Growing Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency: Making Fluency a Treat!!

Rationale: Fluency is when you're able to read effortlessly with automatic word recognition. If you want to become an expert reader, you have to learn to read with fluency. Once you gain fluency, you are able to read faster, read more words, read with improved comprehension, and read with expression. This lesson encourages students to apply strategies such as decoding and crosschecking to help students achieve fluency. This will also monitor and promote progress through repeated readings.

Materials: Coverup critter, pencils, stopwatches for each student, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”, peer fluency checklist for students, peer fluency checklist for teacher.

Procedures:

Say: “It is fun to be a strong reader and today we are going to practice this by learning how to read fluently. This will take a lot of practice, but once we do this we will enjoy reading even more! Can anyone tell me what it means to be a fluent reader? ( wait for responses). Fluency is when you can read a book smoothly and without pauses. It also includes making new words into sight words. It also allows you to read at a natural pace and use expression. Reading with expression is when you say the words in a way that the characters would say them. We will be using the fluency formula to read and re-read decodable texts. Let’s try it!” We will be using old words to help us gain fluency.
Say: “To become a fluent reader it takes practice. Sometimes it may take several tries to read a sentence fluently. When we read we make sightwords by decoding and then finishing the sentence and crosschecking for words we didn’t understand. Listen to me read this sentence. First I will read it as a non fluent reader. “Ttthhheee ccchhhooocccooolllaaattteee ccchhhiiippp cccoookkkiiieee mmmeeeelllttteeeddd iiinnn mmmyyy mmmooouuuttthhh”. I don’t think that sounded right. Now I will use my coverup critter to slow down and figure out the words I have messed up. (I will re-read the sentence and decode each word slowly). Now am I reading with fluency? Not yet! I am going to read the sentence again at a steady pace since I know all of the words. Now that I can read it smoothly, I will can read the sentence with expression. Now I am reading with fluency and we even learned a difficult word, “chocolate”.”
Say: “ Now I want you to practice reading fluently. Remember, it may not be easy at first but the more you try the better you will get. ( Pass out the book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and cover up critters. I will give a book talk so the students are engaged in the story.) Have you ever had a fun pet? Well this is a story about a silly mouse who is hungry for a cookie. He keeps asking for new things but what will be the final thing he asks for? Let’s read to find out!”. (I will tell the students to read at their desk silently).
Say: “Now that you guys have read this book silently, I want all of you to pair up with a friend and we will play a fun game. Each of you need a coverup critter incase you come across a tough word( I will give the students a peer review checklist and stopwatches). One of the partners will be the timer while the other is the reader. The reader will read the story three times and after the first reading, the timer will time them each time, note things they struggled with. On the peer review sheet I handed out I want you to notice differences in the reading each time (time, expression, smoothness). ( I will calculate the WPM with the times). After the first partner goes, you will switch roles. I will walk around and make sure everyone is staying on task.”
I will collect all of the peer review sheets to assess how the students did and make sure there are no students that need additional help. I will get the students to return to their desks where I can ask them open ended questions so I know they were comprehending the story. They would be: Who is the main character of the story? What was the last thing the mouse asked for? When he looks in the mirror what does he make sure he doesn't have? What does the mouse think always go well with milk? This will allow the teacher to see how well the students understood the story and if they are on their way to becoming fluent readers.

Assessments:

Peer Review Checklist

Name and Partners Name:____________

I noticed that my partner______________

After Second Reading:

Remembered more words? read faster? read smoother? read with expression?

After Third Reading:

Remembered more words? read faster? read smoother? read with expression?

Time Record:

1st Reading _________

2nd Reading _________

3rd Reading _________

References:

Peacock, Kate. “Diving Into Fluency”. http://kristinp08.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/growing-independence-and-fluency

Numeroff, Laura. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Harper Collins. 1985.

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