Let's Go,
Reading!
Rationale:
The
process of reading involves two separate but highly related areas,
which are comprehension and word identification. If a child is having
difficulty in automatic word recognition then it significantly affects
a reader's ability to comprehend what they are reading. When
students are provided with phonics instruction children learn to
recognize words automatically and more rapidly. Children are able to
gain fluency by reading and rereading texts, one minute reads, and
timed reading. Once children become fluent in their
reading, they will be able to read more smoothly without having to stop
and sound out a lot of words. This lesson includes repeated reading as
well as times reading to help children in becoming more fluent readers.
Materials:
-
A cut out of a race car (One per student- Find or draw racecar
and cut out. Write the student's name on the car.)
-Stop
watches (One for every pair of students)
-Classroom
set of decodable books
-A
track made out for students to see their progress (Draw or trace a
racetrack on posterboard and cut out. Have a start and finish line. The
track should contain numbers such as 0-10, 10-20, etc., in which the
students will place their car on the track according to how many words
they read. Place sticky tack on the back of the cut out race cars with
student's name and have students place on the track after reading to
show the number of words read and their progression.)
-Fluency
time sheets for students to use in marking their scores (The fluency
sheet will contain the student's name who is reading and the student's
name who is partnered with them to time their reading. The should is
for a one minute read, be sure to put one minute as the time on
the sheet. There should be a place for the student to write
the number of words read in one minute. There should also
be a place on the sheet for the student to write the name of their book
and the date as well.)
-Pencils
-Stickers
(For students to mark where they stopped reading)
-Decodable
Text, Kite Day at Pine Lake
(Enough for each student)
Procedures:
1.
At the beginning of the lesson, I will explain to the students
why it is important for them to be fluent readers. "Today,
we are going to work on being fluent readers. Being a fluent reader
means you will be able to read really smoothly without having to stop
and sound out certain words. When we are fluent readers we will be able
to better understand what we are reading."
2.
I will explain to the students that they are going to be doing repeated
readings in order to become fluent readers. I will
explain to them that when we do our repeated readings will be reading
for one minute. I will tell them that when the minute is over they will
count the number of words that they read in the one minute time frame.
I will also tell the students that they should be sure to read smoothly
and not get too far ahead by reading too quickly to where they
misunderstand what they have read.
3.
I will present the book to the students by giving a book talk about the
book. The text we will be reading is called Kite
Day at Pine Lake. During the book talk I will say to the children,
"This book is about a group of children, just like you guys, that love
flying kites at the lake. A boy named Bob, doesn't have his own kite
and he is sad because he wants to fly one too. The kites in the book
are so fun, they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I want you to
read to find out if Bob ever gets his own fun kite."
4.
I will model for the students how to reread a part of the message from
the book by telling them to listen carefully as I read to them in a few
different ways. I will explain to the students that I want them to
listen to me while I reread a portion from the text each and tell me
which reread sounds the best. The first time, I will read slowly
without using fluency, "The---children---love---flying---kites." Next,
I will read it more quickly and use fluency, "The children love flying
kites." I will ask the students which one sounded better and which one
was easiest to understand. I will explain to the students that it is
much easier to understand what is being read when we use fluency and
read more quickly.
5.
I will provide each pair of students with a copy of the decodable text,
Kite Day at Pine Lake, a timer, and a sheet for fluency. I will
explain to the students that will are to read their book and remind
them that will be reading for one minute timed. I will tell the
students that they must try to read as many words as they can in that
one minute. I will remind the students to write down how many words
they read during the one minute after they finish. I will also explain
to the students that when they finish reading their as much as they can
in the one minute that they will move their race car on the race car
track. The students will be moving their racecar as far as how many
words they were able to read in the one minute on the track. I will
explain to the students that their goal is to get all the way around
the racetrack.
6.
After the students have completed one timed reading they will complete
another one using the same steps as before. I will remind them to
record the number of words they read each time and to move their cars
once more.
7.
Each student will complete a timed reading three times counting
the number of words they were able to read each time. After each
student has filled up their chart they will check the track to see how
far they made it.
Assessment:
In
order to evaluate the students I will have each student to read aloud
to me. The students will read for one minute while I individually
assess their fluency. I will be looking at the number of words they
were able to read in one minute. I will be collecting each student's
fluency chart that they used while working with a partner in their one
minute reads and assessing them as well.
References:
Murray, Bruce. Developing Reading Fluency. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html