Goal: Growing Independence and Fluency
Rational: It is not enough to be able to read; you must be able
to be fluent in what you read to be able to comprehend what you are
reading in order to enjoy it. Comprehension requires so much of a
reader's attention; you must decrease the time you spend on
decoding. Reading fluency is the ability to recognize words
accurately, rapidly, and automatically. Fluent readers use less of
their time decoding, leaving more time to comprehension.
This lesson will show you how to become a fluent reader so you too can
enjoy reading.
Materials: Book talks on the following books: Come and Have Fun,
Rube and the Tube, What Will the Seal Eat? (For modeling), Sammy the
Seal. (See references for authors of books) Also, a variety of
other decodable books for them to choose from, a stopwatch, and the
sentence, I want to go to Disneyland for my next birthday! Written on
the board, check-sheets for partner readings:
(http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/fluency.html), and pencils.
Procedures: 1. “Today we are going to talk about the correct and
incorrect ways to read a book. First I will read a book called
What Will the Seal Eat? First let me tell you a little bit about the
book to try and get you interested in the book. It's about a seal
that is hungry but can't seem to find anything that seals eat. Do
you believe he will eventually find something? Let's read and see
if he does.” (Begin reading the first half of the book smoothly
and with expression. Then read the second half slow, choppy and
without expression) Ask the children a few questions about what they
have learned thus far when you finish reading the first half of the
book. (They may say seals don't eat beans, beets, beef, or peas)
Then read the second half of the book and ask the children what they
learned during the second reading. (They will have a hard time
answering because the reading was so slow, choppy, and without
expression that it made it hard to comprehend) Explain to the
students that “in order to comprehend what we read, we must become
fluent readers and read with expression. We can do this by
reading and rereading. For example: I want you to read the
sentence on the board slow and without expression.” (Write the sentence
I want to go to Disneyland for my next birthday! on the board)
Now read the sentence fast and with expression. “Which one
sounded better?” ( The second one.) “Good job. And do you know
why the second one sounded better? It is because it was more speaking
to me instead of reading to me.”
2. “Before we starting our reading, I would love for us to review
what we do when we get stuck on a word. So first, we take a shot by
covering up part of the word to make it easier to sound out. If
this doesn’t work we read to the end of the sentence to see what would
make sense. If you are still having trouble you would change your
guess to fit the sentence. Can someone tell me what we do after
we know the correct word? Read the sentence again.
Right! Always reread the sentence from the beginning so you can
get back into the meaning of the story. Very good class!
Now let's read.”
3. “Class, before I let you pick out a book to read, I am going
to give book talks. Now I want you to listen carefully to the
book talks because you may want to choose one of these books to
read. If you do not find these books to be interesting, you can
choose a book from this stack here on the table. (Have the extra
decodable books on a table) Give book talks on and provide Rube
the Tube, Come and Have Fun and Sammy the Seal. A book talk on
Rube the Tube would be: “Rube and the Tube is about a man by the name
of Duke who sells tubes for the kids to use at the sea. Rube,
Dukes mule, takes a huge tube and runs and hides. Will Duke find
Rube and his tube? Now, can someone tell me how we go about
selecting a book when we have not heard a book talk on it? Is it
by the book's cover? No it sure isn’t! You choose a book by
reading a few passages from it or by reading the back of the book where
it tells you what it is about. Also, remember the two finger test
when choosing your book. If, while reading, there are more than
two words on a page that you don’t understand, the book will more than
likely be too hard for you. Now I want each of you to choose a
book to read.”
4. “Now that everyone has a book, I want you to find a spot in
the room where you will be comfortable. I want you to read your
book three times silently over the next fifteen minutes. If you
finish reading three times before the fifteen minutes are up you may
read the book again. As you read, try to put more and more
expression into your readings. This will enhance your reading
fluency.”
Assessment: (1 minute reads) “Now we are going to play a game.
Now that each of you has read your book at least three times, I am
going to use a stopwatch to see how fast you can read during one
minute. I want each of you to pick a partner. Your partner
will be responsible for counting the words you read during the one
minute and for completing a check sheet after each reading. Remember
you can't skip a word. Practice cover-ups and rereading to
understand a word. Now let's read.” Start the stopwatch.
(Remind them to read fast and with expression) “That is great
boys and girls. Now let's switch places. Your partner will
read his/her book while you count words and fill out the check sheet.”
(Repeat the procedure three times) “Now we will see who read the
fastest, who read with the most expression, who read the most words,
and who remembered more words.”
References:
TheReadingGenie:http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/fluency.html
“Rube and the Tube” by: Cushman and Kornblum; Educational
Insights, 1990.
“What Will the Seal Eat?”. Carson, CA: Educational Insights, 1990.
“Come and Have Fun.” Hurd, H: Educational Insights, 1990.
“Sammy the Seal” By: Hoff, S: Educational Insights, 1990
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