Riding Smoothly with Reading

Kym Brazeau

Growing Independence and Fluency

Rationale:

            Students must read smoothly, consistently, accurately, and with expression to be fluent readers. In order to become a more fluent reader, students should practice on the speed of their reading.

Materials:

• Stopwatches for each pair of students
• A bike riding reading mile chart. (A chart that looks like a sidewalk with scenery. It has a seam that the bikes can move on. It will have intervals of 10 that will stand for how many words the child can read in a minute time. The students will have their own bike and chart that they can move along the sidewalk. 
• London, Jonathan.  Let’s Go Froggy.  Picture Puffin. (One for each student )

Procedure:

1. I will ask the students if they know what it means to read with expression, to be a fluent reader, and why it is important to have these qualities. I will explain to the children the importance of reading with expression and fluency. Without expression, stories would be boring and not understandable. The readers would not be able to feel what the author is trying to express because the sentences would be read in a boring and plain manner. Being a fluent reader will help understand the story and know what is happening. If the reader gets too caught up in trying to figure out what a word is, he/she will lose the meaning of the story.
2. I will read a sentence in two different ways. The students will tell me which one sounds better. I will read the sentence “I am riding the bike faster than dad can!” I will write it on the board so that the students can see the sentence. The first time I will read it very slow, choppy, and without expression. The second time I will read smoothly and with great expression. I will ask the students which sentence they thought sounded better.
3. “Let’s do a practice run! Whoever would like to try to read the sentence can try and do it.” Each student will try to read the sentence like I did if they feel comfortable to.
4. “We are going to read the book, Let’s Go Froggy. This story is about Froggy and his dad going on a bike ride. They keep having to go back and get something that thy have forgotten. Froggy’s dad doesn’t know if they will ever finish their bike ride. Let’s see if they decide to give up or finish the ride.” The students will read the story silently to themselves.
5. The students will be put into pairs. “Everyone is going to do minute reads. You all will take turns controlling the stopwatch. One student will read and the other will control the stopwatch. Using the Bike reading mile chart, you all will record how many words that you read in a minute. I will model for you. (I will get a student to control the stopwatch while I read aloud. When I am finished, I will count the words that I read in that time frame. When I read, I will read with fluency and expression. I will move my bike onto the appropriate reading mark to show how the children will “score” their reading.) Now, you all try to do this.” We will repeat this two more times to become more familiar with the book and practice reading with expression and fluency. The students will record their improvements with the bike chart.

Reference:

            http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/guides/hensleygf.html - Racing Readers by Melissa Henley.

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For more information please send e-mails to brazeke@auburn.edu