Race Down the Track With Fluency

Race Down the Track With Fluency

Rational: As children become better decoders they start off sounding very choppy reading each word individually. At this time we must make sure that we work with our students on fluency. This means that we work with them on reading smoothly and at a steady pace and read with expression. This will also improve your students reading comprehension because they are able to focus more on the meaning of words and less on the decoding. Through this lesson students will learn to read the sentences only pausing when there are punctuation marks. They will also learn to read with expression and smoothly.

Materials:

Class set of decodable books Lee and the Team. Educational Insights, 1990. (one per student)

Stopwatches (one per pair of students)

Pencils (one per student)

Timed reading charts (one per student)

One Minute Read Chart:

Name:______________________ Date:____________

1^st minute: ______

2^nd minute: ______

3^rd minute: ______

Fluency Rubric:

Reader:_________________ Listener:_________________ Date: ____________

Fluency rubric (one per student)

I noticed that my partner: (Put an X in the blank)

After 2^nd After 3^rd

Read Faster ______ ______

Read Smoother ______ ______

Read with Expression ______ ______

Remembered More Words ______ ______

Class set of cover up critters (one per student)

Procedure:

Today we are going to work on reading with fluency and with expression. Can anyone tell me what it means to read fluently? Yes, it means that we ready steadily without pausing after every word. (Write the sentence My mom is the best! on the board). Everyone remembers when they were first starting to read? We all soundedd something like this 'mmmyyyy mmmmmooooommmmmm is theee bbeeeeeessssttttt!' But then you begin to become a better reader and you may not have to decode every word but you sound like a robot, 'My - mom - is - the - best!' It is important to read with expression because it gives us a better feeling for the characters emotions and what they are thinking. Because there is an exclamation point at the end I know this sentence is being proclaimed and said with emphasis, 'My mom is the BEST!' Now can you all say it with me? Remember to use expression, 'My mom is the BEST!' Very good everyone! Do you see how I read it better this time? I had read the words twice before and had already decoded them and therefore was able to read it more smoothly.

Now we are all going to work on how we read words that are unfamiliar to us. First of all I need everyone to pull out their coverup critters. (As the students do this write the word trick on the board). If I came to this word in a sentence and I could not figure out what word it was I would use my critter to cover up all the letters but the vowels. I would be left with the I uncovered which says /i/. I would then add in the letters before the vowel, /tri/. Very good now we need to add in the last sound, /k/ now put it all together /trik/. This can really help you out when you do not know a word.

As we read today, the goal is not to read as quickly as possible because then all the words will lose their meaning. We need to make sure that we have a slight space between every word (so that the entire sentence does not sound like one bug long word) and that we are still comprehending what we are reading. Also be sure to cross check to make sure we are reading all of the words correctly. For example if we read the sentence, 'I tracked my mom to go to the party' I would realize that didn't make sense and see o yeah, it is tricked.

(Divide the students into paris giving each pair a stopwatch, 2 books Lee and the Team, 2 fluency rubric and 2 timed reading chart) Today we are going to read Lee and the Team it is about a boy on a baseball team that needs to get to his game, but he has one problem, all his teammates are sleeping under the tree! Will they get to the game on time? You will have to read the book to find out. One person is going to be the reader while the other is the listener. The reader will read the book for the first time while the listener times him. Once the reader finished he will record it on his timed reading chart. The reader will read the book a second time and the listener will time the reader again and also fill out the fluency chart. After the second read you will trade positions and do everything all over again. (teacher must model this to make sure students understand. Once students complete two reads collect sheets.

For assessment I will have each student come to me in the reading corner and read Lee and the Team for the third time. I will time them and do a running record and also mark off their fluency chart afterwards. I will use this to see that they read the book in less time and with few errors the third time, while also using expression at a steady pace. I will then have a quick discussion with the students about the book to also assess their reading comprehension.

References:

Climbing up Fluency Mountain. Terry, Meg.

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/terrygf.html

Lee and the Team. Educational Insights, 1990.