DANCING WITH FLUENCY

Natalie Buckles

Rationale: This lesson’s objective is to help students develop fluency in longer and more advanced texts. Fluent reading is the ability to recognize sight words instantly and read quickly with comprehension and expression. Readers should be encouraged and excited to read and reread decodable words and texts. In this lesson, students will be taught how to become fluent readers themselves and how to decode, crosscheck, reread, and understand. At the end of the lesson, you will have a better idea of the student’s ability to read texts independently and fluently.

Materials:

Stopwatch (enough for each pair of children)
Pencils
Fluency chart to record student’s words per minute (one for each child)
Fluency checklist
Sample sentences
Reading tracker
Grading Rubrics
Reader Response Form for comprehension

·Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: __________________________________ Date___________ Student’s Name: ____________ Partner's Name: _______________

After 2nd Reading After 3rd Reading

_________ _________ Remembered more words

_________ _________ Read faster

_________ _________ Read smoother

_________ _________ Read with expression

Class set of “Peeping Beauty” by Jane Auch

Procedures:

Explain what you are about to do. Say: “We are going to talk about fluent reading in today’s lesson. When we read fluently, we can fully understand what we read and what happened in each story. When we learn to read fluently all the time, we will become better readers and know all of the details of our story! Not only will we become better at understanding, but we will also be able to read with expression. This means that we can change our tone of voice to express different moods and emotions in the book. We can learn to use a loud voice when a character is yelling (speak louder), but we can also learn how to use a quiet voice when a character is whispering (whisper). How do we do this? With lots of practice! Today, we are going to practice becoming a fluent reader!

Say: “Before we start, I am going to show you all how to crosscheck when we see a word that we may not remember. (Model) and say: “Here we see a sentence (show Peeping Beauty sentence ‘Peeping Beauty wanted to be a star’). I may read this as ‘Peeping Beauty /w/a/n/t/e/d/’ and think hmm… that sounds funny! Let me finish the sentence and see if I can figure it out. ‘to be a star.’ Oh, I get it! ‘Peeping Beauty wanted to be a star!” I said the word with a long A, but it is a short a so we must say /a/. Let’s read the full sentence now- ‘Peeping Beauty wanted to be a star’! That is called crosschecking!

Model: “Now I am going to show you how a fluent reader reads, but also how a non-fluent reader reads. Our second sentence is ‘The hens were too smart for the fox’. A non-fluent reader might read this as ‘The he-ns where, oh, we-e-re too sm-aaarrr-t for the f-ox.’ Notice how I stretched the words out slowly? I made a mistake and had to correct the word where I messed up. This is what makes it harder to understand. Let’s try to read it again and see if I can read a little smoother and quicker. ‘The hens w-e-re too s-m-a-r-t for the fox’. That was better, but I am still not reading as smooth as a fluent reader. Let’s try to read this one more time, (read smoothly and add lots of expression): ‘The hens were too smart for the fox.’ Great! That is how a fluent reader would read this sentence. Now let’s all read it together: ‘The hens were too smart for the fox.’” Great job!

Say: “It takes a lot of practice to become a fluent reader. See how when I read our sentence the first time it was hard for me to read it quickly and smoothly with fluency. I had to spend some time to decode the words that I was not familiar with. When I read the sentence the second time, it was a little bit smoother because I had decoded it before. As I read it the last time, it was quick and smooth like a fluent reader because I knew each word and added expression when I read. Now that you saw me become a fluent reader by rereading, you can too!”

Book talk: Say, “This story is about a hen named Peeping Beauty. She had a dream is to become a ballet star. The other hens laughed at her and said that a chicken can never become famous. One day, a fox comes tells her that he will make her a star. The other hens warn Peeping Beauty that the fox is trying to trick her and make her a meal. Do you think that Peeping Beauty will fall for the fox’s tricks? Should she trust the other hens? Do you think Peeping Beauty will become a star like her dream? Let’s read and find out!”

Partner Practice: Say: “Now we are going to practice our fluency by working with partners. Pair up with a partner to read with and then come and get a Partner Progress Checklist, Reader Response Form, a stopwatch, and 2 Peeping Beauty books. I will tell you the number of words in a book when you get in a reading spot, and you can write that number at the top of the page. Each partner is going to read the book aloud three times. When your partner is reading, you are going to time them using your stopwatch. Also, you should mark how many mistakes your partner makes. If they make a mistake, write it down on your sheet of paper. Please remember that mistakes are not bad! All of us are going to make mistakes when we are building fluency and we can learn how to get better by our mistakes! When your partner is done reading, subtract the number of words missed from the total word count. Record that number and the amount of time that it took them to read. After you and your partner have both read the book three times, I want you to discuss. Answer the questions on the Reader Response Form and write your answers down on separate sheets individually please.”

Assess each students’ progress from evaluating answers on the Reader Response Form and determining each students’ words per minute using the (words x 60 / seconds) formula. Make each individual student’s progress with a sticker on the fluency chart. Update their charts so that the students can watch their own progress and see a visual goal.

Partner Reading Progress Checklist:

Total # of words in chapter: ______ Reader: __________________

Partner: __________

1: ___ Words in ___ seconds

2: ___ Words in ___ seconds

3: ___ Words in ___ seconds

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) sounded the smoothest? _______

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) had the least number of errors? ______

Reader Response Form:

Name _________

Directions: On your own piece of paper, answer these questions with at least one complete sentence.

1. What did Peeping Beauty’s friends think about her dream to be a dancer?

2. Did the fox help Peeping Beauty become a star?

3. What did the fox promise Peeping Beauty he would do for her?

References:

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/vistas/

https://ellisonbrewster.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/growing-independence-and-fluency

https://jesslynrachel96.wixsite.com/teachingreading/growing-independence-fluency