Wild About Fluency
Lesson for Consolidated Alphabetic Readers
Rationale: In order for us to become skillful readers, we have to be able to read fluently. Reading fluently means that all or almost all of the words we read are sight words, and we can read them without hesitating. This lets us focus more on understanding what we are reading instead of decoding words we do not know. In this lesson, we will learn the strategies and skills it takes to become a fluent reader by using a three-step model of learning to recognize words as sight words and reading fluently, and we will practice reading choice books in partner pairs.
Materials: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak; strips of paper with sentences written on them (enough for each partner pair in the class to have); cover-up critters; chart paper; checklist questions; books to choose from for practice reading; pencil and paper for note-taking; stop watch for use during reading practice
Procedures: 1. Say: Today, we are going to work on becoming skillful and fluent readers. We will use our what we already know about phonemes and decoding skills to help us in today’s lesson. Being a fluent reader means that we can read smoothly, effortlessly, with expression, and focus on understanding what we are reading instead of trying to decode the words. During and after the lesson we will practice reading silently.
2. Say: I will model how a non-fluent reader reads a book. I will use a copy of the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
*Before reading, say:*
This book is about a little boy named Max and some wild things! Max is dressed up in his monster costume, and he is being way too rowdy and wild, so his mother sends him to bed without supper. Max goes to his room, and before he knows it, he is in a jungle with wild creatures he has never seen before. To find out what Max does in the jungle and if he can make it back home, we will have to read Where the Wild Things Are.
Say: As I read, if I come across a word I don’t know, I will use a cover-up critter. It helps readers break words that are too hard for me into smaller chunks that I can read, and then I will blend all of the chunks together to read the word. *Model reading the story as a non-fluent reader and show the children how the cover-up critter helps. After using the strategy on a sentence, reread the sentence without the cover-up critter.* Say: After I decode a word that’s too difficult for me, I will make sure to go back and reread the whole sentence so that I can get back into the story. Then, I’ll read the sentence for a third time, and I will add expression to the sentence that I can now read fluently. Now that I have read the sentence three times, I want you to tell me which time you liked my reading the best and why. *Allow responses from students.*
3. Say: In order to become the best reader you can be, you have to practice reading a lot. The first reading is usually the hardest because you don’t know what the words are, but after you use a cover-up critter to decode the unknown words, reading gets easier and faster. The first time reading is spent focusing on decoding the word correctly. The second time reading is to make sure you decoded correctly and that it fits into the sentence and makes sense. The last time reading, you add smoothness and expression to your reading. These are the three steps for fluency. We will practice using this sentence from the book Where the Wild Things Are, and I will use the line “And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.” *Model going through the three fluency steps to show how to get through a difficult sentence like this. Use the cover-up critter to decode the word “terrible” in chunks ter-ri-ble, and help students mentally mark the silent “g” in “gnashing.”*
4. Say: Now, I will write a few sentences on chart paper and we are going to work with our three steps of learning to read fluently. *Read the sentence to students in a non-fluent way first and then fluently the second time. Ask the children to raise their hand if it is read incorrectly and clap once if it is correct. Read the rest of the sentences and ask students to do the same thing with these sentences. Next, model how a non-fluent reader and a fluent reader reads. Go slowly while reading like a non-fluent reader, making sure not to put any expression in your reading. Then, read quickly and smoothly to model a fluent reader, showing the children the difference. During the lesson, ask the children questions such as, “Was this a fluent or non-fluent reading?” “How do you know?”* After modeling and discussion, say: Now, we are going to get with a partner to practice reading sentences fluently. *Pair students with partners and pass out sentence strips to each pair of partners for them to practice with.* Say: Make sure to go through the three steps of becoming a fluent reader. I will give each partner a checklist to check off for your partner to make sure they are following each step while reading.
Checklist:
· Did he/she read smoothly? _________________
· Where could he/she use a little work? ______________
· Did he/she show facial expression? __________________
· Where could he/she use a little work? _______________
· Did he/she have voices changes? ________________
· Where could he/she use a little work? ______________
· Does the student have an overall understanding of expression?
5. Say: Once you have finished, pick a book of your choice to read aloud to your partner. *Allow 5 or so minutes for students to find a book or retrieve one from their desk/backpack.* Say: While you are reading your book, your partner should be looking at the checklist and making sure you are staying on track with your fluent reading skills and three steps. Each partner should read for five minutes without interruptions; make sure you time your partner using the stopwatch. I will walk around and monitor each group of partners to see your work and progress. After both partners have had a chance to read, I want you to jot down a short summary of what you just read. Next, I want you to come up with three questions to ask your partner about what they just read. Each partner should ask each other their questions; there does not have to be a right or wrong answer for each question.
6. Each day I will set aside a certain time for the students to get to go with their partners to practice reading for fluency. I will increase the time each student reads per day, starting with 5 minutes per partner during the lesson and increasing to 10 minutes per partner by the end of the week. After a week of reading, I will switch up the partner pairs and let students see how another student is reading and what they could learn from them and see what ways they could help this student.
References:
Making Sight Words by Bruce Murray
Fluency House by Jaime Preston - found on the Reading Genie:
https://sites.google.com/site/beginningreadinglesson/home/the-fluency-house
Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Harper Collins. 1963.
