GO READERS GO!


Tammy Bauer
Fluency Design

 

Rationale:

 Research has shown that fluency is an important component of reading comprehension.  When students first begin to read they usually read slowly but will gain speed as the words become more familiar and automatic to them.  Decoding is an important factor in helping to improve fluency.  Reading and rereading decodable texts helps students to become more fluent readers.  This lesson will help children learn to read faster and more fluently.  The students will work on reading fluency through repeated readings while being timed.  The students will gain fluency through repeated readings as well as one-minute reads.

 
Materials: 

Class set of Educational Insights decodable books
Class set of In the Big Top by Shelia Cushman (one per student)
Stopwatch
Pencils
Chart with sentence (I like to kiss my dog.)
Chart with sentence (Tom got a dog at the pet shop.)
One minute read charts (one for each student)

Name:_____________  Date:__________

First Read_______________  Second Read____________  Third Read_____________

Fluency checklist (1 per student) (picture below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Procedures:

  1. Introduce the lesson to the students by explaining the concept of reading fast and fluently.  "Our goal for reading today is learning to read faster.  Reading fast and also smooth will help us understand what we are reading better.  Do you think it is important to understand what we read?  Today we will work on repeated reading with partners."  Explain the concept of repeated reading and how it helps us learn to read faster.
  2. I will then pair up the students and have them practice in pairs.  "Now let's look at another chart that I put on the board.  The sentence on this chart says 'Tom got a dog at the pet shop.'  I want you to read this sentence to your partner and then let your partner read it to you.  After each one of you has read it once, I want you to then read it to yourselves silently three times.  After you have read it three times, read it again aloud to your partner.  Which time did you read it faster to your partner, the first time or the second time?"
  3. First, I will review the cover-up strategy with all of them.  "Okay everybody, what do we do when we come to a word that we don't know when we are reading?  That's right, we use cover-ups.  For example if I saw this word (write fuzz on the board) when I was reading and did not know it, I would cover-up all the letters (f, z, z) but not the vowel u because I know that u= /u/.  Now look at the letter before the vowel u, the f.  Blend this phoneme with the vowel u.  This sounds like /f/u/.  Then blend the letters at the end of the word, the zz, with the rest of the letters to make /f/u/z/z/.  When you see a word that you don't know how to read, use the cover-up strategy to help you decode the word."
  4. Model fluent and timed reading. We are going to read In the Big Top.  Roz, Tod, Mom and Pop all need to get into a hot rod.  The hot rod is small.  They all have objects that need to get in the hot rod with them.  Do you think that all of them and their objects will fit into the hot rod?  After reading the book to the students talk to them about reading fluently.  "Did you notice how smooth I read the book and how my voiced changed as I read the sentences?"
  5. I will then have the students get back with their partners so they can take turns reading and listening to each other.  "Now you are going to take turns being the reader and the listener.  We are going to read In the Big Top.  I want you to read as many words from the book as you can in one minute.  I will set the stopwatch for one minute and when you hear it go off please stop reading at that moment.  The reader is going to read the book three times and the listener is going to fill out the checklist after the second and third reads.  If you miss a word, please use the cover-up strategies and then go back and reread.  If you miss more than one word on a page this book might need to change to another book.  I have a set of books that you may choose from if you would like another book."  Show students the chart with the sections remembered more words, read faster, read smoother and read with expression.  Explain to the students that they are not allowed to criticize or make fun of their partner.
  6. I will assess the students by checking each fluency chart.  I will also monitor the students' progress during one-minute reads and record their time on a one-minute read chart.  Each student will do three one-minute reads.  After everyone has finished with the repeated reading, we will then discuss In the Big Top to make sure everyone understood and comprehended the text. 

References:

 Cadrette, Mallory.  Super Speedy Readers!!"  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/cadrettegf.html

 Cushman, Shelia.  In the Big Top.  Educational Insights:  Carson, CA  1990.

 Murray, Bruce.  How to Develop Reading Fluency.  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html.

 Rockwell, Lauren.  Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/constr/rockwellgf.html.

 

 

 

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