It’s a Fluency Party!
Growing
Rationale: One of the primary goals of reading instruction is for students to comprehend the text and to read automatically. In order for students to become fluent readers, they must be able to read words quickly, smoothly, and with expression. In order for students to increase their automaticity they will need to practice reading and rereading text. Reading practice among students will result in their increased reading achievement/ fluency. This lesson is designed to give students repeated readings of texts in order to become more fluent readers. It is also designed for them to have not only teacher/student help but peer help as well.
Materials:
- Speed Reading Record (shown below)
- Partner Check-sheet (shown below)
- Critter Cover-ups- Popsicle with eyes to represent a little critter
- Stop watches
- Pencils with students
- Whiteboard
- Copies of book, The Barn Party
Speed Reading Record:
Name: _________________________ Date: ___________
Time:
- After 1st read _______
- After 2nd read _______
- After 3rd read _______
Partner check- sheet:
Name: ________ Partner: ______________ Date: _________
I noticed that my partner... (Check the circle)
After 2nd after 3rd
( ) ( ) Remembered more words
( ) ( ) Read faster
( ) ( ) Read smoother
( ) ( ) Read with expression
Procedure:
1.
I will start the lesson by explaining to students what being a fluent
readers
means and why it is important that students are fluent readers. In
addition,
they must remember what they have read in order to interpret the
meaning of the
text. "Today we are going to practice
reading with speed and accuracy; this helps
us become more fluent readers. Reading a story many times helps us to
become
fluent readers. It is important that we learn to read fluently so that
we can
read things easily and with an appropriate speed, this allows us to be
able to
focus on the meaning of the words we are reading."
2. I will then go over the
cover-up technique
with the students. I will remind them how we use or critter cover-up
and how it
helps us decode words we do not know. I will write the word chicks on
the
board. Using my cover-up critter,
I am going to model how to decode a word. "If I do
not know what this word is, this is what I would... I cover
up everything but the i, (cover up all other letters)." Cover
up all the letters except the i and sound out the short i=/i/
sound. “Then I am going to look
at the letters leading up to the vowel, ch=/ch/. "Lastly, I would look
at the
end of my word and blend the last sounds with my chunk. So ck=ck, so
with
ch-i-ck you read chick. "Now when you come across
a tough word, you
can use your cover- up critter."
3.
Now, I am going to model fluent reading. I am going to write the
following sentence on the board: "Lad wants to come to the barn party."
"Now, I want you to listen to me model the way
that a fluent reader should read. When you read with fluency, you
put
together chunks of sentences and read with expression. I am going to
write the
same sentence on the board so that you can follow along with me." The first time, I will read it
slowly, without
fluency, “Lad-wants-to-come-to-the-barn-party.” I
will ask the children if that sounded like the way a fluent reader
would read.
They should recognize that it was hard to understand and very choppy.
Then, I
will reread the sentence in a smooth, expressive manner, "Lad wants to
come to
the barn party." Then, I
will explain to the
students that the reason it was hard to understand the non-fluent
sentence is
because the words were all chopped up and did not flow together to make
sense.
4.
Now, I am going to give each student a copy of the book, The
Barn Party. They will each read it once through and then get
partners for a time reading. "This book is about how Nate has been
visiting Tim
and Jan but lately, he is not much fun. Can Tim and Jan come up
with a
plan to get their friend away from the television?" After I give them
some motivation
to want to find out what happens they will read the book and we will
discuss
the events of the story.
5.
Next, the students will break up into partners and I will give each
group a
stopwatch and each child a Partner Check -Sheet and Speed Reading
Record.
Each child will read the book three times. The listener will time
each
reading and give a report after the second and third readings.
They will
record the times of each reading on the Speed Reading Record. No
criticism or
advice is allowed. The child simply marks on the evaluation
sheet. So
therefore there are no hurt feelings. Then I will
explain to the students that, "with
your partner, you will read the book three times. Your partner
will time
each reading and record the time on your Speed Reading Record. After
the second
and third readings, you will mark the evaluation sheet. You may
look at
the times to determine if your partner is reading faster each time."
Assessment:
The students will each bring me their Speed Reading Record and partner checklist. I will perform one-minute reads with each child to check for fluency and accuracy, noting their miscues. The one-minute reads will let me see how many words the child is reading a minute as well as how much automaticity is developed. Finally, I will ask a few comprehension questions to ensure that they did not speed read through the material and to see that they actually understood the story.
Resources:
Murray,
Bruce. Developing
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
Tamra Swindall, “Speedy Readers” http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/inroads/swindallgf.html
The Barn Party by Geri Murray Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html