Ready, Set, Off We Go!
By
Angela Simpson
Growing Fluency
Rationale:
Fluent Readers read with more
expression, at a faster pace, and lots more smooth. A great way to
improve
reading is to read and reread decodable words in connected text. The
more often
a student works with a text, the more fluent they will become. This
lesson is
designed to help students increase their fluency by reading and
rereading text
to become familiar with it. In the duration of the lesson, students
will learn
that fluency helps them gain more meaning and understanding from the
text.
After the lesson, students will be able to use a strategy to increase
fluency
in their independent reading.
Materials:
Speed
Reading Record Sheet for each student
Fluency
Literacy Rubric for each student
Stopwatches
for groups of students
Whiteboard
Markers
Pencils
Colored
Popsicle sticks for each child
2
Googly Eyes per child
Kite
Day at Pine Lake by Shelia Cushman & Rona Kornblum c1990
Speed
Reading Record Sheet:
Name:
________________________________ Date:
___________________
First
time: __________________
Second
time: ________________
Third
time: _________________
Fluency
Literacy Rubric:
Name:
____________________ Evaluator: _________________Date: ___________
I
noticed that my partner
After 2nd
After 3rd
Remembered
more
words
_______ _______
Read
Faster
_______ _______
Read
Smoother
_______ _______
Read
with
expression
_______ _______
Procedures:
1.
I will
introduce the lesson by explaining that in order to become better
readers; we
must begin to read quickly and automatically or fluently. Good
Morning Guys, did you know that when we become more fluent
readers, we will be able to understand the text that we are reading
better! A
great way to become a fluent reader is to read a book or story a whole
lot of
times. When you do that, your reading gets faster and more fluent.
2.
First, let us think of a way that we could
figure out a word that we do not know while we are reading. A helpful
tool that
we use is a Cover-up Critter. Teacher will show the class a cover-up
critter
and provide them the materials to make one of their own.) Let
us see how we could use our critter to help us read this word write
the word strike on the board. If I saw
this word and did not know it, the first thing I would do is use my
critter to cover
everything up except the I. Watch Cover the str and k. I
should know that i_e=/I/. Next,
I would look at what comes before the vowel, str=/str/. I would say
each sound
and then blend them together to get /stri/. Finally I would look at the
end of
the word k=/k/. Starting with the vowel helps us to solve tricky words
more
easily. Next time you have some trouble with a word, just pull out your
Cover-up Critter and let him help you solve that tricky word.
3.
Next I
will demonstrate to the students the difference between reading with
and with
out fluency. Guys, I am now going to
show you how important fluency is and how much is might help us in
reading by
reading this sentence with and without fluency. Write a sentence on
the
board The big tiger scared all of the
other animals away. First, I will read the sentence as a non-fluent
reader
would read it: The big
tiger scared all
of the other
animals away Boys and Girls, did
you notice how I read the sentence very slowly? Now I
am going to read this same sentence again, but this time I will
read it more fluently The big tiger
scared all of the other animals away. Did
you see how my words were closer together, and how smooth they were?
Which time
was easier for you to understand? Student response Great
job, it is easier to understand books and text when you read it
with fluency.
4.
Now I will
pass out the book Kite Day at Pine Lake to each student. Has anyone ever flown a kite before?
Great, Good Job! This book is a story about a bunch of children
that love
to fly kites. They have kites of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Bob is
upset
because he does not have a kite. I wonder what will happen. Do you
think the
kids will make Bob a kite? What do you think will happen? We are going
to have
to read the rest of the book to find out! Students will read the
book on
their own. Afterwards, we will discuss the story as a class and ask
questions
to see their comprehension and understanding of the text.
5.
Next, I am
going to split the students up into groups of 2. I will explain to the
students
about the Speed Reading Record Sheet and Fluency Literacy Rubric. When you break into pairs, one of you is
going to be the reader and the other
will be the recorder. The reader will read the book for one minute
three
different times. The recorder will start and stop a stop watch and will
announce when it is the time to begin and end after the end of one
minute. The
recorder will also write down the number of words read in one minute on
the
record sheet. After the reader has read three times, you will swap it
up and do
the same thing again.
6.
When students
have finished recording the one minute read alouds, I will have them
fill out a
Fluency Literacy Sheet about their partner. They will check the boxes
on how
the student performed on the 2nd and 3rd times
reading
the book for one minute.
Assessment:
I will have each student
read a passage, of about 60 words, to me in the reading center out of
the same
book. I will use this passage during a one minute read to check the
students䴜
fluency. While the one student is doing a one minute read, the rest of
the
class will be practicing their fluency through reading a book while
sitting at
their desk.
Reference:
Shelly
Horton, Zooming Into
Fluency.
Jenna
Goodwin, Racing Through