We “Pawsitively” Love Fluency

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: Fluent reading is essential in comprehending the reading. In order for students to read effortlessly and automatically, they must practice expression, pace, and comprehension. Effortless word recognition allows students to reflect on what they are reading. Through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students will be able to confidently improve their reading rate and grow into fluent readers. Students will use the strategy of crosschecking after readings of a decodable text and repeated readings to gain fluency and independence in reading.

Materials:

1.    Timer/stopwatch for each pair

2.    Sample sentences on a whiteboard for the teacher to model

3.    Peer fluency sheet (one for each student)

4.    Reading rate forms for teacher

5.    Teacher Fluency Checklist (one for each student) with attached comprehension questions

6.    Pencil for each student

7.    Class set of Pete the Cat and the Lost Tooth by James Dean

Procedures:

1.    Say “All right class, today we are going to complete one of our goals on becoming fluent readers. What exactly does being a fluent reader mean? A fluent reader is someone who is able to read very quickly and smoothly because they are able to recognize the words. Being able to recognize the words helps us to understand what we are reading because we automatically understand each word. This makes reading much more enjoyable.”

2.    Say: “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board: Dogs like to run fast. Everyone put your listening ears on. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence aloud to you. /d/-/d/-/d/ /o/-/o/-/o/ /g/-/g/-/g/-/s/-/s/-/s/, dogs, lick, to, run, fast. Oh, that doesn't make sense. It must be like. Dogs like to run fast. Did you notice that when I read the sentence, I got stuck on the last word? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word like said lick. That did not make sense, did it? So I went back and reread the sentence to figure out what the word should read to make sense with the sentence. This strategy of rereading is called crosschecking, and it is super important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Since I figured out these hard words while reading it helped me become fluent. Thumbs up if you think I read that like a fluent reader would have. I did not read that sentence as a fluent reader since I had to reread the sentence to figure out the last word.  Here's how a fluent reader would have read that sentence: Dogs like to run fast. I read the sentence effortlessly which meant it was much easier to understand too! Now turn to a partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board. Tom is a big cat. Read it aloud to one another until you read the sentence fluently.”

3.    Say: “Now class let’s think back to when I read the first sentence when I got stuck on the word lunch. In order to figure out what the word was, I had to reread the sentence from the beginning and tried to figure out what the word like said; I pronounced it lick. That made the sentence very confusing for me. So I reread the sentence to figure out what the word should say so the sentence did make sense. This is called crosschecking, and it is very important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers!”

4.    Now pass out the books to each pair that you have assigned. Say: “We are going to practice being fluent readers by reading Pete the Cat and the Lost Tooth. The tooth fairy asks Pete for some help. One day a tooth goes missing. Will Pete be able to find it?  Let’s read to find out. 

5.    Students will read the whole book silently to themselves. Then, they should each read the whole book aloud to a partner. They must not help their partner read while they are listening.

6.    Then pass out the recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say: “Now we are going to play the fluency game. Put your listening ears back on to understand how to play. 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 handed out. After recording the information, Reader 2 will read and 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 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.”

7.    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 so you can attach it to the back of the assessment sheet. You will time them on the paragraph read aloud and use the formula given to record how many words per minute they read.

Reading Comprehension: 

1. Did Pete get the tooth back? How?

2. What was the name of Pete’s helper?

3. Whose tooth did Pete lose? 

Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: __________________________________

Student’s Name: ____________   Date___________

Partner's Name: ______________________________

After 2nd Reading       After 3rd Reading

_________                    _________                   Remembered more words

_________                    _________                   Read faster

_________                    _________                   Read smoother

_________                    _________                   Read with expression

 

(Words x 60)/seconds=WPM

 

 

0 - - - - 10 - - - - 20 - - - - 30 - - - - 40 - - - - 50 - - - - 60 - - - - 70 - - - - 80 - - - - 90 - - - - 100

Correct Words Per Minute

Feeding on Fluency by Lindsey Hogan, https://lch0027.wixsite.com/readingiscool/growing-independence-and-fluency