Jennifer Adams
Off to the Races
Jennifer Adams
Growing
Rationale: To read fluently, a student
must read
quickly, smoothly, and expressively. In addition, word
recognition must
be automatic for students to comprehend what they read. If word
recognition is automatic, reading becomes an enjoyable activity for a
student. For students to gain automatic word recognition, the
reading and
re-reading of connected, decodable text is needed. The more a
student
comes in to contact with a specific text, the more fluent he or she
becomes. In this lesson, students will learn how to read quickly,
smoothly, and expressively in order to gain fluency. Students
will gain
fluency through repeated readings and one-minute reads.
Materials: Marker board with sentence
"We
loaded on to the bus after school." written on it, individual
pieces
of paper with the sentence "My friends and I played baseball on Sunday
afternoon." and a corresponding picture on them, chart with a race
track on it for
each
student (charts should go up to one-hundred words per minute), small
cut-outs
of cars for each student, Velcro to attach each race car, one stopwatch
for
every two children, multiple copies of In The Big Top and Charlie
(enough of each
book for every two children) (both books should be marked with pencil
after
every ten words so that the children can count the words), pencils
Procedure:
1. Direct the students to look at the marker board. Read the
sentence slowly and then quickly, pointing out the difference
in reading. “It is very important for readers to read quickly and
smoothly. If we read quickly and smoothly, two things happen as
we read:
our reading sounds nice and we can understand what we read
better. Also,
our reading becomes more fun and enjoyable! Watch me. I am
going to
show you how my reading becomes more and more fun as I read more
fluently and
smoothly. I am going to read a sentence one time just like a
beginning
reader would, and then I am going to read it again like a really good
reader
would read it. Listen to how different the two sentences
sound. W-e
loa-d-e-d o-n th-e b-u-s a-f-t-e-r s-ch-oo-l. That didn't sound
natural,
did it? That's because I wasn't reading quickly and
smoothly.
Listen again. We loaded on to the bus after school. The
sentence
sounded better that time, didn't it? What did I do the second
time that
helped the sentence sound right and make more sense?” (Answer: I
read
more quickly and smoothly.)
2. Pair the students into groups of two.
Be sure to pair them off homogenously so that they can share a graph
and be
able to use the same book. Pass out paper with "My friends and I
played baseball on Sunday afternoon." “Now I am going to pair
you into groups of two. I am going to give the members of each
group a
sentence to work with. I want each of you to read the sentence
out loud
to your partner. Be sure to pay attention to the way it sounds
the first
time that each of you reads it. After you have read it out loud,
I want
you to read the sentence silently to yourself five times. Reading
the
sentence over and over will help it make more sense and sound
better. It
will also help you read faster. Then, read the sentence out loud
to your
partner again.” (Allow them to complete the activity.) “Do you
notice a
difference from the first time that you read it aloud? What makes
it
sound better? (Answer: It is quicker and smoother.) Did it
sound
better when you read it the first time or the second time?
(Answer: The
second time.) Way to go!”
3. Pass out the stop watches, cardboard
race tracks, cars, and various books. Instruct the students to conduct
one
minute reads, record the number of words they read, and move their cars
accordingly. Each student will do four one minute reads. “Now
we are
going to practice reading with a real book. I am going to give
each group
a book to read. While one member of the group reads the book, the
other
will be the timer. The reader will be timed for one minute.
If you
are the reader, I want you to read as many words as you can. If
you come
to a word that you do not know, use the cover-up method to try to
figure it out.
If that does not work, ask your partner for help. I will walk
around the
room to help anyone who needs it. The reader will read for one minute
four
times. After each one minute read, the reader will record the number of
words
that they read and move their car to that number on the race track.
Then they
will draw a star above their car. The stars will allow you to tell how
much
faster you read each time. I bet that your car will get farther and
farther up
the track with each reading that you do! Then you will switch so that
the timer
gets a chance to race to read!”
Assessment: Once everyone has finished
reading four
times I will ask the students to be sure that their names, the date,
and the
title of the book they read are on their race track charts. Then,
the
students will turn them in. I will assess the children by looking
at
their progress charts. The chart will show each student's
beginning and
ending point and will be turned in for me to evaluate. I will let
the
children take the books home to show their families how well they
read.
Also, the class could discuss the two books to make sure that each
student
comprehends the material.
Sources:
Eldredge, J. Lloyd. Teaching
Decoding in Holisitc Classrooms.
In The Big Top. Phonics Readers
Short Vowels. Educational Insights.
Vaughan, Richard. Charlie.
Williams,
Andrea. Start Your Engines!
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/williamsgf.html
Click here to return to Innovations.