Ready..Set..Go!!

Growing Independence and Fluency
Caitlin Clabby

Rationale:
It is important when trying to be a successful reader that you can read fluently.  A good way to become a fluent reader is to read often and repeat what you read over and over.  By doing repeated readings readers can gain fluency and become more confident about their reading abilities.  Repeated reading also helps them gain a better knowledge of text.  Readers who can read fluently read with excitement and enthusiasm in their voice; making a more pleasurable experience for their listeners.  Being able to read fluently also allows readers to have better comprehension and understanding of the text they are reading.

Materials:
Post it notes
One stopwatch for every two students
Class set of decodable books, Liz is Six
Progress board with spaces ranging from 0-85 (make the numbers erasable incase the student needs higher numbers) and a matching marker for each student. (Example: a race track with a race car).
Fluency time sheet to mark their scores.
Pencils

Procedures:
1.  Start the lesson out by explaining to students what it means to be a fluent reader and why it is important that students are fluent.  “Boys and girls today we are going to work on a special skill for reading.  We are going to work on being fluent readers.  Being fluent means that we can read text with ease and with appropriate speed.  This also means that we have excitement in our voice so the listener can enjoy what we are reading.  It is important that you are fluent when you read because this helps you become a better reader and you will be able to better understand what you are reading.”

2.  Tell the students that they are going to work on becoming a fluent reader by doing repeated readings today.  “Boys and girls today we are going to do something called repeated reading.  This is when we read a portion of a book for a minute.  After the minute is up you can count how many words you read in that minute.  We will do this a few times, but each time we do it we will read for a minute.  It is important though that you remember what you read too, speed is important but I want you to also understand what you are reading.”

3.  Model how to reread a passage from the text.  “I am not going to read a sentence to you in different ways.  After I am finished I want you to tell me which way sounded the best to you.  Liz is Six is not big.  During the first reading, read the sentence like a beginning reader, choppy and slow emphasizing each phoneme.  Then read the sentence smoothly and with expression.  Could you tell how my reading improved the second time I read the passage?”  Then the children will practice becoming more fluent readers.