“Exciting Expressions!”
By: Lyndsey Tenney
Fluency Lesson Plan
Rationale: When a student becomes
fluent they have the ability to recognize words quickly, accurately, and
automatically. Once fluent, it is very important to begin teaching them how to
read with expressions. It is important for students to recognize the feelings
and emotions that each character portray in a story. Learning how to read with
expressions will also excite the students because it allows them to have fun
with reading by ‘playing the part’ of different characters. In this lesson
students will read and re-read portions of the book “Horrible Harry and the
Dragon War.” They will also be matching different expressions with different
moods that they think go along with the expression.
Materials:
Book:
Horrible Harry and the Dragon War, By Suzy Kline
Expression checklist
Notebook paper
Pencils
Paper plates with expression faces
Procedure:
1.
I will begin the lesson by telling the class: “Today, before we get started on
our lesson I want to read a paragraph to you. I’m going to read it to you two
different times and after I read I want you to tell me if you noticed a
difference between the two times.”
Read:
I woke up to a banging knock on the door
“KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.” I sprinted anxiously out of bed in a panic. I inched
quietly towards the doorknob and as I reached for the handle the door sprung
wide open blown in by the wind!
(First time read with NO expression, second time
read WITH expression)
“So, did you notice a difference between the two
times I read the same paragraph? What were the differences? Which time was it
more enjoyable to listen to me read? Many of you said the second time was more
enjoyable. That’s because I read with lots of expression! Does anyone know
exactly what it means to read with expression? That’s right, reading with
expression means to read with different feelings and emotions that the
characters express in the stories you read. Did you notice how I expressed the
loud banging at the door as “KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK” very loudly? And also how I
lowered my voice very quietly and sneaky as I read the part about “inching
quietly towards the doorknob?” That’s exactly what expression is!
“So, if the mood of a story was very sad how
would I read the sentence: Mary lost her
doll ? How would I read the same sentence
if the person in the story was angry? These are all ways to read with
expression!
2.
“Now I’m going to show you a few different paper plate faces that I have created
and see if you can guess their expressions. As we read, we can also make
expressions not only through our voices but through our faces as well.”
There will be paper plates with faces: Happy,
sad, confused, mad, etc.
3.
After explaining to the class what it means to read with expressions and showing
them examples, I will give them all their own copy of “Horrible
Harry and the Dragon War.” Book
Talk: “This book is about two friends named Harry and Song Lee who have been
best friends since kindergarten. Everything suddenly changes when they work
together as partners for a project in Miss Mackle’s class. Something happens to
cause Song Lee to not even speak to Harry anymore. Will their friendship survive
this project? You’ll have to read to find out!”
4.
“Now you will be practicing expression on your own. Everyone will be turning to
page 8 of this book. I want you to read this chapter once silently to yourself.
While you do that, note the places that you notice major expressions. The next
time you read, I want you to read to a partner at your table. When your partner
is reading, you will be filling out an expression checklist! This checklist has
different sentences throughout the chapter that should be read with lots of
expression!
Sentences included in the checklist:
“I’m
excited about this new quick drying art paste for our paper mache’.”
“Mine’s
not mean,” Song Lee said softly.
Harry rolled his eyes, “What’s he
eating?”
“Your
dragon is stupid.”
“My
dragon is not stupid, he’s fierce!”
5. “Next, you will be given a list of questions to answer about the text. Once you are finished you will swap papers with your partner and have them check your answers. For the ones you get wrong, please go back together in your text and figure out why our answer wasn't correct.
Questions:
1. Why do you think Song Lee and Harry were arguing so much?
2. Do you think it was a good idea for these two close friends to be assigned to work together on a project? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think Harry called Song Lee's dragon stupid?
6.
At the end of the lesson the checklists should be collected and looked through
by the teacher to see who fully understands what it means to read with
expressions and who needs more work!
References:
Ivey, Jennifer: Express Yourself
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/readinggenie/awakenings/iveyjgf.htm
Kline, Suzy, and Frank Remkiewicz. Horrible Harry and the Dragon War. New
York: Scholastic, 2003. Print.