GF DESIGN

Growing Towards Fluency

Rationale: Fluent reading is essential in comprehending. In order for students to read effortlessly and automatically, they must practice expression, pace, and comprehension. Students must also read and reread decodable words in a connected text in order to become fluent. Effortless word recognition allows students to reflect on what they are readying. 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. This lesson aims to improve the student’s fluency through repeated and timed reading.

Materials: Chart with sentence “John went to play on the slide”; Class set of “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett; Peer Fluency Sheets; Stopwatch/Timer for every pair; Assignment Tray; Turn-In Tray

Procedures:

Say: “Today, we are going to work on becoming better at reading! We do this by becoming more fluent in reading. To become fluent means to read faster, smoother, and with more expression. We are going to practice this by reading the same book over and over and over again. After that, you will get a better feel for the book and you will be more confident in reading out loud to be. Here we go!”
Say: “Have you ever been reading a book and you see a word you don’t know? It’s okay if you get stuck! But what makes it important is when you realize you have the chance to learn a new word. Look at this sentence on my chart.” (show sentence and ask model how to crosscheck; sentence should say John went to play on the slide). “Do I sound like a fluent reader when I say this? ‘J-j-j /O/ n-n whh-ee-nnt, OH John went to pl-/A/ on the /sl/-/i/-/d/. John went to play on the slid.’ Hold on. That doesn’t quite sound right. What is a slid? Maybe is says slide. Okay. ‘John went to play on the slide… yeah!! John went to play on the slide.’ That makes more sense, right? Did you notice that when I got stuck on the word ‘went’, I went back and restarted the sentence? Once I finished the sentence, I saw that the word ‘slid’ didn’t make sense in that sentence. In order for me to figure out what that word was, I went back and reread the sentence and thought that ‘on the slide’ would work better. This strategy is called crosschecking and it is really helpful when we are learning to become fluent readers.”
Say: “Okay class. Raise your hand if you thought I sounded like a fluent reader when I first read the sentence.” (wait for response) “Right! I wasn’t reading fluently. I read that sentence slowly and I had a problem decoding some of the words. A fluent reader would read the sentence correctly and quickly the first time they saw it. The fluent reader would read it effortlessly, automatically, and understandably.”
Say: “Practice makes perfect, right? All good readers get better with practice. When I first read the sentence, it was difficult because I had never read it before. The second time I read the sentence, it was easier because I knew all the words. By the third time I read the sentence, I was able to say it smoothly and add expression. I because fluent in reading by rereading the sentence until I understood it. That is how you will become fluent readers too!”
Say: “To practice our fluency skills, we are going to begin reading the book “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This story is about a little girl who was born in India, but moved to live with her uncle in England soon after her parents died of an illness. When she moved to England, at first, she hated everything. She especially did not like her Uncle until she found out about her Aunt from a maid. The maid told Mary that her Aunt had owned a secret garden. She said that her Aunt loved to grow roses in the garden. The Garden was always open until her Aunt had an accident in the garden and died. Her Uncle then locked the garden and buried the key. Mary decided she wants to know more about the garden and more about her Aunt, but she must find a way to get into the garden. What do you think she will do?” (wait for the children to shout out some ideas about what Mary will do)
Say: “Okay, I want everybody to grab a partner so we can being to work on our fluency skills.” (Pass out peer fluency sheets to each student, and a stopwatch/timer to each pair of students) “I want each person to read the three pages of the book THREE TIMES. One person will read while the other person times. The first time reading the three pages, don’t time each other. Just listen and think about how the reader is reading and if there is any words that are especially tricky. The second and third time reading, however, I want you to time each other. If you are the person timing, you responsibility is to listen to the reader and think about how they are reading the story. Are they reading more fluently that the first or second time they read? Are they including some expression? Remember to write down how long it took your partner to read the chapter this time. Is it faster than last time? When you are timing your partner, you also need to note how many words the reader misses/skips/messes up.”
Say: “If you have any questions or need help, raise your hand and I will help you. This is supposed to be a fun way to practice reading and recording with each other. Turn in your papers once you AND your partner are finished. Remember, your paper needs to tell me about your partner! Not you! Once you have turned in your paper, go back to your seats and read quietly until the rest of the class is finished with the assignment. Once everybody has finished, I will call you up one at a time to read a little bit for me. During this time, I want you to read all the way through chapter two in your book. Then, I want you to pick up a sheet from the assignment tray and write in your journal.”
Teacher is to collect peer fluency sheets from turn-in tray after repeated reading are complete; assess each student’s fluency by using the following formula:

words x 60

seconds

   After using the formula to assess each student’s fluency,
  call each student up individually to read a paragraph or two.
  During this time, the rest of the class should be working on
writing in their journal about the prompt on the assignment
sheet. The children are going to write about the following
prompt: “In at least two paragraphs, tell me about Mary and
her family so far. Who did she live with? Who is she living with
now? Does she like her living situation now?”

Fluency Checklist:

Fluency Chart:

Resources:

Flying Fluently Into Charlotte’s Web, Gabrielle Endacott

https://gabrielleendacott.wixsite.com/readinglessons/growing-independence-and-fluency

Fluency with Pirates!, Ariel Lavish

https://ariellavish.wixsite.com/readinglessondesigns/growing-independence-and-literacy

Pedaling for Fluency, Bridgett Davis

https://bpc0009.wixsite.com/readingdesigns/copy-of-beginning-reading

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