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FANTASTIC FLUENCY: Growing Independence and Fluency

Rationale:

Fluency is reading with automatic word recognition. When readers are fluent, they are able to comprehend at a faster level since they do not have to decode each individual word when reading an unfamiliar text. This lesson is designed to help students become fluent readers through repeated readings of a text and timed readings with partners. With the repeated readings and timed readings, fluent students will be able to reread for individual sentence meanings and whole-text meaning, use decoding strategies like crosschecking and mental marking, and connect to the text personally.

Materials:

1. Cover-up critters (one for each student)

2. Poster with the sentence, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”

3. Stopwatches

4. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by: Judith Viorst

5. Peer Fluency Sheets for teacher

6. Peer Fluency Sheets for students

7. Reading rate graph

8. Dry-erase board and marker

Procedures:

1. Say: “Today we are going to learn how to improve our fluency when reading. Can anyone tell me what the word fluency means? Fluency is when you read words quickly and automatically with expression. When we read with fluency, we comprehend more of the story and the story becomes more exciting as well. With a partner, we are going to read the same book three times. While your partner is reading, you will be timing them with a stopwatch. Each time, you can get better by setting a goal that was higher than the last.”

2. Say: “We have cover-up critters to help us decode, which means to read an unfamiliar word. For example, let’s look at the word lunch. (Write the word lunch on the whiteboard). I am going to use my cover-up critter to decode this word. I will cover up all the letters except for l. /l/…/l/…/l/. Then I will uncover u. /u/…/l/u/…/l/u/. Next I uncover the letter n. /n/…/l/u/n/…/l/u/n. Finally I will uncover the ch and blend all the phonemes together. /l/u/n/ch/…/l/u/n/ch… lunch. This word is lunch. Let’s use the word in a sentence: For lunch today, I brought a turkey sandwich and a bag of potato chips.”

3. Say: “Now let’s look at the sentence I have written on this poster. I need everyone to listen carefully and tell me if they think I am reading the sentence like a fluent reader. Al-ex-an-der and the ter-ri-ble, hor-ri-ble, no g-oo-d, ve-ry bad d-ay. No, that was not very fluent. I bet if I read it a second time, it will be easier. Let’s try it. Alex-ander and the ter-rible, hor-rible, no good, very bad day. That was better, but it still took too long and I didn’t read with much expression. Let me read it again (with expression this time). Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The third time was much better. I read with fluency and expression and blended the phonemes together. Now, I would like for you to turn to a partner and read the sentence I have written on the board. Sentence is: Alexander and the wonderful, spectacular day. Read this aloud to your partner until you are able to read it fluently.”

4. Say: “I want you to read the book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst silently at your desk. In this book, Alexander wakes up one morning and his day is terrible. He has the worst day ever. Alexander learns a valuable lesson through his awful day. Let’s read and find out why his day is so bad and what lesson he learns. Reading silently is without whispering or moving your lips. I want you to read it silently in your head.”

5. After the students read silently, I will then pair them up with partners. Say: “You and your partner will now get a stopwatch and a copy of the text by Judith Viorst, a reading rate chart, and a fluency checklist. You and your partner are going to read, three times each, to build on your fluency. You will take turns being the reader and one will be the timer. The timer will time your partner reading the book and will record their time on the reading rate chart. When you’re the one timing your partner, be sure that you hit start as soon as your partner starts to read and hit stop as soon as they are done reading. Record all three of the times on your chart. After your partner has read the book once, make sure you fill out the fluency checklist along with the reading rate chart. This will help your partner and see if you’re improving.” Before the students start reading, I will model how to fill in the chart and use a stopwatch. I will then observe the students reading the book. I will walk around the room and ask any questions the students may have and make sure that they are filling in the correct time.

6. After the students are done reading, I will collect the data and analyze how the students did. Each student will then come up to my desk individually and read to me and I will mark miscues. After the student finishes reading I will ask comprehension questions.

I will ask: