Swing Into Faster Reading
Rationale: As students decode and start to read words
automatically,
they become more fluent. Fluent readers enjoy reading because they no
longer
struggle to read words. Fluent readers gain independence in reading
through
practice and repeated readings. This lesson will help readers practice
to
become fluent.
Materials:
Speed reading sheet
Partner check sheet
Pencils
Stop watches for each pair of students
Dry erase marker
Laminated monkey WPM
sheet
(monkeys will have Velcro on them, and the laminated poster will have
Velcro on
it, their will also be numbers on it marking how many WPM students
read, as
students read more WPM the monkey goes up the chart and the number
where the
outstretched hand touches is the number of words they read)
Sentence strips-
"Monkeys are
on the books." and "Monkeys are on the plates."
Cover-up critters
Sentence strip with the word plan
Copies for each student of Monkeys, Monkeys! by
Daniel Moreton. c 2003.
Speed
Reading Record:
Name:_________________________
Date:___________
Time:
After 1st read
_______
After 2nd
read _______
After 3rd
read
_______
Partner Check Sheet:
When I take
note of my partners read, he/she can:
After 2nd
After 3rd
1. Remembered more
words _______
_______
2. Read
faster
_______ _______
3. Read
smoother _______
_______
4. Read with
expression _______
_______
Procedures:
1. Begin the lesson by
letting children know that you will be working on reading fluently.
"Boys
and girls, can anyone tell me what it means to read fluently? You are
absolutely right; it means to read fast where you can read the words
automatically. When we first begin to read, we sometimes stumble over
the
words, but with lots of practice we can read words easily. One way we
can
become better and faster readers is to reread stories over and over
again. That
is what we are going to be doing today!
2. But
first I want us to work on reading some sentences
together. If I were to ask a non fluent reader to read this sentence
(put up
sentence strip with the sentence "Monkeys are on the books.") they
might read it like this Moneys are on the booooooks. But they would
probably go
back and think that Moneys doesn't really make sense. So they would say
"Oh,
Monkeys are on the books!" They would probably still read it very slow
though, maybe even sound like a robot. But if you were to see this
sentence
many times, it would get
easier and easier
and you would read it quickly. Let's read this sentence quickly and
fluently as
a class. "Monkeys are on the books." Good job! Now what about this
sentence? (put up sentence strip of "Monkeys are on the plates.") A
non fluent reader would have to sound out each word and would probably
be very
slow. It would sound like this, Monkeeeeyyyss are on the
pllllaaaatttteees. We
don't want it to sound like that though do we? We want you to read it
fast and
with lots of expression. Can someone tell me what that would sound
like? (call
on student to demonstrate) Great job, I love how you read with
expression that
time!
3.
Explain to kids
that sometimes when we read we come across words that are very
difficult.
"Boys and girls, sometimes a very hard word may jump out at us that we
don't
know how to read when we first see it. I want to show you an easy way
to tell
what that word is. These are called coverup critters, they are going to
be your
new best friend. Everyone is going to get one. Now I want you to listen
very
carefully, if I showed you this word (put up sentence strip with the
word "plan")
that word may be very difficult for some people. You would
cover-up
everything but your vowel. Your vowel is a so we know it makes the /a/
sound.
Then you would uncover the beginning, p and l sounds like /pl/, add
that to
your /a/ sound and it gives you /p//l//a/ and then you add your ending,
oh that
says plan! That wasn't hard was it? I want you to keep your cover-up
critters
and if you ever come to a hard word you don't know right off the bat,
let them
help you figure it out.
4.
Next, students
will be put in pairs and each child will be given a copy of Monkeys,
Monkeys! I
will perform a book talk saying that "This book is about a house full
of
monkeys! Monkeys are very active animals and they usually cannot stay
still
very long. They like to mess with things. So I wonder if they are going
to get
into trouble or mess up anything in this house. Let's read and find out.
5.
Students will
go off to a part of the room with their partner and their books. I will
explain
to them that they are going to be given stopwatches to time their
partners
reading. We will discuss the Speed Reading Record and the Partner Check
Sheet. "Okay
class, we are going to be timing ourselves reading. We are going to
each read
the story three times and your partner will tell how many words you
read each
minute and whether or not your read smooth, fast, and with expression.
Remember
that reading with expression is when you really get into the story.
Also, every
time you read you need to move your monkey on your chart, so we can see
how
much you have progressed. Make sure that the outstretched hand is
at the
number of words you read. You may start when you are ready." During
this
time, the teacher walks around and makes note of how the students are
doing.
Assessments:
For
assessment, I will individually work with each child allowing them to
come read
the story to me. I will look at the notes I made about the students
when I was
walking around and listening to them, I will look at what their partner
put
down on their sheets and I will note any progress the child has made. I
will
have students bring their monkey posters with them and when they finish
reading
their story, we will place the monkey where it needs to be!
References:
Murray,
Bruce. Developing
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
Wright,
Amber. Flying to Fluency
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/wrightgf.html
Return to the sightings
index.