Rationale:
Fluency is a
critical skill for every reader to master. Fluent readers
recognize words easily and automatically, and read these words with
expression. In order to develop fluency, students should read and
reread decodable texts so that the words become sight words to the
student, and thus, automatic. By becoming fluent readers,
students develop a higher rate of comprehension as well.
Materials:
1. Speed Reading Record for each student
2. Partner check sheet for each student
3. Stop Watches - one for each pair of students
4. Pencils for students
5. Whiteboard
6. Marker
7. Coverup buddies for each student (a colored
popsicle stick with eyes on the end)
8. Copies of the book for each student or pair of
students: What Will the Seal Eat? By Sheila Cushman
& Rona Kornblum. Illustrated by Bob Brugger
Speed Reading Record:
Name:_________________________
Date:___________
Time:
-After 1st
read
_______
-After 2nd
read _______
-After 3rd
read
_______
Partner Check Sheet for students to assess their partner's fluency:
As I listened to my partner read, he/she:
After 2nd
After 3rd
1. Remembered more
words
_______ _______
2. Read
faster
_______ _______
3. Read
smoother
_______ _______
4. Read with
expression
_______ _______
Procedure:
1. I will introduce this lesson by first explaining what a fluent
reader is. "Today, we are going to practice reading and become
more fluent. Can anybody tell me what fluency is? Great
job! Fluent readers read words quickly, automatically, and with
expression.” [I will then write the sentence, “Sally can jump more than
three feet in the air!” on the board. Next, I will demonstrate
how beginning readers would read the sentence and then how a fluent
reader would read it,] “Okay, let’s look at this
sentence. If a beginning reader was reading this sentence it may
sound something like, ‘S-aaa-lly can j-jump more than th-th-ree-three
feet in the –arrr-errr-air.’ Now is that easy to
understand? No. If a fluent reader was reading this
sentence, it may sound like ‘Sally can jump more than THREE FEET in the
air!!’ What differences did you notice between the beginning reader and
the fluent readers reading of the sentence? Right. Good
job. How do you think that a beginning reader can become a
fluent reader? Right, by practicing. The more practice you
have, the more fluent you can become.”
2. After introducing fluency, the definition of fluency, and the
difference between it and beginning readers, we will go over the
cover-up strategy that the students can use while reading. "Okay,
what can we do when we come across a word that we don’t know while we
read? Right, we use cover-ups. For example if I was reading
my book and I came across … (write frame on the board) and didn’t know
what it was, I would cover-up all of the letters (f, r, m) except
for the vowels a because I know that a_e = /A/. Now let’s
look at the letters that come before a_e, which are fr. If we
blended these phonemes with the a_e sound, what would it sound
like? Right, it would sound like f/r/A. Then if we blended
the letters with the letter that’s between a and e, what would it sound
like? Good job! It would sound like f/r/A/m. So
whenever we’re reading and we come across a tough word that we may have
never seen before, what method do we use? Right! The
Cover-Up Method!”
3. We will then move on to crosschecking. I will explain to the
students that, "Reading fast isn’t the only thing that we need to
understand what we read. We have to learn how to crosscheck what
we read so that we can make sure that the sentence we just read makes
sense. For example, if I came across … (Sally ran and ran all the
way home.) in a book and I read it as “Sally run and run all the way
home”, I would have to use my crosschecking skills to make sure that
the sentence made sense. Does “Sally run and run all the way
home” make sense? No, so I will go back, and look at my vowel,
a=/a/, and correct myself.
4. I will then split up my class into partners and pass out our
book, What Will the Seal Eat?, to each child, along with a Fluency
Rubric and One Minute Read Chart to each individual child. After
everybody has their materials that they need for the lesson, I will
give a book talk on What Will the Seal Eat? “This book is called
What Will the Seal Eat? The seal needs to eat, but he doesn’t
know where to find food. He goes to many different places to find
food, but he doesn’t like anything that they have. Will he find
food? Where do you think he’ll find it?”
5. Finally, I will instruct my students on how to complete the fluency
activity. “You and your partner are going to take turns reading
to each other so that you can get some practice reading with
fluency. Do you remember what fluency is? Right!
Fluency means reading with expression and without stalling on
words. Okay, now the first time you read through the book, I want
you to read it only to yourself. After you read the book to
yourself, then you can read it to your partner. One of you will
read, and the other will record the results; then you will switch
jobs. While the reader reads, the recorder will fill in the
fluency checklist after their partner's second and third reading.
So, how many times should you read your book? Right! Three
times. Are there any questions about the activity before we
begin?"
Assessment: I will assess
this lesson by having each student turn in their Speed Reading Record
and their Partner Checklist. I will then have each student do
one-minute reads with me so that I can check for accuracy of the
partner work.
References:
Cushman, Sheila and Rona Kornblum. What Will the Seal Eat? 1990.
Murray, Bruce. Developing Reading Fluency
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
Ward, Maribeth. Fly Away With Fluency. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/wardgf.html
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