Rationale:
Fluent reading is essential in comprehending texts. Fluency is where students recognize nearly all words as sight vocabulary, and in result, students are able to read with speed and expression. This lesson is aimed to help students develop fluency in more developed texts. Fluent readers can read quickly, correctly use blending, and read effortlessly. We want readers to be motivated to read and reread decodable words in connected text. Throughout this lesson students will practice their strategies of crosschecking a decodable text to gain fluency and independence in reading. We will also gain a better idea of the student’s ability to read texts fluently and independently.
Materials:
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White board and markers
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Sample sentences on whiteboard
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Class set of: Amelia Bedelia Makes a Friend
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Reading comprehension worksheet
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Stopwatches for each sets of pairs
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Partner reading recording sheet
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Teacher fluency checklist
Procedures:
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Say: “Today we are going to talk about fluent reading. Can anyone. Tell me what it means to be a fluent reader? When we read fluently we not only read smoothly and quickly, but we also understand what we are reading and what is happening in the story. Along with being able to understand what we are reading; fluent readers can read with expression. Readers read with expression by changing our voices to match certain text. To become a fluent reader, we need to practice our skills, so that’s what we will do today, practice.”
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Say: “Now let’s take a look at this sentence written on the board. I am going to show you how to always crosscheck when we come across a word that we may have forgotten. [Model] and say: “For example, in this sentence [show sentence on board: ‘She ate chicken for lunch.] I might read ‘She /a//t/ chicken… hmm that sounds a little funny. Let me read the rest of the sentence… ‘for lunch’ Oh! ‘She ate chicken for lunch.’ That was an a_e word, so it must say /A/ not /a/. Now let me reread the sentence so that I can know what it says and can recognize the words in the future. ‘She ate chicken for lunch.”
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Say and Model: “Now I am going to show you how a fluent and a non-fluent reader might read. Let’s look at our second sentence.” [Show sentence on the board ‘The girl ran very fast to her friend.’] A non-fluent reader might read like this: ‘The gii-rl rr-a-n v-e-rr-y f-aa-sst to her ff-rr-ii-ee-nd. Notice how I read really slow and stretched out my words? That often makes it difficult to understand what I am reading. If I read it again, I might be able to read a little faster and smoother. Let’s try: ‘The girl ran very fast to her friend (read smoothly and with expression). Notice how that time my words flowed together, and it was easier to understand what I was reading! I also added more expression which made the text appear more interesting. That is how a fluent reader would read. Now let’s read it together: ‘The girl ran very fast to her friend.’
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Say and Model: “Now let’s look at how we would read a tough word. Let’s look at this word. (write strike on the board). This word is a little tricky because some of the letters are silent. If I were to look at the word, I might say, str-i-k-e. However, we know that isn’t a real word. We need to remember our rule, i_e says I not i. If we remember that rule we could say this word using body-coda blending. Start with the i then add the str, then the k, and now you have strike. Now let’s say it together smoothly and fluently. (everyone says strike).”
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Now tell the class to get with a partner beside them and pass out decodable books to the pairs. Say: “We are going to practice being fluent readers by reading Amelia Bedelia Makes a Friend. This book is about, how Amelia’s best friend moves away, and a new friend moves in. The girls are nothing alike. Do you think the girls will be friends? Let’s read to find out if the girls are more alike than they think!
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Students will read the whole book silently to themselves and fill out the reading comprehension worksheet. Then they should each read the whole book aloud to their partner. They must not help their partner, but only monitor their progress.
Reading comprehension worksheet:
Name: ___________
Date: ____________
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Describe the difference between Jen and Ameilia.
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Why does Amelia Bedelia think her new neighbors sound strange?
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What do the twins, Marty and Mary, tell Amelia about their grandmother?
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Describe a day with your bestfriend.
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Then pass out the recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say: “Now we are going to play the fluency game. Reader 1 is going to start the game off and Reader 2 will be in control of the timer. Reader 2 is going to time how fast Reader 1 reads the first two pages. Reader 2 will then record the time on the sheet that I have just handed out. After recording the information, Reader 2 will read and then Reader 1 will time and record. Do this three times each. As you listen to your partner read aloud the pages, I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. Do they read smoother? Do they remember more words, do they read with more expression, meaning more facial movement and change in their voice? Please mark these changes you notice in your paper.”
Partner reading recording sheet:
Title of book: _________
Total # of words: _________
Reader: ______________
Checker: _________________
Date: ___________
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____ words in _______ seconds
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____ words in _______ seconds
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____ words in _______ seconds
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After the student pairs have read through the passage three times each, have the students come one at a time to read the first two pages to you. Ask them to bring their record sheet and evaluate answers. Determine each student’s WPM using the formula (words x 60 / seconds), and record on teacher fluency checklist.
References:
Jesslyn Cochran- Dancing into Fluency
https://jesslynrachel96.wixsite.com/teachingreading/growing-independence-fluency
Parish, Herman. Amelia Bedelia Makes a Friend.
https://www.icanread.com/9780062075161/amelia-bedelia-makes-a-friend/
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