Let's
Read With Some Speed!
Growing
Independence and Fluency
By:
Kathleen Pease
Rationale:
This lesson is very important for
improving reading, specifically in improving fluency.
Fluent readers are at a much better advantage
because they read with more expression, at a faster pace, and a lot
more
smoothly. One proven way to improve
reading is to reread decodable words in connected texts several times. In many instances, the more a student works
with a particular text, the more familiar they become with it, and
therefore
the more fluent they will become, which is the purpose of this lesson. During this lesson, the students will come to
understand that fluency helps them gain more meaning and understanding
from the
text. Hopefully, by the end of the
lesson, the students will be able to refer back to this strategy in
order to
increase fluency in their independent reading.
Materials:
Speed
Reading Record Sheet for each student
Fluency
Literacy Rubric for each student
Stopwatches
for groups of students
Whiteboard
Markers
Pencils
"Cover
–up Critters" popsicle sticks for each
child
2
Googly Eyes per child
Kite
Day at Pine Lake by Shelia Cushman & Rona
Kornblum c1990
Speed
Reading Record Sheet:
Name:
________________________________
Date: ___________________
First
time: __________________
Second
time: ________________
Third
time: _________________
Fluency
Literacy Rubric:
Name:
____________________ Evaluator:
_________________Date: ___________
I
noticed that my partner
After
2nd
After 3rd
Remembered
more
words
_______ _______
Read
Faster
_______ _______
Read
Smoother
_______ _______
Read
with
expression
_______ _______
Procedures:
1.
I
will begin the lesson by explaining that it is important to learn to
read
quickly and automatically in order to become better readers. Did you
know that when we learn to read fluently, we will be able to understand
what we
are reading better? One way we can
achieve fluency is to read a book over and over again.
When we do this, our reading will get to know
the words better, and our reading will get faster and more fluent.
2. Sometimes, we come across words that we do not recognize right away. Something we can use to help us figure these words out is a Cover-up Critter. I will then show the class a cover-up Critter and distribute the materials to make their own. Let's see if we can use our critter to figure out this word. I will write prize on the whiteboard. If I came across this word and did not know it, I would first use my Cover-up Critter to cover everything except for the i. Now watch what I do. I will cover up the pr and the z. I know that i_e says /I/, so next I will look at what comes right before the vowel, pr. I will say each sound that these letters make, and then blend them to get /pri/. Last, I will look at the end of the word z=/z/, and I will blend that with /pri/ and will end up with prize. This strategy of starting with the vowel will help us to figure out tricky words more easily. So next time you come across a word that does not look familiar to you, try using your Cover-Up Critter and get him to help you solve it.
3.
I
will then show the students the difference between reading with and
without
fluency. Class, I am going to
show you how very important it is to read with
fluency. You will see how much it will
help us in reading when you see me reading a sentence with and without
fluency. Write sentence on the
board: The big kid took a dive in the
pool. First, I will demonstrate how
a non-fluent reader would read the sentence. T-th-the b-b-bi-bi-g-g-big k-ki-i-d-d-kid
t-to-too-k-took a d-d-i-di-v-div-dive i-i-n-in th-the
p-p-oo-poo-pool. Did you notice how slowly I read
the sentence and how there was hardly any expression in my reading? I am now going to read it again, but this
time with fluency. I will read the
sentence fluently, a lot more smoothly, and with a lot more expression. The big kid took a dive in the
pool. Did you
notice that my words were closer together and they were a lot more
smooth? Which time was easier for you to
understand? Students will respond
(will hopefully say the second time). Right!
It is much easier to understand texts when you read it with
fluency!
4.
I
will then distribute the book, Kite Day
at Pine Lake, to each student. Who has ever flown a kite before? Really?
Flying a kite is so much fun!
This is a great book about a group of children who love to fly
kites
together. They have all sorts of kites
which they love to fly, but their friend, Bob, is upset because he does
not
have one. Do you think Bob will get a
kite? Do you think his friends will make
him one so he can play with them? I hope
so! We'll have to read and find
out! The students will read the book
individually, and we will then discuss the story as a class to assess
their
comprehension and understanding.
5.
Next, I will split the students up into groups of 2.
I will explain about the Speed Reading Record
Sheet and Fluency Literacy Rubric. Now we will break into pairs. One
partner will be the reader and the other
one will be the recorder. The reader will read the book for one minute
three
times. The recorder will be in charge of
timing the reader. The recorder will start
and stop a stop watch and will announce when it is time to begin and
end after
the end of one minute. The recorder's
other job will be to write down the number of words your partner reads
in one
minute on the record sheet. Once the
reader has read the book three times, the partners will switch roles
and do the
same thing again.
6.
After the students have recorded the one minute read alouds, they will
fill out
a Fluency Literacy Sheet about their partner's performance.
Assessment:
In
order to assess each student, I will call them up to me one by one and
have
them read a passage of approximately 60 words out of the same book to
check
their fluency. While each student is
doing their assessment with me, the rest of the students will be at
their desks
practicing their fluency while reading a decodable book.
Reference:
Cusman,
Shelia and Kornblum, Rona. Kite
Day at Pine Lake. 1990.