Rationale:
In order for students to be able to read a text and better comprehend
it, they have to be fluent readers. This means that when reading,
words need to be automatic and easy to read. As students practice
their reading fluency, they will sound smoother as they read and be
able to read with expression. This lesson is designed in order to
teach students how to be more independent in their reading and how to
become faster, yet more fluent readers. Performing one minute
reads will prove the importance of practice and fluency to the students.
Materials:
*dry erase board
*dry erase markers
*One-Minute Read sheets:
Name:_______________
Number of words I read in one-minute:
1st time: _______
2nd time: _______
*Reading Evaluation sheets
Name:_______________
Partner's Name:_______________
My partner read:
First time Second Time
Faster
[
]
[ ]
Smoother
[
]
[ ]
With more expression
[ ]
[ ]
More words
[ ]
[ ]
*timers for each set of partners
*Student copies of "Kite Day at Pine Lake" (AU, Phonics Readers by
Educational Insights, 1990)
Procedures:
1. Introduce the
lesson by explaining to the students
how important it is to be able to read a story and understand what is
happening in the story as we read. To do this, we have to be able
to read fluently and with expression. Ask the students if they
know what
fluent and expression mean and make sure they understand that these two
techniques help in reading a story. Right, if we read fluently
and
with expression it is much easier to pay attention to a story and to
understand what is going on as we read.
2. Then I will write a pseudo word
on the board (spack) to demonstrate cover-ups to the students.
Does anyone know what we should do if we are reading and come across a
word we may not know? The word I have written on
the board is a made up word so none of us know what it is unless we try
to sound it out. Watch how I use cover-ups in order to figure out
the word. First I'm going to cover up all the letters
except for the vowel. I know that the short a makes a sound like I'm home
alone and scared. Then the sp
at the beginning makes a /sp/ sound and the ck at the end sounds
like /k/. So if I say those sounds in order, I should hear /sp/
/a/ /k/. Now when I blend those together I hear "spack".
3. Now we are going to try and
figure out another made up word. I will write rost on the
board. Ok if I use cover-ups to figure out this word, what should
I do first? Good, cover up all the letters except the
vowel. What sound does the short o make? Like we are going to
the doctor and the doctor says open wide and you hear /o/. Now
what do we do? Right look at the beginning of the word at /r/ and
then
the end with /st/. If you blend those together, what word would
it be? Great!
4. Next I will write the sentence
"Today we are going to the zoo." on the board. I'm going to read
the sentence to you in two different ways and then we are going to take
a vote and decide which one sounded better. Here's the
first way: Tttooodddaaayyy wwweee aaarrreee gggoooiiinnnggg
tttooo ttthhheee zzzoooooo. Now the second: Today we are
going to the zoo! Which one sounded
better? Why do you think the second one sounded better? I
read it faster and with more expression. I was able to do this
because I had already read the words once from the first time I read it
and could
easily read it the second time. Was it easier for you to
understand? That's why we are going to practice becoming fluent
readers today so that we can easily understand what we are reading.
5. I will now hand out copies of
"Kite Day at Pine Lake" to every student and give them a book
talk: This book is about a bunch of friends who go to the lake to
fly their kites. All of their kites are very different but
one of the boys is very sad because he doesn't have a kite to try and
fly. Read the story for 5 minutes to yourself and find out what
happens to the little boy without a kite. If they finish reading
it
before I say stop, they can begin reading again to practice. I
will walk around and help students with reading if they need any.
6. Now to practice reading
fluently, everyone is going to get with a partner and play a timing
game. I'm going to give each of you a one-minute read sheet and a
reading evaluation sheet. Also, each set of partners
will get a timer to time the one-minute reads. To start you will
decide who is going to be the reader and who is going to be the
recorder first. Then the recorder will set the timer to one
minute
and will say "Go" when they start the timer. The reader will then
begin reading and read until the timer goes off and the recorder says
"Stop". The reader will put their finger to whatever word they
get to and the
recorder will count how many words they read in one-minute. The
reader will then write the number of words on their one-minute read
sheet. Then switch jobs and do the same thing until each
person has read two times. Once you have finished, look and see if you
read more words the second time then the first time.
7. Once you have finished the one-minute
reads, fill out the reading evaluation sheet by deciding if you partner
read faster, smoother, with more expression, and more words the first
time or the second time.
8. To assess: As you are working
with your partner, I may call you to my desk to do some one-minute
reads with me. If your partner gets called to my desk, read your
book quietly and practice your reading fluency until they get back.
Reference:
Murray, Bruce. Developing Reading Fluency
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
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