Read with Speed and Be in the Lead!
Growing
Rationale: Students need to be able to
read fluently in
order to be able to read a sufficient amount of material over a certain
period
of time.
Materials:
- A copy of “Fuzz and the
Buzz” decodable text by Sheila Cushman (1990 by Educational Insights)
for every
student
- a stopwatch for every pair
of students and one for myself for individual assessment
- a white board
- Repeated reading checklist
that says “As I listened to my partner:
1. Remembered more words
2. Read faster
3. Read smoother
4. Read with expression
- progress charts for
individual assessments
- notepad and pencil to note
miscues during individual assessment
Procedures:
1. Begin lesson by
telling students that to
become better readers, they must learn to read faster, effortlessly,
and
automatically. “When you can do all of this, reading will be much
easier
and more fun than ever! That is what we
call fluent reading. To help you become
a fluent reader you can read a story several times. Every time
you read
it, I want you to read it faster and faster! Eventually, you will
remember the
story!”
2. “First I want us to
talk about a way you
could figure out words that you are having trouble with.
One way is called cover-ups. Let me
show you. If I were stuck on the word plug (write the word on the board) then
I would first cover everything up but the vowel u.
I would think u makes the /u/ sound like in
under. Then I would uncover the first
letter p and think p makes the /p/ sound and then uncover the l and
think the
/p/ sound plus the /l/ sound together make the sound /pl/ like in
please and
that added to the u makes /plu/. Now
uncover the last letter g and add the /g/ sound and I get plug. Now let’s practice a few words together. Now
remember when you finish figuring out the word to crosscheck and read
the whole
sentence make sure your word makes sense!” “Let’s try a word together –
lamp.”
3. “Students,
I want you to see the difference
in how reading WITH fluency makes reading much more fun and the story
easier to
understand. I am going to read the same sentence twice (write on board
so they
can read along). The first time I will read it slow and without fluency. R-E-A-D-I-N-G-I-S-F-U-N. Did you see that I
read slowly and it was hard to understand what I said? That’s because
the words
were choppy and did not flow together to make sense. Now I will read
faster and
fluently.
4. “Now I
will give everyone a copy of the book Fuzz and the Buzz. This book is about a cub named Fuzz who goes
out to play. He first gets bopped in the
head with nuts and then the bugs start buzzing around him.
We will have to read to find out what he does
to get rid of the buzzing bugs. I want
everyone to read it once first to yourself.” (give time for this to
take
place)
5. “Now that
everyone has read the story once I
want you to partner up with someone at your table and the two of you
take turns
reading it aloud to each other as the other listens and times you with
the
stopwatch (every pair will have one). Once you time your partner write
their
time down. When you are done I want you
to take the Repeated Reading Checklist that I handed out and I want you
to each
read each other again as the other listens and times you then writes
the time
down. This time I want you to fill out
the checklist for your partner. Mark
which ones your partner completed. For
example, the first one says “Remembered more words” so if your partner
did
remember more words the second time you mark this.
Number two says “Read faster” so look at the
times you took on your stopwatch and see if they read faster and if so
check
this box.”
Assessment:
To assess the children, I
will have them come up to my desk individually during center time and
complete
one minute reads. I will chart their
time, miscues, and progress. By doing
this I will be able to tell where they are on their path to fluent and
independent reading.
References:
King, Milissa. “Catch Me If
You Can.”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/explor/kinggf.html.
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