Growing Independence and Fluency | earlychildeducation

Growing Independence and Fluency Lesson Design

Fluency: What Do You Mean???!

Rationale:

To build sight vocabulary, fluency work must involve intensive reading, crosschecking, and rereading in instructional-level text. To gain fluency, the student must read the words, which includes decoding any unfamiliar words rather than guessing from context. Reading fluently means that a student is able to recognize words quickly, accurately, and automatically. Repeated readings are a way to motivate students to gain fluency. A student that is able to read fluently will better comprehend what he or she is reading and will have an immense sight word vocabulary. Fluency also depends on rereading passages, chapters, and stories until they can be read fluently. This lesson teaches children how to use strategies that build sight words and helps them progress towards fluency.

Materials:

The book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (a copy for each child), stopwatch (enough for each pair of students), cover-up critters, Partner Reading Progress checklist, and Reader Response questions.

Procedures:

Say: Today were are going to practice becoming fluent readers. Reading fluently means that we read words rapidly, accurately, and with automaticity. In order to read fluently, we have to learn how to make new sight words. When we are able to steady and smooth pace as well as comprehend what we are reading, then we are becoming fluent readers. When we read fluently, reading becomes effortless and more interesting.
Say: Now I want you guys to tell me if I am reading this sentence fluently or not. [Modeling fluency and non-fluency] “Aaaaandd wwwenn, wait I meant when, he was tiiiireedd, he wwwould sleep in her shhhad, I mean shade. And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade.” Now I will reread the sentence so I can make sure that I comprehended all the words. “And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade.” Which sounds better? [Let students answer] That’s correct! The second option sounds better and smoother! Did you hear how I did not sound out any of the words? I said the sentence smoothly and it was easy for you to understand.
Say: Since I read the sentence, “And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade,” can someone tell me what I had trouble with? In order to figure out the hard words I had to reread the sentence, and not the correspondence and pronunciation. Did you notice that the first time I read the sentence I read shade as shad? Then, I finished the rest of the sentence and realized that the correct word was shade, because shad did not make sense and is not a word. This is called crosschecking. You use the crosschecking strategy when you come to a word in a sentence you don’t know. To crosscheck, remember that we look at the rest of the sentence, before and after the word, and try to use the information to determine what the word might be.
Say: Today we are going to read a part of the book The Giving Tree. We are going to read it so that we work on our fluency. Book talk: There was a little boy who loved a tree and the tree loved him. He visits the tree every day, and the tree and the little boy play together. The boy grows older, and he no longer visits the tree every day. Will the boy continue to play with the tree or will he forget about it forever? You will have to read to find out!
Say: Now we’re going to do some practice building our fluency with partners. Pair up with your reading partner and come get a Partner Progress Checklist. Reader Response Form, a stopwatch, and 2 copies of The Giving Tree. I will tell you how many words are in the book when you return to your reading spots so you can write that at the top of the page. Each partner will take turns reading aloud to one another. You’re going to take 3 turns reading the book. When one partner is reading, the other will use a stopwatch to record the time. Make sure to make a tally for each mistake that your partner makes when they are reading aloud. Remember that it’s okay to make mistakes while we’re building fluency, you’re going to make mistakes the first couple of times you read it and that’s how you get better. Once you finish reading we are going to do a math problem. We are going to use subtraction. We will take the total number of words minus the number of tally mistakes. Remember we will have to do this three times. Now we will see the progress of each student. We will do so by answering the questions on the progress form. This will show which reading was the fastest and had the least amount of errors.
Say: After reading you are allowed to answer the reader’s response questions: Why does the boy no longer want to play with the tree? Why doesn’t the tree have any money to give to the boy? Why does the boy not want to climb trees anymore? What is the tree’s house? How long did the boy stay away? What will make the boy happy? What does the tree have left to give to the boy? Where does the boy rest because he is tired?” The students will go back to their desks and write the answers to the questions on a piece of paper? Once they are done with that, they will turn it in. When the answers and the checklists are turned in, I will hand out a fluency graph. This graph will have a boy climbing up a tree to reach its apples and leaves. I will put the boy on the corresponding number of words the students read per minute. I will encourage students to continue practicing their reading by moving the boy up the tree, in order for him to make it to the top where the apples and leaves are. Each time they read, the students should increase their words per minute.

Assessment: I will assess the student’s progress by evaluating answers on the Reading Response Form and determine each student’s WPM using the formula and mark their progress on the fluency chart by advancing the little boy up the tree as if he is climbing it. Adapt each student’s fluency charts to set appropriate and attainable goals for each student.

Partner Reading Progress Checklist

Total # of words in chapter: ________

Reader: ________________________

Checker: _______________________

1. _______Words in _______ seconds

2. _______Words in _______ seconds

3. _______ Words in _______ seconds

Which turn sounded the smoothest? _________

Which turn had the least number of errors? _________

Reader Response Questions

Name __________________________________________

Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, answer each question with at least one complete sentence.

1. Why does the boy no longer want to play with the tree?

2. Why doesn’t the tree have any money to give to the boy?

3. Why does the boy not want to climb trees anymore?

4. What is the tree’s house? How long did the boy stay away?

5. What will make the boy happy?

6. What does the tree have left to give to the boy?

7. Where does the boy rest because he is tired?

References:

Murray, Bruce (2012). Making sight words: Teaching word recognition from phoneme awareness to fluency. Ronkonkoma, NY: Linus.

Belle Brennan’s Racing to Reading Fluency

http://isabellebrennan.wix.com/keylessonsinreading#!growing-independence-and-fluency/c1yws

Fannon Curtis’s Reaching for the Moon with Fluency

http://fdc0002.wix.com/lessondesigns#!about/c1wfv

Katie Holland’s Fun With Fluency

http://keh0043.wix.com/holland-lessons#!growing-fluency/c1ttv

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