Growing into GREAT readers
Rationale: Reading with fluency is reading at a faster, smoother pace with expression. The goal of this lesson is to build reading fluency. Most importantly, students need to first know how to decode the text. In order for decodable books to be read fluently, students must read them multiple times. This lesson gives students the opportunity to work on gaining fluency through repeated reading in time constraints. This lesson will help students read more fluently through improving their pace and expressions.
Materials:
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Pencils for each student
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Book: Dig Dogs Dig by James Horvath (1 per pair)
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Stopwatch (1 per pair)
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Worksheets (1 per student)
One Minute Read Chart (for each person)
Name: ________Date: ____
1st minute: ______
2nd minute: ______
3rd minute: ______
Procedures:
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Say: Today we are going to learn about something called reading fluency. Does anyone know what that means? (give students time to answer) That’s right it’s when you can read fast, smooth and with more expression. Does anyone know what expression is? Yes it is when we read smoothly and with emotion in our voices. It’s so important for us to become fluent readers so we can focus on understanding what the words mean when we read.
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Say: I am going to read a sentence 2 times. I will read the sentence fluently and non-fluently. I want y’all to decide which time I read the sentence fluently and which time was not. (Model reading a sentence fluently and non-fluently.) “The more often you read, the more fluent of a reader you will become.” (read 2 times, fluently and non-fluently) “The mooooreeee oftennn you reeeeadd, the moooreee flluuuuueeeennnttt you will becccoooommmee.” Did I read that sentence fluently? (wait for response) NO! I did not. How about this time “The more often you read, the more fluent you will become”. That time I read the word fluently and it was much easier to understand!
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Say: Let’s learn how we will become fluent readers! What do we do when we see a word we don’t recognize? Do we just skip over it? No! One way to read a word that is unfamiliar to us is to use a “cover up”. For example, if you can across the word frog and did not know how to say it, we would cover up the fr in the word and the g, leaving just the vowel o. I will then think to myself “hmmm what does the o sound make?” /o/. Next I will uncover the Fr and think about the sounds they make and combine them to say the word /f/ /r/ /o/ and then I will reveal the last letter, /g/. Now combine the letters and their sounds to read the word- /f/ /r/ /o/ /g/, frog. Great job everyone! That is how you use cover-ups to read a word.
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Say: Another reading strategy that we use if we do not know a word, is called crosschecking. When we are unsure about a word, we reread the sentence with the word we think it is to see if it makes sense. For example, if we read this sentence “For dinner I like to eat chicken.” If you come across the word “chicken” and were unsure what word it was, we would first try to decode it. If we could not successfully decode it we would try to put the word we think it is and read it in the sentence. When we reread the word in the sentence, we will see if it makes sense. If we thought the word was “cats” we would read the sentence and know that No we don’t eat cats for dinner! Then we know that that word does not make sense.
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Say: Now that we know two strategies to use for words we do not understand, lets work to become fluent readers. One of the best ways to become a fluent reader is to read the same book over and over again. I am going to put you in groups of two. For this activity we are going to do you will each get the opportunity to read and listen to your partner read. One of you will read while the other times how long it takes you to read the book. If you are the person using the timer, you press this button as soon as your partner begins reading, this starts the counting. As soon as they finish, you press the button again to stop the counting and allow your partner to write down the number that's on the timer on this sheet (hold up the first worksheet). I am also going to pass out a worksheet with animals on it. This sheet is where you will evaluate how your partner’s fluent reading is going. You will use this sheet after the 2nd and 3rd reading only. On this page you will cross off whether your partner remembered more words, read faster, read smoother and with more expression.
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Pass out a copy of Dig Dogs Dig to each pair as well as the worksheet to each person. Book Talk: Dig Dog Dig is a book about dogs that love to dig. Do you know any dogs that like to dig? Well in this book the digging dogs have a project to do! Lets read and find out what they are digging for!
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Say: Each person will get to read the book 3 times. Each time you should become more fluent using your expressive voices as well as get faster. Remember to record the time it takes for you to read the book each time you read it.
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Say: When you are done, come to my desk and bring your sheets completed to me one at a time to show me how your reading has improved.
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Walk around as students do this with their partner, making sure students will stay on task.
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Assessment: after students have completed the activity with their partner, have them come up individually to read the book and show you that they are becoming fluent readers. Make comments on the student’s fluency as well as ask questions to see if they are remembering what they read.
References:
Murray, Dr. Bruce. How to Develop Reading Fluency.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
Fluency for Fun http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/solutions/godbeegf.htm
Smooth Sailing
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/solutions/davisgf.htm
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Questions: email Delaney O'Brien
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