Smooth Cat!
Smooth Cat!
Growing
Rationale:
To become a successful
reader, children must learn to read fluently. To do this, children must
read a
lot! Children need to perform repeated readings of the same text in
order to
gain the characteristics of a successful reader. If the children read
the same
story over and over, they become more confident in the story, they know
the
text better and they can read with more fluency. They should gain the
ability
to read fast, smooth, and with expression. When children become fluent
readers,
they increase their comprehension which is the ultimate goal of
reading.
Materials:
- Chalk
- Chalk board
-stopwatches – one for every two students
-Cat’s Trip by: Sharon Fear – one for every two students
-Time Sheets
Time Sheet
Date:
Your
Name:
Your
Partner’s Name:
First
Time:
Second
Time:
Third
Time:
Procedures:
1. Explain Why: “Today we are going to talk about being a fluent
reader. Does
anyone know what that means? Well, there are all sorts of things that
make a
good reader, a fluent reader.”
2.
Review: “To review, we will talk a little bit about what makes a good
reader.
Some of the things that make a good reader are reading fast, smoothly
and with
expression. I believe you all know what reading fast means. What about
reading
smoothly? It means that you can read through without getting stumped on
a word
or things like that. All of the words flow. What about reading with
expression?
That means you read with the kind of emotions that the characters are
having.
If the characters are mad, you read like you were mad, things like
that. We
will also discuss some strategies that can make us a good reader. Can
anyone
think of a way that they figure out what a word is if they don't know
it?"
I may have to lead the students, but what I am looking for are things
like
sounding out a word or reading the rest of a sentence to figure out
what the
word may be. It would also be wonderful if the students thought about
covering
up parts of the words and starting with the vowel in the middle, or
something
like that.
3.
Explain How: “Today we are going to practice rereading the same story
and some
sentences so that we can learn to develop fluency.”
4.
Model: Write a practice sentence on the board: (My cat has
never been on a trip.) Read the sentence very slow to
the children. For example, “Mmyy caat
haaas neeever beeenn oonnn aaa tttriiip. Sound them out slowly
again and
practice the silent cover-up method. Read the sentence again smoothly
and using
expression. To read this sentence better you could enunciate never.
“Which way
did you like it better, slow or fast? Why did you like it better?”
(Hopefully
the children will say it sounds better fast because you can understand
it
better).
5.
Simple Practice: Write another sentence on the board. (My
cat wants to go to the beach.) This time, divide the class into
partners. Have them practice reading it to each other several times.
“Make sure
that each time you read it you are reading it more smoothly and with
more
expression than the time before. Read it three times and then have your
partner
read it three times. Did you see a difference in the way you read the
sentence
the first time and the way you read it the third time?”
6.
“Does anyone have a pet cat? ... Did your pet cat ever go on a trip
with you?
The book, Cat’s Trip is about a cat that goes on a trip. Do you
think the
cat had fun on the trip? To find out we have to read the book.” Whole
Texts:
First read Cat’s Trip to the students so that they know what
the story
is about and they are prepared to read the story on their own. Then
keep the
students in their pairs and give each pair a copy of Cat’s Trip.
Then
give each student a copy of the timesheet and each pair of students a
stopwatch. Have the students read the story three times to each other.
This may
take a while, but allow the students the time they need. At the end ask
them
“Did your times improve as you read? Did you begin to read more
smoothly as
well?”
7.
Assessment: I will use the timesheets that the children completed as
assessment. In this way I will be able to see that the children
completed the
activity and hopefully see that they improved along the way. For those
who did
not improve very much I will work with more often to improve on their
fluency.
References:
Fear, Shannon. Cat’s Trip. Modern Curriculum Press, 1996.
Quick – Follow that Bear
by: Leslie McGill
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/guides/mcgillgf.html
Quick
as a Mouse by: Gina Thomas
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/guides/thomasgf.html
Hurry on Your Trop
Cat by: Rebecca Smith
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/smithgf.html