Brittney Garnett
Let’s
get to the Finish Line!
Developing
Reading Fluency
Rationale:
Becoming
a successful reader means that students must be able to
read fluently. In this lesson students will reread texts and practice
with one
minute reads to gain the ability to bring the story alive by using
expression, reading
fast as well as smoothly. The ultimate goal for reading is increasing
your capability
of understanding what you read about and by becoming a fluent reader
you will
achieve this goal!
Materials:
Dry Erase Board and Markers, Teacher Copy of Jane
and Babe Educational Insights, 1990, Provide each student with a
copy of Jane
and Babe Educational Insights, 1990 per pair of students, 1
racecar time
sheet per student numbered by 10’s (see below), 1 stopwatch per pair of
students
Procedures:
1.
I will start the
lesson by reviewing what it takes to be a good reader. Say: Raise your
hand if
you can answer: “What are some things you can do to be a good reader?”
Allow
the students to guess as many answers as possible. Then, I will go over
the
importance of being a fluent reader. Next say: Reading is a fun and
enjoyable
thing to do. Understanding a story when you read is the main key for
reading and
by becoming a good fluent reader you will be able to achieve this
objective. If
you are having trouble reading, and struggling on the sentences in the
story,
you cannot fully understand and enjoy what you are reading. Today, we
are going
to practice on some skills during reading to help you gain the ability
to
become good fluent readers. So, that when you read will be able to
comprehend
and enjoy what you read and it won’t be a struggle anymore.
2.
Review with the
students that when there is a silent e at the end of the word,
the vowel
in the word says its name. This can also be called a “Bossy E.” I will
write
some words on the board to model how to read words that end in a silent
e.
Say: “Look at this word l-a-n-e. I
look at this word and I know that a makes a sound like I’m
biting into
an apple so I think this word is lllaaann. But now I see there
is a
silent e or bossy e at
the end which means that a is going to say its name so
therefore the
word is lane.” Other words
include: name, wake, cage, late
3.
Next, take out a copy
of the book Jane and Babe. Say: “Today we will be reading this
story
while practicing the skills to become fast, smooth, and expressive
readers.”
Then, explain: “When learning to become good fluent readers it takes
trails and
errors. So when you read a book for the first time you might have to
read the story
over and over again to be able to know the words and understand it. Let
me show
you. I am going to read a sentence out of this book three times in a
row. I
want you to listen to me as I say it each time and see if you can tell
a
difference.” I will then read the sentence, Babe stays in his cage,
three times. The first time I will sound it out phoneme by phoneme and
talk
with no expression. The second time I will read it a little more
quickly but
still with no expression. The third time I will read it fluently with
expression. Finally ask the students: “Okay, now who can tell me which
time the
sentence sounded the best? The third time is definitely the best.
Sometimes it
just takes a little practice to make it sound really good, and by
rereading the
same thing over and over again, I was able to practice.
4.
Next, have students get
with a reading buddy. I will explain to the students that they will be
doing
what we call one minute reads. Say: “Now I want you all to get with
your
reading buddies. You should have a copy of the book Jane
and Babe and a stopwatch. You will also need a racecar time
sheet to record how fast you are reading. Your racecar time sheet is to
record
how many words you read within a minute that you timed. You cannot go
over one
minute. You are going to take turns with your partner reading. At the
end of
the minute you will record how many words you read. Each of you will do
this
three times. But remember, it is important to make sure you are reading
the
words fluently and accurately. I do not want you to rush through
reading and
make mistakes. Make sure that you record how many words that you read
per minute
with your reading buddy. I would like for you to practice the reading
the whole
book three times silently to yourself before timing each other.
5.
As an assessment I
will individually do a one minute reading with each student. I will use
the
racecar time sheet as well and use a stopwatch. In this way I will be
able to
see their improvement along the way. And they will be able to see
their
improvement as well when they see their progress on the racecar track
of how
many words they read in a minute. For those who did not improve very
much I
will work with more often to improve on their fluency.
Reference:
Bier,
Rachel. Race to
the Finish!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/constr/biergf.html
Cushman,
Sheila &
Kornblum, Rona. Jane and Babe Educational Insights, 1990.
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