Rationale: In
order for children to become fluent readers, they must
learn how to read faster, smoother, and more expressively. Fluent
readers
have to be able to read accurately and automatically. This lesson
will
teach students how to read quickly, smoothly, and expressively.
The
students will gain fluency through repeated readings, timed readings,
and
one-minute reads. The more they read, the more their reading
skills will
improve!
Materials:
-Sentence strips (two for each
pair): The dog got a bone from the bowl.
:
The bird flew away from the house.
-Poems (two for each pair): Too
Busy by Bruce Lansky
: Class Gas
by Ken Nesbitt
** Poems and citations are attached
-Stopwatch for each group
-A variety of different books to
practice with
-Assessment chart (See below)
Procedure:
1. Explain the difference between
a fluent and non-fluent reader. “Today, we will be practicing improving
our
fluency when reading. Who can tell me what fluency is? Right, it means
to read
fast. A skillful reader not only reads fast though. A skillful reader
reads
words automatically and reads with expression.
2. Practice
with sentence strips. “First, I want you to get
with your reading buddy and find a spot on the carpet.
[Wait for children to be seated.] Okay,
I’m going to give you and your reading
partner two sentence strips that have a different sentence on each one. I want you to practice saying these two
sentences over and over again. One way to become a fluent reader is to
read and
reread texts. I’ll show you how to
start. I will read, ‘The dog got a bone
from his bowl.’ (several times) I will read, ‘The bird flew away from
the
house.’ (several times) Then, Sally will
read, ‘The dog got a bone from his bowl.’ She will read the sentence
several
times and then read the next sentence several times.
Okay, now practice reading and rereading your
sentences to your partner. I will be
walking around and observing you working with your partner.
3.
“When you’re reading, if you come across a word you do not know,
what
should you do? [Use a cover up.] Right, you can use a cover up.
Cover ups are a good way to break words up
into parts that are easier for us to read.
Remember, when we use cover-ups, first we cover up everything
except for
the vowel, then say the vowel sound.
Like this. [batch is on the
board, cover up all but a] Next,
cover up everything except the letters
before the vowel and say them [cover atch].
Last, cover up everything except for the letters that come after the
vowel [
cover ba]. After you have
sounded all of the parts out,
put all of the sounds together [b-a-tch,
batch].
4.
Hand out practice poem, Class Gas by Ken Nesbitt, to
read with
partners. Poem talk: “The teacher and
the students in this classroom are passing out and gasping for air. What do you think is causing this? We’ll have
to read to find out. Now I’m going to hand out a poem to each one of
you, and I
want you to get your cover-ups out.
You’ll work with your same partner each pair will get one
stopwatch.
After you have read and reread the poem a couple of times, I want you
to
practice timing yourself while reading.
If you come across a word you don’t know, remember to use your
cover-ups! Let me show you how the timed readings will work. It’s my turn to read, so Sally will hold the
stopwatch. When Sally says go, she will
press the start button and I will begin to read. I
will read the poem all the way through, and
when I finish, Sally will press the stop button on the stopwatch and
then we
will write down how much time it took me to read the poem.
Next, it will be Sally’s turn, and I will do
the stopwatch. I want you to this with
your partner, and keep doing it until I come around to your group. We will be reading it several times to
practice becoming fluent readers. You
may begin reading.
5.
Give students the new poem for assessment, Too Busy by
Bruce
Lansky. Poem talk: “This boy has done
all of his chores and more, and is just ‘too busy.’
What do you think he is ‘too busy’ for? We’ll
have to read to find out.” After the students have had the opportunity
to read
the poems a few times through, I will give them a one minute reading
assessment
on the new poem. While a couple of groups are doing this, the other
groups will
still be working on the first poem. Once
thy finish the assessment, they may go and practice the same skills
with a book
of their choice. “I heard some good reading as I walked around the room. Now I am going to give you and your partner a
new poem. You are going to have a few
minutes to practice reading the poem to each other a couple of times. After a few minutes, I will come around to
you and your reading buddy and time your reading for one minute, noting
how
many words you read in one minute. I
will give you your own reading chart that helps you keep track of your
improvement. Also, I will write the
amount of words you read (in one minute) on the class chart. As you
begin to
read more fluently, your football will move up the field.
After I finish timing your reading, you may
go and get a book of your choice. I want
you to continue practicing becoming fluent readers while I finish
timing
everyone else.”
Assessment: I
will assess the students by how fluently they read the
poem to me. The class reading chart will
also serve as a long term assessment.
References:
Smelley, Sarah K. “Nemo’s Fast
Swim.” http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/
reading_genie/catalysts/smelleygf.html
Morrow,
Casey. “5-4-3-2-1 Blast Off to
By Bruce Lansky
I’ve folded all my
laundry
and put it in the drawer.
I’ve changed my linen, made my bed,
and swept my bedroom floor.
I’ve emptied out the garbage
and fixed tomorrow’s lunch.
I’ve baked some cookies for dessert
and given dad a munch.
I’ve searched the house
for pencils
and sharpened every one.
There are so many things to do
when homework must be done.
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=135&CategoryID=9
Class
Gas
By Ken Nesbitt
The teacher passed out and fell right off
her chair.
My classmates are crying and gasping for air.
The hamster is howling and hiding his head.
The plants by the window are practically dead.
There’s gas in the class; it’s completely
my fault,
and smells like a chemical weapons assault.
So try to remember this lesson from me:
Don’t take off your shoes in class after P.E.
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=367&CategoryID=14
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Trial |
Number of Words Read |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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Fluency Assessment Chart
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1st Read |
2nd Read |
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Accuracy |
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Automaticity |
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Speed |
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