Growing
Independency and Fluency
Rational:
This lesson is
designed to help students develop the ability to read independently and
fluently. The lessons focus is primarily on fluency. Fluency will
enable
the students to read faster, smoother, and with more
expression. Reading
fluency is the ability to read faster, smoother, and with more
expression. In
order for students to become fluent readers, they must "read and reread
decodable words in connected text."
Materials:
-A board for the teacher to write examples on
- Markers or chalk for the teacher to use on the board
-Class
set of the book: Rockabye Crocodile, by Jose
Aruego and Ariane Dewey, published by Greenwillow Books, for reading
groups
-Check
list for assessment (time for one minute read, how many
words, how they are progressing, amount of incorrect words.)
-
A List of Sentences for the teacher to read and model fluency
from the book
-List
of the sentences used in the lesson
-
Sentences:
-Ouch!
I hurt my toe!
-
Ohhhh No! I forgot
my homework!
-
Do you want chips or
French fries with your sandwich?
-
Lets go make snow
angels in the snow!
-How
much further do
we have to drive to get to Auntie Anne’s house?
-
Shark! There is a
shark in the water! Get out!
-
MMMM, is smells like
momma’s cooking!
-Wow,
it’s so beautiful!
Procedures:
1. "Today, we are going to learn to read with expression. Does any know
what expression is? Can anyone show me how to use expression? (Allow for students to give answers). When
you say something with expression, you have feelings in your face,
voice, etc.
to go along with what you are saying.
"But
before we become
skilled at reading with expression, lets go over what we should do if
we came
across a word we do not know. Remember, we can use cover-ups, to
figure
out the words we do not know. To help us to try and guess the word we
cover up
part of the word so we can read it a little at a time. Also to help us
make
sure we have figured out the correct word, we can cross-check, which
means we
read the rest of the sentence to see if a word makes sense."
2.
I'm going to say
two statements and I want you pay close attention and tell me, which
one makes
more sense to you. Ready? “I hit a homerun at my softball game today
and I
won!” (The first time the teachers says it, say it in a monotone
voice.)
"Hmmm, that statement did not sound very good, I wonder why? Did
you
like the way I read the first page?” “Now let me read the same
statement again."
Now the teacher reads the same statement again, but with an expressive
voice. "Who liked the second reading better? Well, why did you
like
this one better than the other?" The class should discuss why
they
liked the statement better the second time. "You’ll are exactly
right! The second time I read the sentence my reading enhanced
because I used
different tones of voice, I read more smoothly, I did not take long
pauses
between the words in the sentence, I read quicker, and my facial
expression
changed with my tone of voice. I had feelings in my face and
voice." The
teacher will write these explanations on the board.
3.
"As good,
fluent readers we want our viewers to enjoy what we are reading and we
want to
enjoy it too. I always pretend like I’m an actress putting on a
performance.
Everyone enjoyed listening to the story better when I read with
expression. We are going to learn how to use expression when we
read and
write to help us feel what we read."
4.
Now that we have discussed expression. Who
can
give me a definition of expression? Call on students to create the
definition
of expression. The students should form the basic idea that expression
is how
we change the volume, speed, and tone of our voices as we read the
text.
Write the definition they have formed on the board. You can
explain to
the students that the reading speed will make the story more or less
suspenseful. The tone of the reader’s voice will help develop the
way the
characters are feeling and the pitch of the reader's voice can cause
the story
to be scary or exciting.
5.
"I am going to
read a sentence that I have written on the board. After I read
each
sentence I want you to give me an expression of a smile on your face if
you
think I read with expression or a frown if you think I did not use
expression
when I read the sentence." The teacher will read each sentence
out
loud to the class some read with expression and some without. If
the
students give me a frown I will call on a student to reread the same
sentence I
just read but with expression.
Sentences:
-Ouch!
I hurt my toe!
-
Ohhhh No! I forgot
my homework!
-
Do you want chips or
French fries with your sandwich?
-
Lets go make snow
angels in the snow!
-How
much further do
we have to drive to get to Auntie Anne’s house?
-
Shark! There is a
shark in the water! Get out!
-
MMMM, is smells like
momma’s cooking!
-Wow,
it’s so
beautiful!
6.
Tell the students
that, "today you will be practicing your great reading skills by trying
to
make your voices more expressive. We will be reading Rockabye
Crocodile in reading groups of four. You will be playing
characters:
Nettie, Amabel, the crocodile, the narrator. When your character speaks
you
will read with expression to the group. This book is about two boars.
One is
really nice and one is very mean. When the kind boar goes out in search
of
food, the bamboo tree sways to her humming and drops fish in her
basket. And
when she takes care of the crocodile’s baby, the crocodile supplies her
with
eels and crabs. But the next morning, when the mean boar demands the
same, it
is not fish that she finds in her basket. Remember you are playing
characters
in a story so read with expression like you were an actor/actress
performing in
front of an audience.
7.
Use a line
from the text to provide and example of how a character might sound.
Explain
that the characters will have different voices and that they will
express their
words differently depending on how they feel about the situations. If
the
character is excited, we should use an excited voice but if he is angry
we
should use an angry voice. Students should be divided into groups of
three and
given a copy of the text.
8.
Assign
each student in the group the character they are going be and read
expressively.
Give them the opportunity to read through their part silently before
asking
them to read out load in their groups. Instruct the students to try to
relate
to the characters, to think about the attitude of the character and how
the
characters might feel. Have the students reread the text together
in
their small groups. We
need to be able to
recognize the words quickly to be able to read quickly, so we are going
to
practice with our partners. As you read with your partner, you will
notice
changes in the way you read Remind them that
they are to
portray their character to their group members using expression.
9.
Students
will then take turns in their group reading the story. Encourage
students to
read with expression and to help each other with the expressions if
they get
confused. They can switch characters is they would like. This should
make the
students become more and more comfortable and fluent with the text.
After the
group has read the story two or three times together, ask the students
to
discuss how each group member portrayed their character and what was
happening
in the story that caused the students to read that way and make a list
on a
sheet of paper of the characteristics that make expression important
and the
difference it makes. They are to help each other read more
fluently by
giving helpful tips to each other.Monitor and take notes to see how
quickly the
students are reading the story.
Assessment:
Be sure to walk from group to group monitoring their
reading and listening to each child. Create a checklist to assess each
child as
you hear them read. I will pick two or three pages of the book and have
the
groups read their parts out loud and with the expression they have been
practicing. I will check the students mainly for fluency and
expression
as they read their parts to me.
Example
of an assessment checklist:
-Does
the
voice vary (move up and down)?_______
-
How many
words read in the one minute read? ________
-
Does the
student read smoothly? _______
-Did
the student read
silently first?_______
-If
the student read
silently did they use their lips?_______
-Does
the student
change tempo in the reading when necessary? ________
-Does
the student show
emotion with facial movement? _______
-
Is the
student progressing? ________
References:
Traci
Leech: A Fine, Fine Reader:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/begin/leechgf.html
Aruego,
Jose and Ariane Dewey. Rockabye Crocodile. Greenwillow Books,