Does anyone remember what body
coda means? Well, the body is everything up to the vowel, and the
coda is the vowel and the rest of the words. Here is an example:
body (/tr/) and the coda (/ap/).
3. I am going to read silently for one minute. I want you all
to time me. When my time is up tell me to stop so I can count the
number of words that I read in a minute. I want you all to watch
the clock on the wall. When I tell you to start pay attention to
the clock. When the minute is up everyone say stop! I can't
believe it! I read three pages in that one minute. Now it is
your turn only this time you will have five minutes. (Model how to use
the graph.)
4. (Pass out the graphs to the students.) Now I am going
to pass out the graphs that we will be using. You will be using these
graphs to record your success each time you read. Graphs will be already
labeled. Although the graph provides you with enough room to track the
book twenty times, we are only going to read the book four times today.
I'm going to give you five minutes each time you read. When I say
time is up, I want you to graph how many pages you read corresponding with
what trial you are on.
5. (Pass out books.) Now I am passing out the books that
you will use during the timed reading. Please do not open your book
until I say to do so. Thank you. When I say begin, everyone
open up their book and begin to read. But when I tell you to stop
at the end of five minutes, please close your book and put your hands in
your lap so I will know who followed directions and who did not.
6. Start timing the students and begin.
Okay class now begin reading. (Time for five minutes.)
Time is up. Please close your book and put your hands in your
lap just like I asked you to do. Thank you for doing just what I
asked you to do.
7. (Ask the students to graph the number of pages that they read
in the five minutes.) "Now I want you to
take your graph and put a dot by the number of pages you read on line one
because this is your first trial.
Demonstrate this on the board for the students because this will be
confusing to them if they have never used a graph. This will also
be a great math lesson for the students teaching them how to use a graph".
8. (So you will know that the students actually read and did
not just flip through the pages have them write down something that they
remember from the book. For eample, the characters' names or a situation
in the book or phrase.) Now get out your paper and write down everything
that you remember from what you just read.
9. (Repeat the steps three times or so.) "After students have
finished their fourth trial show them how to connect their dots so they
can get a true graph. Hopefully all of their graphs are going up
hill. Show them how their graph should look if they were improving
each time. Go around the room and look at the students graphs so
you can see how they are doing. You may want to take the graphs up
and put in their files for a record that you can refer back to. Through
out the year you may want to do this activity again. You can use
the same graph paper for up to twenty trials. Also, take up their
writings so you can compare them later as well". After you have finished
connect the dots. If your reading improved then you should have a
line that goes up towards the sky. Your reading may not have reached
towards the sky this time, but we are going to do this many more times
this year so don't worry. You will have plenty more chances to improve
your reading. I will come by and take up your graphs and your readings
so make sure your name is on both the graph and the writing that you did.
References: Reading Genie website http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/breakthroughs/mcinnishgf.html titled Learning to Read With Superman Speed
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