Excited
About Exclamations!
By: Sharon Scyphers
Rationale:
Fluency is important for the students to be able to read quickly, comprehend and show expression. This will help the students understand and enjoy the literature. Reading aloud to the students models how much more exciting a story can be if read with expression. The lesson with allow students to explore reading with expression through listening to modeled reading, practicing reading with expression, and engaging in the materials.
Materials:
No, David! big book
Various books for partner reading chosen with strong expression usage
Sentence strips
pencils
Procedures:
1. We will begin with a class discussion on what
it means
to read with expression and why this might be a good idea. "Has anyone
ever had someone read to them and the reader never changed his or her
voice?
Did it seem boring or exciting? If you read with expression it makes
reading
and listening to the story a lot of fun! You should always read with
expression
so that everyone wants to hear your story."
2. "Can anyone tell me how we might know what
needs
extra expression with it when we read? So do you think expression would
help a
person know if I am telling something or asking a question? Of course
it does!
I am going to read a few sentences and this time I am not going to use
any
expression. 'Do you want to go to the park? It is such a pretty day! I
can't
wait to fly my kite!' Did that sound like I was really excited to go to
the
park? (Nooooo!) What if I read it like this: 'Do you want to go to the
park? It
is such a pretty day! I can't wait to fly my kite!' (show
expression) Did that make it sound like I was really
excited? I was able to show feeling when I read, as if I was saying the
lines
just as I talk. Would it be more fun to listen to a book in the first
voice or
the 2nd? That's right, it is very important to read like we
talk!'
3. "Now we are going to read this book called No, David! by David Shannon. It is about
a little boy named David who always seems to find trouble. When David
gets
caught, and he does, he is always told "No, David!" I am going to
read some of the book with expression and some without. After each
page, I want
each of you to give me a thumbs up if I use good expression and a
thumbs down
if I do not use expression." We will read the book allowing the
students
to display there application of the knowledge of expressive reading.
4. "Now I want each of you to partner up and
read to
each other and showing feeling and expression with the words of the
story. I
then want your partner to give you a thumbs up if you read really well
with
expression or a thumbs down if you need to work on it a little more! Be
sure to
tell each other what you did well on and what you need work on. I will
be
walking around with my listening ears turned way up so I want to hear
some
expressive reading and lots of thumbs up!" This will allow the students
to
practice the concept and me to get a general idea of the strong and
struggling
students.
Assessment:
5. Next I will give each student a sentence
strip. They
will work independently on these to put the correct punctuation at the
end. We
will then go around and let each student read his or her sentence with
the
proper punctuation and corresponding expression. This will allow me to
assess
the student individually.
Did the
student read the sentence fluently and showing expression?
References:
Ellenburg,
Reagan.
Hip Hip Hooray for Expression. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/catalysts/ellenburggf.html
Shannon, David. No,
David!.
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