Growing
Independence and Fluency
Rationale:
In
order for children to become good readers
they must be able to read a sufficient amount of text in an appropriate
amount
of time. They must gain reading
fluency, which is recognizing words accurately and automatically. Readers are skilled when they can read with
expression and comprehension. They can
do this because they don’t have to stop or slow down to sound out words.
Materials:
-
One large
picture of an alien (Take Me to Your
Reader) for classroom wall.
Different words per minute marks (40 wpm, 50 wpm, … 150 wpm) on
wall
where students’ names can be listed when they reach the mark.
-
Multiple copies
of I Went to the Bay by
Ruth Miller
-
Checklist for
students to use while observing
their partner.
Procedure:
Explain
to the students that becoming a better more fluent reader will make
reading
more fun. One
way to becoming a fluent reader is by rereading the same story and each
time
getting faster because you are more familiar with the book. Today
we are
going to read a book and then reread it with better fluency. Review how figure out a word on your own
that you are stuck on. First use cover-ups: for example, if you
wanted to
figure out the word bet, first you would cover up everything
but the
vowel, e. The e makes the /e/ sound. Then uncover
the first
letter, b. The b makes the /b/ sound. Now
combine the
sounds. Next uncover the last letter, t. The t
makes
the /t/ sound. Combine all the sounds, bet. Also
remember to
crosscheck. If you get stuck, read the rest of the sentence to
see what
would make sense.
Read two sentences and
let students
decide which sounded better. Read the
first sentence sounding out each phoneme.
Then read second sentence quickly and fluently. Ask the students
which time sounded
smoother. Then which way they want to
read. Read two more sentences. The
first should be monotone with no expression.
Then reread with expression and excitement. Ask students which
way they understood better. Ask which way they would rather hear
if they
were listening to a story.
Have
the class split up into groups of two.
Students have an individual checklist to observe their partner. Our book is about a boy who decides to go to
the bay one day and he sees many different animals and then starts
thinking
about them. Hand out a copy of I
Went to the Bay by Ruth Miller.
Have the students read the book first to themselves then they
take turns
reading the book out loud to their partner and their partner uses the
checklist
and when a student gets everything checked off of the list that student
comes
to me for a timed reading to get their words per minute.
Then if they want to they can put their name
on the wall next to their wpm. Not all
students
will get the whole list checked off the first day.
After
the readings go over the story with students asking them questions
about the
interesting things our character saw.
Allow the students a chance to ask about any difficult words. Let the students get back with their partner
and using the checklist again read the story to each other to check for
fluency
and comprehension.
References:
Ready
Set
Read
by Anna Ludlum http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insp/ludlumgf.html
Adams. Beginning to Read: Thinking and
Learning about Print. p.88-92.
CLick here to return to Guidelines.
For more information, send e-mail
to carvesw@auburn.edu