Poof!!!

Let’s Become Fluent Readers


 

 Growing Independence and Fluency

Tiffany Miller

 
Rationale:

            To become fluent readers, children need to learn how to read faster, smoother, and more expressively. Students will be able to work on their reading fluency through repeated reading. By rereading text, students will learn to read more words per minute.  By working with partners, students may learn new decoding skills and will get more practice reading. The more students read, the more their reading skills will improve. This lesson is designed to help students increase their fluency by rereading text and becoming more familiar with it. By the end of this lesson, students will learn a strategy to increase fluency in their independent reading.

 

Materials:

~Class set of the book Doc in the Fog

~ Class set of laminated banana tree illustrations with words per minute on them

~Accompanying Velcro monkey

~stopwatch for each student

~ Class set of speed record sheet (see below)

~pencils for each student

 

Speed Record Sheet:

Name: ______________            Date: ________________

 

First time: _______________

 

Second time: _____________

 

Third time: ______________

 

Procedures:

  1. Today I will introduce the lesson by explaining to the students that in order to become better readers, we must begin to read fluently. This means to read words smoother and faster with expression. Once we become fluent readers, we will be able to understand the test more easily. One way to become fluent readers is to read a text more than once, each time reading it faster and more automatically. Today we are going to learn to become fluent in our reading.  
  2. I am going to read you a sentence and I would like you to tell me if I am reading the sentence fluently. T-h-e w-i-z-a-r-d h-a-s a b-i-g h-a-t. You are correct!! I read the sentence without fluency. This is how the sentence would sound if I read it with fluency. The wizard has a big hat. Now listen as I read the sentence again. The wizard has a big hat.  This time I read the sentence faster because it was not the first time I read these words. The first couple times I read the sentence I was able to practice and now I can read the sentence fluently. Okay, who can raise their hand and tell me what fluency is. Great Job!!!! Fluency is reading the sentence smoother, faster, and with expression.
  3. We are going to read the text Doc in the Fog three times through. This will help us become fluent readers on our own.  I will give a book talk. This book is about a wizard with a big hat. The Wizards name is Doc. Doc turns many different items into something else. The last item Doc changes is dog into a pot. Then all of the sudden fog pops out of the pot. You will have to read this book to figure out what happens with the pot and the green fog. When we read this book we want to practice our fluency. This means to read the book automatically and smooth with lots of expression.
  4. It is okay if you do not know all the words in the book. When you come across a word that is unfamiliar to you use the cover up method. I am going to show you how to use the cover up method. Write the word cat on the board. If I saw this word, I would cover up everything but the a. (cover up c and t) I know that a=/a/. Now look at what comes before the vowel c=/c/. Blend them together to get /ca/. Now look at the letter on the end of the word t=/t/. Put it all together and you have /cat/. Whenever you see unfamiliar words use this method to try and decode it.
  5. After the students read the book three times through, pair each of the students in groups of two.  Have the students do one-minute reads. Have one student read while the other operates the stopwatch.  We will do this three times. Be sure to record in your speed record sheet and move your monkey up the chart to see how you improve each time. Try to read with accuracy and expression. I will walk around the room observing the students and taking notes on my student’s progress.

 

Assessment:

            To assess the students’ progress with fluency, I will collect the speed record sheets that the students completed with their partner. I will look to see how much each student increased their fluency during their one minute reads. I will look to see which students may need extra help and then pair them with a student who increased their fluency. I will also ask comprehension questions to make sure the students understood what they read.

 References:

 Barrowclough, Lauren. Ready, Set, Let’s Read!!!! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invent/barrowcloughgf.html

 Phonics Reader Short Vowel Doc in the Fog. (1990). Carson, CA (USA), St Albans, Herts. (UK): Educational Insights.


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