Growing Independence and Fluency Design

Rereading Your Way to Fluency!

Rationale: This lesson will help children become fluent readers. To become a fluent reader one must practice by rereading the text multiple times. Through repeated reading students will learn to read with automatic word recognition which in turn allows for faster, smoother, and more expressive reading. Becoming a fluent reader will allow students to focus more on reading comprehension.

Materials: Pencil for each student; repeated reading peer checklist for each student; stopwatch for each student; a copy of Amanda Pig, First Grader for each student and teacher; fluency graph for each student; teacher fluency checklist; write sentence “She wrote a letter to her mom.” on the board, and write sentence “I had cake for my birthday.” on board.

Procedures:

1. Teacher says: Who wants to be an excellent reader? Who can tell me what you must be able to do to be an excellent reader? [Wait for student response.] That’s right! To be an excellent reader you have to be able to read fluently. Reading fluently means you are able to read words faster, smoother, and with expression. Reading fluently will help you understand the story better because you focus on what the story is saying instead of how to read the words correctly. We can all become fluent readers with some practice so let get started!

2. Teacher says: Have you ever read a book and come across a word you don’t recognize? Does anyone remember what strategy we can use when we come across this situation? [Allow students to respond.] That’s right, we can crosscheck! Listen as I model how we crosscheck when we come across a word we don’t know. [Write sentence “She wrote a letter to her mom.” on the board.] I might read this sentence as “She /w/r/o/t/ hmm, let me finish reading the sentence, a letter to her mom. Ohh it’s not /w/r/o/t/, it’s /w/r/O/t/! Now I am going to reread the sentence with the correct word to get back into the story. “She wrote a letter to her mom.”

3. Teacher says: I’m going to show you how a fluent reader reads. [Write sentence “I had cake for my birthday.” on board and model how to become fluent reader.] “I had c-aaa-kk for my b-iirr-th-d-aa-y.” That can’t be right. c/a/k, ohh c/A/k, cake for my birthday! I noticed I read the sentence slow and stretched out a few of the words. Let me try again. “I had cake for my birthday.” That was much better! I remembered “cake” after decoding it. Now, I am going to read the sentence again, but this time I am going to read it with expression. “I had cake for my birthday!” I read the sentence over and over again which allowed me to read faster, smoother, and with expression! I gained fluency because I remembered the words I had trouble with, the words that slowed me down the first time. Now you are going to practice repeated reading so you can become a fluent reader!

4.Teacher says: To practice reading fluently we’re going to read chapter one of Amanda Pig, First Grader. In the first chapter Amanda is starting school and is going into the first grade. Amanda is excited about the first grade but her friend, Lollipop, is nervous. What will first grade be like for Amanda and Lollipop? Will they have a good first day? We’ll have to read to find out!

5. [Pass out a copy of Amanda Pig, First Grader to each student and keep one for yourself.] Teacher says: Now you are going to read the chapter 1 of Amanda Pig, First Grader to yourself silently to practice reading fluency. If you finish before we come back together as a class reread the chapter. [Give students about 10-15 minutes to read. During this time walk around to make sure students are completing the task. After 10-15 minutes gather the class’s attention to have a discussion.]

6. Teacher says: Now turn to the person beside you, they will be your partner. You are going to take turns reading aloud and practicing repeated reading. Partner 1 will read aloud while partner 2 times them. Partner 1 will read the chapter three times while partner 2 follows along. Partner 2 remember to use the checklist I will give you to see if partner 1 remembers more words, reads faster, smoother, and with more expression each time. After partner 1 reads three times switch, so now partner 2 reads while partner 1 follows along and uses the checklist. [Model with students if needed for better understanding. Pass out peer checklists and stopwatches.]

7. Assessment: After students have finished three rounds of repeated reading, have students turn in their checklist. Call students up individually to perform repeated reading on chapter 2 of Amanda Pig, First Grader. Graph their progress on the fluency chart after each reading using the fluency formula (WPM=words x 60 / seconds). In between each round of repeated reading, praise each student for their effort and scaffold where needed. After three rounds ask the student a few comprehension questions: Why does Amanda walk into the lunchroom on accident? What box did Amanda sit by? How does the principal help Amanda?

Peer checklist: