Barbie Wilson
Growing Independence & Fluency
On Your Mark, Get Set, Read!
Barbie Wilson
Growing Independence & Fluency
Rationale:
Fluency is important for all readers because it leads to comprehension
of
texts. Fluent reading is a student's ability to read words correctly
and
automatically. With the help of phonics children can learn to recognize
words
more rapidly and automatically and students can gain fluency by reading
and
rereading text, doing one-minute reads, and timed reading. Once
students have
become fluent readers, they will find that they can read more smoothly
and do
not have to stop and sound out a lot of words. This lesson will include
repeated reading that will also include timed reading to help student
become
more fluent readers.
Materials: 1 race
car cut-out for each student; One stopwatch for
every two students; Class set of decodable books, Red Gets Fed; a
picture of a track to keep up
with their reading progress; race car markers for the students to put
on board;
Fluency time sheet stop sign stickers; and pencils.
Procedures:
1.) To begin this lesson, I will
tell the
class, "Today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers. Being a
fluent reader means that you are able to read words smoothly and
automatically.
By being a fluent reader this helps us to comprehend the text that we
are
reading." There are several things that we can do to help us become
fluent
readers.
2.) Today we
are going to work on becoming fluent readers
by doing something called repeated readings. Repeated readings mean you
read
for one minute and after the minute is up you will then have to count
how many
words you were able to read within that one minute. The reason it is
called
repeated readings is because you will read the same text a few times
and each
time chart how many words you were able to read. It is important to
remember to
try not to read too fast because if you are zooming through the test,
you may
have a harder time remembering what it was you read.
3.) I will
pass out the book Red Gets Fed to the class and
give a brief book talk. Red is a dog. He looks like he is trying to
wake up his
owner. She gives him some food and then he goes to dad. I
wonder what
the dad will do. We will have to read the rest of the text to find
out what
happens to Red. Model how to reread a passage from the text. I am
going to
read a sentence to you in different ways and after I am finished I want
you to
tell me which way sounded the best. Say "Reeedd is ttthhee peeeet
of
Meegg" very slowly, stretching the sounds out. Now say it again, but
this
time say it smoothly and with expression. Then ask the students which
way they
thought sounded better.
4.) Now we
are going to read with a partner. One will be
the timer and one will read the book and then you will swap. When the
time is
up, the person who was the timer, will put a stop sign on the word you
stopped
on and then you will count how many words you read up until the stop
sign.
After you have gotten your number, I would like you to record this
number onto
the chart I have passed out to you. After you read for your first time,
I want
you to come up to the front of the room and move your car to the first
point on
the track. This will help you remember that you have read one time
through. You
will then read four more times and each time don't forget to write down
the
number of words you were able to read on your chart as well as moving
your car
around the track.
5.) After the
first round, have the students reread for one
minute starting at the beginning and using the same steps as they did
before. Do not let them forget to record the number of words they
read
each time and move their race cars.
6.) Allow the
students to repeat these steps three
times. The students will stop when they have filled in all of the
charts. When
they are finished, each student will talk to their partner to see how
they did.
7.) To assess
the students reading fluency, I will call each
student up individually to do a minute read. One minute reads are done
by
timing the students to see how many words they are able to read in one
minute.
I will also collect their progress charts to get a better understanding
of
their ability to become fluent readers.
References:
Dr. Bruce
Murray, "Developing
Reading Fluency." http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
Cushman,
Sheila. Red Gets Fed. Carson, CA:
Educational Insights, 1990.
Megan Zickos http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/zickosgf.html