Read it Like You Mean It!
Rationale: The purpose of this design is to encourage
children to use expression when reading orally. By allowing
children
to read out loud and modeling how to use expression, they will become
more
comfortable. They will see and understand that reading is not
just
a task, it can be very enjoyable.
Materials: enough copies of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Pigs for every student, check sheets with expression ratings to evaluate peers (with ãHe/She read the story with: Some expression Good expression Wow! (I want to read like that!), chalk board and chalk, punctuation poster
Procedures: (caps indicate instruction)
1. READING A STORY IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING WHEN WE READ IT WITH
EXPRESSION.
OUR VOICE MAY GO UP OR DOWN AND OUR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS MAY
CHANGE.
WATCH MY FACE AND LISTEN TO MY VOICE AS I READ THIS STORY. (Read
The Three Little Pigs once with a monotone voice and once with
expression)
2. Ask the children which reading they liked the best and why?
Explain that the second reading was better because it kept me
interested
in what was going on in the story. BEFORE WE BEGIN READING,
LETâS
REVIEW WHAT SOUND THE LETTERS sn MAKE. (so they can read sneeze in the
book). SN MAKES THE /SN/ SOUND LIKE IN THE WORDS SNEEZE, SNAKE, SNAP,
AND
SNIP. LISTEN TO THE /SN/ IN THIS SILLY SENTENCE. SNIP THE
SNAKE
SNARLED AS SNAP THE SNAKE SNEEZED. WHAT KIND OF PUNCTUATION WOULD
THIS SENTENCE NEED? (point to punctuation poster) RIGHT, AN
EXCLAMATION MARK. SEE HOW MY VOICE IS HIGHER WHEN I READ THE
SENTENCE
AGAIN AND MAKE IT AN EXCLAMATION? (make other sentences with periods
and
question and explain and model the difference.)
3. IF WE COME TO A WORD WE DONâT KNOW, WE CAN COVER UP PART OF
IT UNTIL WE CAN PUT IT ALL TOGETHER AGAIN. (model covering up
chunks
of words such as neigh-bor, door-nail, im-pol-ite, etc.)Have children
chunk
big words on their own paper and check and provide help where
needed.
(assessment)
4. NOW I WOULD LIKE ALL OF YOU TO PRACTICE READING WITH EXPRESSION
WITH A PARTNER. WE ARE GOING TO READ A NEW STORY AFTER WE READ
THE
THREE LITTLE PIGS. IT IS CALLED THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE
LITTLE
PIGS. LISTEN TO YOUR PARTNER READ AND MARK WHICH TYPE OF READING
THEY DID BY USING THE CHECKSHEET. (peer assessment)
5. Ask the children to vote on which story they liked best and
why.
Make a chart of the results. Also, make a chart of the
ãexpression
levelsä of the students: how many had some expression, good
expression,
and wow! expression. Let each child demonstrate expression by
reading
a few sentences or a page of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
aloud
to the class.
Reference: The Three Little Pigs, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Adams, Marilyn. Beginning to Read
Wilson, P. (1992). Among nonreaders: Voluntary reading, reading achievement, and the development of reading habits. In C. Temple and P. Collins (Eds.), Stories and readers: New perspectives on literature in the elementary classroom (pp. 157-169). Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon.
