It's a Good Day to
Start Reading
Fluently
Growing Independence and Fluency
Rationale:
It is important for
students
to become fluent so they can recognize words automatically. Students must read decodable books over and
over again to become fluent readers who can read with expression to
gain
confidence in their reading ability. In this lesson, students will
read, reread
and do timed partner readings to improve their fluency.
Materials:
Dry erase board,
dry erase
marker, cover-up critters for each pair of students, a book for each
pair of
students (James and the Good Day), a stopwatch or kitchen timer
for each
pair of students, a reading graph for each student.
(The cover-up
critter is made
from a Popsicle stick with little googly eyes glued on)
(Each student will
have his
or her own reading graph made from graph paper that will track their
reading.)
Procedures:
1. I will begin
this lesson
by explaining to students the importance of becoming fluent readers.
"Today,
we are going to talk about something that is very important to our
reading:
fluency. I know you may struggle with some words and it is hard, but
this is
how we learn new words. Pretty soon, after reading books over and over
again,
you will be able to recognize words without any trouble."
2. Next I am going
to write
the sentence "My dog likes to run in the park" on the dry erase
board. "I am going to use my decoding skills to read this sentence, but
I
need your help." Start to read the sentence, "My dog llllliiiii… Ok,
I need your help. What could we do to try and figure out this word?
(Allow the
students to respond). Correct, we could use our cover-up critters to
help us
figure out the word." Then we will use the cover-up critter to finish
decoding the rest of the words in the sentence. I will explain to them
how we
use our cover-up critters. We put them over a word and uncover each
letter
individually while sounding them out and then blending them together.
3. Since it is
important for
students to read and reread words many times to improve their fluency,
I will
have the students reread this sentence a couple of times. "Ok, now I
want
you to read this sentence to me…My dog likes to run in the park. Now,
let's
read it together. Great job!"
4. Then I will
explain to the
students how important it is to read with expression once they have
mastered
the words. "Once you have learned the words in a sentence, you then
must
read the sentence with expression. Expression adds meaning to the
sentence and
then to the story you are reading." I will then write another sentence
on
the dry erase board: The tug boat is in the bath tub. "Ok students, I
am
going to read this sentence the first time without any expression and
then I
will reread the sentence with expression and I want you to tell me the
difference you hear." (I will wait for them to respond.) This will let
them hear the difference of reading with and without expression and
reading
with expression leads to reading fluently. After reading the sentence
without
and then with expression, I will explain to the students that it is
important
for them to read with expression so they will comprehend the story and
become
more fluent readers.
5. "Today we are
going
to read the book James and the Good Day. James is looking
forward to
playing all day long. He decided to play in the bathtub with his tug
boat. But
what happens when he isn't paying attention? Let's read the story to
find out.
Remember once you have read the book a couple of times, I want you to
practice
reading with expression."
6. Then I will
divide the
class into pairs. "You have done such a great job helping me read
fluently, so now I want you to try. I am going to put you into pairs
and I want
you and your partner to read the book once silently. After you have
read the
book once to yourself, I want one person to read while your partner
times you
for one minute and then records how many words you read on a graph. You
will
take turns and will each read the story three times and then you will
record
your partner three times. Does everyone understand?"
Assessment:
"I will call you up
to
my desk one at a time and have you read to me. I know that you are
going to
read fluently and with expression since you have practiced with your
partner. I
can't wait to hear you read." I will also look at each student's
fluency
graph to assess their progress.
References:
James and the
Good Day. Educational
Insights. Carson, CA.1990. 9 pp.
Murray, Dr. Bruce. How to develop reading
fluency.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html