Rationale: The goal of this lesson is for the students to come a fluent reader. Being a fluent reader is a great tool to help you with comprehending the story. In order for students to read effortlessly and with automaticity, they must practice pace, expression, and comprehension. And they will develop these skills by reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading. Students will use the strategy of crosschecking after readings of a decodable text and repeated readings to gain fluency and independence in reading. As the student becomes a fluent reader they will grow in confidence and it will also lead to independent reading on their own.

Materials:

• Pencils

• Timer/stopwatch for each group of students (2 per group)

• The book: Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying (one for each group + teacher copy)

• Sample sentences on white board for teacher to model (Sam saw a mat that was fat & Jan the rat ran up the ramp)

• Peer Fluency checklist Sheet (found bellow-one for each student)

• Word per minute fluency chart

 

Procedures:

 Introduction:

1. Begin the lesson by saying, “Today, we are going to work on becoming fluent readers. We know that it is important to be a fluent reader, but what does that mean? What do you think of when I say a fluent reader? (Wait for responses). Fluent readers are able to read quickly, smoothly, and with expression because they recognize words automatically.  A fluent reader can also read smoothly without stopping to analyze every word, allowing you to focus on the story, which makes reading more enjoyable.

2. Say: Now let's look at a sentence written on the board: Sam saw a mat that was fat.  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. “s-s-s, /a/-/a/-/a/, m-m-m, Sam, s-s-s-s /A/-/A/-/A/ w,w,w a m-m-m-, /a/-/a/-/a/, t-t-t-t, /th/ /a/-/a/-/a/ t-t-t was f-f-f /a/-/a/-/a/ t-t-t. Sam saew a mat that was fat? Hmm that doesn’t make sense, Sam wouldn’t take a saew, that’s not even a real word. Sam saw a mat that was fat? Saw! That makes more sense! Did you notice that when I read the sentence, I got stuck on the word in the middle? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word saw said the nonsense work seaw. That did not make sense, did it? So I went back to reread to figure out what the word should read that would make sense. This strategy is called crosschecking, and it is super important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Crosschecking allows you to figure out hard words and become a fluent reader. Clap once if you think I read that like a fluent reader. Yeah, I didn’t think so either. I wasn’t reading like a fluent reader because I had to decode the words in the sentence. Here's how a fluent reader would read that sentence: Sam saw a mat that was fat. I read that sentence effortlessly, and it was much easier to understand! Now turn to a partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board: Jan the rat ran up the ramp! Read it aloud to one another until you read fluently.

3. Say: “Now let’s think back to when I read the first sentence when I got stuck on the word saw. To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and filled that spot with a word that I thought made sense, but it didn’t make sense, did it? So I went back to the text to reread to figure out what word would make the sentence make sense. This strategy is called crosschecking, and it is very important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers!”

  4. Assign partners for each student and pass out the books. “Now we are going to practice being fluent readers by reading the Junie B. Jones book, Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying. Junie B. decides to spy on her family and practice being extra quiet. Then, while at the grocery store with her mother, she sees her teacher shopping too and she decides to use her sneaky peeky spying skills to spy on her teacher. Do you think she will get caught?

5. Students should read the first three pages silently to themselves. Then they should each read a chapter aloud to each other. Explain to students that while they are reading to not help each other out, but to sit and listen for fluency.

6. split all the students into groups of two and pass out recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say: “Now we are going to play the fluency game. Put your listening ears back on to hear how to play! The student who decides to read first is going to start the game off and the student who will read second will be in control of the timer. This student will time their partner reading the first two pages, and then he/she will record the time on the sheet I have handed out to you. After recording the information, it is your turn to read and the other student will record your information. 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? Mark these changes on your paper. Go ahead and start!”

7. Collect the word per minute chart with moving part. Once a group has both read through the passage three times, have one of the students come up to your desk and read a paragraph to you. When they come up have them bring their information sheets that they had been filling out so that you can collect them. As they read the one paragraph aloud to you, time them. And once they have finished use the formula words x 60/# of seconds read to calculate their number of words per minute that they read. Once you have calculated how many words they have read per minute, move the school bus towards the school above the number that represents the number of words they have read per minute. Also, ask them comprehension questions to assess how their fluency is helping their comprehension.

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

 

Word Per minute fluency chart

 

                                                                                                                   

 

                                        50              60               70             80               90             100

 

 

 

 

References:

Abigail Rickerson: Something Smells like Fluency

https://acr0040.wixsite.com/abbyrickerson/growing-independence-and-literacy

Park, Barbara. Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying

http://rhcbooks.com/books/126660/junie-b-jones-4-junie-b-jones-and-some-sneaky-peeky-spying-by-barbara-park-illustrated-by-denise-brunkus