Growing Fluency | Lessondesigns

Searching for Fluency

Katherine Apel

Rationale: Reading comprehension requires less time figuring out spellings and more time for fluency and connections to meaning. Fluency is an important milestone for all readers to achieve; it is when readers automatically recognize words which leaves more capacity for comprehension. This lesson is designed for readers to work on their own fluency while also seeing the value of it as well. Rereading stories helps build sight vocabulary due to exposure to the same words. Building sight vocabulary allows for more fluent reading, which then allows the students time for comprehension. Students will work on decoding stories while also rereading to gain sight words and fluency.

Materials:

Class set Corduroy by Don Freeman (Mark off two sections for each set of partners)
White board and markers
Pencils
Cover up critters
Stop watch (enough for half of the class)
Paper
Fluency Checklist (Below)

Fluency Checklist:

After the third reading I noticed my partner:

Read faster? Yes or No

Read with more expression? Yes or No

Read words with less trouble? Yes or No

Time Record Sheet Date____

1st Reading ______________

2nd Reading _____________

3rd Reading _____________

Procedure:

Say: When we read, we are trying to understand what the text is saying. This is something called fluency! Can someone tell me what it means to be a fluent reader? (Wait a few moments for students to answer) Being a fluent reader means being able to read effortlessly, smoothly, and with expression. Reading with fluency allows us to focus more on the story and it allows us to read with more enthusiasm! Isn’t it fun to read the story with the voice of the characters (say the rest in a monotone voice) instead of like this?
Say: I want us all to look at the sentence on the board. I am going to read it and I want you to tell me what you think. (The sentence is: My friends and I like to climb mountains.) ‘My fff-rrr-I-nds, ff-r-ie-nds oh! friends! like to ccc-l-i-m-B climB? oh climb! m00000-uuuuu-n-ta-I-ns moontan? hmmmm, oh! mountains!’ Was that easy to understand? No! That was pretty hard to follow. Okay listen to me read it now. ‘My friends and I like to climb mountains.’ Was that better? Which time do you think was the fluent reader, one or two? (Let students answer and explain) Yes! The second time was read fluently. Wasn’t it easier to picture what was being said the second time instead of trying to figure out what I was saying the first time? This was an example of fluency. The more we practice reading, the more fluent we will get! We want to be able to focus on what is being said through what we read.
Say: What happens when we come across a word we don’t know? We don’t want to skip it because then our sentence won’t make sense! We are going to use cover-up critters to help us decode the words we might not know. Let me show an example. (write the word ‘think’) I just wrote the word ‘think’ on the board and let’s use our cover up critter to decode it. I am going to cover up the first vowel I see and the rest of the letters that come after it. Now, I have t and h. I know that t and h together make a /th/ sound like Thumper thumping his foot on the ground. Okay, so we have /th/. Now, I am going to uncover the next letter which is i. I know that i can either say /i/ or /I/. In this we can say that it is /i/. So we have /th/ and /i/ which says /thi/ together. Now, I am going to uncover the rest of the letters. We have n and k which say /n/ and /k/. Together they say /nk/. /thi/ and /nk/. Thiiiiinnnk! Our cover up critters help make learning a new or unknown word easy for us! If we still cannot figure out a word, we can ask a neighbor for help.
(Book talk) Say: We are going to practice fluency by reading Corduroy by Don Freeman. This is a story about a bear in a department store. He watches and watches all the toys going home with different families and wishes he could do the same. He notices that he has lost a button and goes on an adventure to find it in hopes of being bought. Will Corduroy find his button and get to go home with a new family? We are going to read to find out!
(Student will participate in repeated reading with their partner. Teacher explains what repeated readings are) Say: Repeated reading helps us understand the story more and, most importantly, helps us become fluent in reading! When we read more, we become better and better at reading. I am going to read the first few pages of the book with as much fluency as I can. This means to also be enthusiastic! (Teacher reads)
Say: Now we are going to partner up (Teacher chooses partners - mostly partner struggling reader with stronger reader). (Teachers places partners around the classroom) Every group should have their copy of Corduroy, fluency checklist, a stopwatch and a pencil.
(Instructions) Say: In this activity, one person will be the reader and the other will be the recorder. The reader is going to read the first section marked off in Corduroy (teacher has already put a sticky note for what reader one reads and what reader two reads) and the recorder is going to time the reader in how long it takes them to read. But! This is not a race! We are trying to improve our fluency and that means understanding what we are reading. So, I do not want you to rush. I want you to read to the best of your ability. After the first reader is done and the recorder has their time, they are going to switch. Make sure you have recorded their time on the fluency sheet. The reader is going to become the recorder and the recorder is going to be the reader. The new reader will read the second section marked off in Corduroy and the recorder will use the stopwatch to time them. Record their time on the fluency sheet. After they finish, you are going to switch roles again and complete the same process. You will read the same section again and be timed again by the recorder. We are going to do this three times each so each person will end up reading their section three times. Make sure to complete the fluency sheet as you go alsong. Since the recorder will be keeping track of time, they will tell the reader when to start and stop the time when the reader gets to the end of their section.
Teacher will model as the reader before students start. One student will be the recorder.
Walk around the room as students complete the activity to clarify any questions and monitor progress.
After the activity is finished, the teacher can assess the students by calculating their WPM by (Word x 60) / seconds. The teacher will also write comprehension questions on the board for students to respond to in writing. Some examples are
1. Not a lot of people wanted Corduroy, but something happened one day that seemed to change that. What was that?
2. Why did Lisa’s mother say she couldn’t get Corduroy?
3. What happened when Corduroy pulled on the button?
4. How do you think Lisa felt when she got to take Corduroy home?

The teacher will assess student comprehension after students have answered all of the questions.

References:

Freeman, Don. Corduroy. Penguin Group, 2011. Print.

Eason, Samantha. “Flipping for Fluency” https://samanthaeason1999.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-fluency-design