Boogity, Boogity, Boogity
-Let’s
Go Racing!
Fluency
Rationale:
In
order to be a skillful reader, one must be
able to read fluently. Fluent reading consists of reading
smoothly,
quickly and with expressions. A fluent reader does not slowly
sound out
words or pause awkwardly in the middle of sentences. In order to
improve
fluency, teachers can have students do one-minute-reads. This
activity
will help students practice reading quickly and smoothly as well as
encourage
them to use expression because they are asked to read aloud. This
lesson
will provide the students with an opportunity to practice in order to
improve
fluency.
Materials:
<Stopwatches
for each pair of
students
<Race car reading chart for each student (this includes a race car
trying to
make its way down a drag strip. Each time a student reads, you
move the
car to the number of words they read in that minute)
<A copy of the book Red Gets Fed by Shelia Cushman for
each
student
Procedure:
1. Now that we have learned all of our letter correspondences, it
is time
to become the best readers we possibly can. In order to be the
best
readers, we have to try to make our books sound interesting and read
without
pausing very much. This is called expression and fluency.
We are
going to try to say all of our words with emotion and to read them very
fast,
without messing up.
2. I am going to read you all a sentence in two different ways, I
want
you to listen carefully and tell me which sentence sounds the best. I will do the first one to model and you all
tell me which way sounds the best.
Read
one sentence sounding out each
phoneme, short and choppy, and then read it again in a normal reading
voice. Saam wiiilll drrrrriiive to tttttthe
sssssstorrreeee. Now here is the
sentence a second time, Sam
will drive to the store..
Which
sentence sounded best?
That’s right, the second one did. That’s because I read it the
best that
I could.
3. We are going to read a book called Red Get’s Fed!
This is about a pet dog named Red. Red’s owner’s named is
Meg. Red
is hungry and wants Meg to give him some food. Will Red get fed?
Let’s
read and find out!
Allow each student to read the book to themselves.
4. Now, we are going to try to read this book even better and
faster. We are going to do something called quick reads. We
will
read for a minute. After we do that, we will count all of the
words we
read in that minute. Then, we will move our race car on our chart
to that
number of words. We are going to try to get our race care all the
way to
the end of the drag strip. Model for the children by setting a
timer and
reading for a minute. Then, count the words and move your car
accordingly.
5. Put the students in pairs and allow them to read while a
partner times
for a minute. They will then count the words and move the
cars.
Each reader will do this 4 times.
6. Assess the students by recording their first reading and
comparing it
with their last reading. The students should have been able to
read more
words per minute during the last read.
References:
Stephanie
Broach: Racing Readers
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/broachgf.html
Madelyn
Wright: Race for Reading
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/wrightgf.html
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