Ms.
Dyess
Running to Fluency
A Growing Fluency Lesson Design
Rationale: To be a successful reader, one must be able to read automatically and without hesitation. Fluent reading is necessary for gaining better comprehension, expression, and speed of one’s reading. Students are able to reflect and understand what they are reading instead of having to decode every word and therefore lose understanding due to taking too long. Through practicing reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students will build confidence in fluently reading and become excellent readers.
Materials:
- Copy of Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish for every student
- Stopwatches (class set)
- Personalized graph to chart reading time (one for every student)
- Cover-up critters
- Sentences written on board: “Amelia Bedelia had to bake a pie.” and “Amelia Bedelia had to clean the house.” [keep covered until necessary]
Procedures:
1. Explain, “Who wants to be an awesome reader? Well I can tell you how! In order to become an expert at reading, we have to be able to read fluently. When we read fluently, we are able to read without hesitation, effortlessly, and we recognize words immediately. To recognize words automatically, we need to have developed a large sight vocabulary that includes almost all the words we might read in a book! When our sight vocabulary is big, we’re able to better understand what we’re reading, we can read faster, and we can read harder texts. So how are we able to get this large sight vocabulary? We do that through a method called repeated readings where we practice decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading.
2. Model, “I’m going to show you how we always crosscheck when we come across a word we don’t know in a sentence. For example, when I see this sentence, [Reveal sentence “Amelia Bedelia had to bake a pie.”], I might read “Amelia Bedelia had to //b/a/ck//…hmm that doesn’t sound right, let me finish reading, a pie. Hmm, pie’s go in the oven so I would //b/A/k// it, bake, that’s right!” Then I would reread the sentence with the correct bake once more to get back into my story.
3. Model, “Now I’m going to show you the difference between a fluent and non-fluent reader. Let’s look at the sentence [displayed on board] ‘Amelia Bedelia had to clean the house.’ A non-fluent reader might read it like this: A-m-eeee-lia B-e-d-eeee-lia had to ccclll-E-E-een the h-h-ow-ow-ouse. I read that slow and stretched out, it’s hard to know what I read! A fluent reader would read like this: Amelia Bedelia has to clean the house. My words flowed together and I understand what I read! Now you try reading fluently: Amelia Bedelia had to clean the house.
4. To practice reading fluently, we’re going to read the book Amelia Bedelia! This story is about a maid named Amelia Bedelia, and she goes to work for Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. They give her a list of chores to complete while they’re gone for the day. Amelia does EXACTLY what is on the list – but is it what Mr. and Mrs. Rogers want her to do? Let’s find out when we read the book!
5. Children will each be given a copy of the book and a cover-up critter. Say, “Now we’re going to read to ourselves and practice reading fluently. If you finish early, start to read Amelia Bedelia again.” Teacher will walk around classroom to keep children on task and give 10-15 minutes for children to read book. Once students finish, regain attention to informally assess comprehension via group discussion.
6. Say, “Now we’re going to split up into partners! First, partner 1 will read aloud while partner 2 times them. Then, we will switch partners. After reading aloud, discuss what you’ve just read with your partner. Then we’re going to read aloud again, while our partner is looking at our checklist and seeing if we read faster, with more expression, or if we understood more. Then, we’ll switch partners again, and we’ll do this 3 times.” Model with student if it is necessary for students to understand better.
7. Assessment: Once the students have finished three rounds of repeated reading, have each student turn in his or her checklist. Teacher will individually call students up and have them perform repeated readings, graphing his or her progress on the fluency chart. In between each round of repeated reading, make sure to appropriate praise and/or suggestions are given. After the three rounds have been completed, ask a few comprehension questions: Why is Amelia Bedelia confused? What does she do that is so funny? Do you think Mr. and Mrs. Rogers were happy with Amelia Bedelia?
Teacher Fluency Checklist:
Student Name:
Words x 60/seconds
Reading #1
WPM:
Miscues:
Did the student read with more expression? Yes or No
Did the student read smoother? Yes or No
Did the student read faster? Yes or No
Reading #2
WPM:
Miscues:
Did the student read with more expression? Yes or No
Did the student read smoother? Yes or No
Did the student read faster? Yes or No
Reading #3
WPM:
Miscues:
Did the student read with more expression? Yes or No
Did the student read smoother? Yes or No
Did the student read faster? Yes or No
References:
Dunn, Morgan. “Marching Through Fluency.” http://lmd0015.wix.com/literacy-designs#!projects/cm8a
Parish, Peggy. Amelia Bedelia. Harper Collins Publishers: New York. 1963. Print.
