Ready? Set! READ!!
Alyssa Gilman
Growing Independence and Fluency
I. Rationale:
In order to become fluent readers, children must always continue to build their
sight vocabulary. Fluent readers can read and recognize words quickly,
automatically, and effortlessly. The best way to do this is to transition from
decoding to automatic word recognition. In this lesson, students will develop
fluency skills through repeated readings.
II.
Materials:
Fluency checklist for each student (checklist with: read faster, read smoother,
remembered more words, read with expression, and a spot for the time)
Time 1:
___________
Time 2:
___________
Checklist
1 Checklist 2
___
___ Read faster.
___ ___
Read smoother.
___
___
Remembered more words.
___
___
Read with expression.
Junie B.
Jones and some Sneaky Peaky Spying
by Barbara Park (class set), Stopwatches (class set), personalized graph to
chart reading time (for each student), cover up critter (for each student).
III.
Procedures:
1. Explain:
" Fluency is when we read words quickly, automatically, and effortlessly. In
order to become expert readers, we need to be able to read fluently. The main
goal of fluency is to develop our word recognition skills and expand our sight
vocabulary. We can practice fluency by reading a book more than once so we
become familiar with it. We will call this a repeated reading. When you read
something a few times, you know the word when you see it again, and it's easier
to understand the sentence."
2. Model:
"Let's practice how we would figure out a word we don't know by using
crosschecking. If I came to the sentence "The dog is sitting on a bench."
and didn't know the word bench, then I would use my cover up critter and
start by finishing the sentence to see if it made sense. My cat is on the
/b//e//n//ch/. Hmm… /b/r/a/n/ch/. Oh! Bench! A dog can be sitting on
a bench! That sentence says: The dog is sitting on a bench.
Then I am going to reread the sentence so that I will get the word instantly the
next time I see it."
3. "Now I'm
going to show you how a fluent reader sounds compared to a non-fluent reader.
Let's look at this sentence (written on the board) Lad is a bad dog. If
I was not a fluent reader, I would read like this: Llllaaadddd iss a baaaddd
doooggg. I read that so slow and spaced out that I'm not even sure what
I read! The message was harder to understand because it was so spread out. Now
listen to the difference when I read it fluently. Lad is a bad dog. I
understood what I was reading and got the message because my words flowed
together. Now I want you to try. Read this sentence fluently: Ted is
a good boy."
4. "Today we are
reading Junie B. Jones and some Sneaky Peaky Spying, but we are only
going to read the first chapter today." Book talk: Junie B. Jones
is great at spying on people. She’s great at spying because she has sneaky spy
feet and her nose doesn’t whistle when she breathes. Sometimes being a super
sneaky spy person can get you into trouble if you spy on the wrong person! You
will have to read the book to find out what happens to Junie B. Jones!
5. Give a copy
of the text and a cover up critter to each child. “Now I want you to start on
page 1 and begin reading to yourself using your cover up critter. If you finish
the first chapter do not go on to chapter 2. Begin to reread chapter 1.” Give
the students 5-10 minutes to complete the task. After the students are finished
reading, have a discussion about what was read. I will assess comprehension by
listening to student responses.
6. Have students
partner up and give out checklists and stopwatches to students. Assign half the
class as Partner A and the other half as Partner B. Have Partner A read chapter
1 aloud, while Partner B times him/her. Then have the partners switch roles.
After reading, have the students talk to each other about what they read
(evaluating comprehension). Then have Partner A read chapter one aloud,
while Partner B marks the checklist (read faster, read smoother, remembered more
words, read with expression). Then have the partners switch roles. Repeat these
steps once more (so that there are 2 timed readings and 2 checklist readings per
child).
7.
Assessment: Have the students turn in their score sheets after the repeated
readings are finished. Pull each student aside individually and graph their
speed so they can see their improvement as time goes on. Also use this time to
go over whether or not they were reading smooth, fast, with expression, and if
they remembered more words. If a student did poorly, have them try again with
the teacher. Ask: What is the problem? Who was Junie B.
spying on? (Two comprehension questions).
References:
Lawyer, Nicole.
“Ready, Set, Read!”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/lawyerngf.htm
Shepherd, Kasey.
“Read, Read, Repeat!”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/shepherdkgf.htm
Park, Barbara. Junie B. Jones and some Sneaky Peaky Spying. Random House Books for Young Readers. May 1994. 80 pages.