Flying Towards Fluency with Baby Hoot!
Fluency Lesson
Rationale:
Reading fluency is being able to read with automatic word recognition. When
readers become fluent their ability to read text quick, smooth, and with
expression will increase. The strongest research evidence supports the method of
repeated to gain fluency. The goal of this lesson is to improve student's
fluency through repeated readings and timed reading.
Materials: Student copies of The Car Trip by Matt Sims.
(High Noon Books 2001), stopwatch
or timer for teacher and each student, fluency Checklist for each student (see
Bottom), reading Record time sheet for each student (see Bottom), Cover up
Critter for each student (a cover up created is created using a colored Popsicle
stick, and two small googly eyes glued to one end!), sentence strip that reads:
Lee and his team flee the bee!, pencil for each student
Procedure:
1.
The teacher will introduce the lesson by saying "We are going to be learning how
to become better fluent readers today!" Teachers should explain to students what
fluent reading means by saying "Fluent reading is when students can read with
expression to make the story more interesting, and fluent readers have the
ability to read smooth and quick!
It is very important to improve your fluency if you want to become a good
reader. Fluency is being able to read smoothly without stopping between words.
In addition, fluent readers can read the words with little or no effort. Once
you become a fluent reader, the text you read will make more sense to you
because you do not have to keep stopping while you read. Every time you read the
text, you become more familiar with it, so you also read much faster!"
2. The teacher should then put the sentence strip on the board that reads: Lee
and his team flee the bee. "Now we are going to work on our fluency!
I will model fluency. I'm going to read a sentence to you like a beginning
reader would. L-l-l-lee a-a-a-and h-h-h-his t-t-t-team f-f-f-flee t-t-t-the
b-b-b-bee. Did that sound fluent to you? I did not think so either. Now, I am
going to read the sentence fluently. L-l-lee a-a-and h-h-his t-t-team fl-fl-flee
th-th-the b-b-bee. Do you think we can read it more fluent? Me too. Let us try
it again. Lee and his team flee the bee. That sentence was a lot easier to
understand. It was easier to understand because it was fluent and smooth."
3. "When you are reading and you come across a word that you do not know you can
use your cover up critter to figure out the word! I will show you an example!"
Teacher writes the word strand on the
board. "I am going to pretend that I do not know this word! First, I am going to
find the vowel and cover up all the other letters. The vowel is
a, I know that short a makes the /a/
sound. Then I will uncover all the letters before the vowel, which in this case
is s-t-r I will pronounce that
/s/t/r/a/ then I will uncover the
rest of the word and sound it out. /n/d/.
If the cover up critter does not work you may try asking your partner for help!"
4. The teacher will then engage students in a book talk about the story
The Car Trip. Book talk: "This story
is about Dad and Roy going on a trip to the west coast! They will have to travel
very long and far to get there! I wonder what they will do along the way!? We
will have to read to find out!
5. The teacher should now pass out a copy of the book to each student. "I am
going to read the book to you the first time! I want you to follow along and pay
attention to how fluently I am reading!"
6. The teacher should now tell the students about their re-reading activity. The
teacher should make sure to explain to the students that "because of repeated
readings, reading gets easier, the words start jumping out at you, and it is
easier for you to understand the story! When you read fluently, you can focus on
the words of the story because you are reading with a lot of expression!"
7. The teacher should now pair up students and assign them different spots in
the room. Make sure that each pair of students receives a fluency literacy
rubric, a timer, and a copy of The Car Trip, and a reading time sheet.
8. The teacher needs to take time to explain that one student will be the reader
and the other student will be the recorder. "Once you have finished reading you
will switch jobs and listen to your partner read. The first person to read will
open the book a wait for their partner to tell them when to start. The person
that is the recorder will start the timer and let it run until their partner has
finished the whole book. Be sure to stop the timer when you partner is finished.
I want you to record that time on your timer Record Sheet. Then you will go
through the fluency checklist after each time you partner reads. Once you have
completed the fluency checklist and the Time Record sheet you will then switch
jobs. The person that was recording will now be the reader!"
9. "I am going to ask a volunteer to come up and we will model the steps
quickly!"
10. The teacher should float around the room making sure students are writing on
their time record sheet and fluency checklist after their partner reads each
time.
11. The student will assess each student by looking over both the fluency
checklist and time sheet. The teacher should use the formula: Words X 60 divided
by amount of time-spent reading. The teacher will get this information from the
time record sheet complete by each student's partner. The teacher will also have
each student write a small paragraph summary of the text after they are done
working with their partner. This will allow the teacher to understand if the
student is reading fluently as well as comprehending the text.
Time Record Sheet:
Name: ______________________
Date: _______________________
1st Time: ______________________
2nd Time: _____________________
3rd Time: ______________________
Fluency Literacy Rubric:
Name: ___________________________
Evaluator: _______________________
Date: ____________________________
I noticed that my partner…. Check the space
After 2nd Reading……
___ Remembered more words
___ Read Faster
___ Read Smoother
___ Read with expression
References:
Hamann, Abby. Zoom! Let's Go Go Go!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/hamanngf.htm
The Car Trip.
Matt Sims. High Noon Books 2001.
Murray, Bruce. The Reading Genie "Developing Reading Fluency"