A Lesson Design on Growing Fluency

Allie Harmon

 

Rationale:

Reading fluency is the next step in the path to becoming expert readers. Fluency is automatic word recognition most of the words in a given text. When a reader becomes fluent, he or she is able to both read faster and devote more mental energy to the meaning of the text. Often, the result of an increase in reading comprehension is an increase in a desire to read, based off interest in the meaning of the text, which will likely lead to greater fluency. Students will be introduced to the importance of fluency, and they will be taught to use crosschecking and decoding to improve fluency/accuracy. I will monitor and encourage progress through repeated readings and progression charts.

 

Materials:

• Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish (one for each student)

• Display board with: “Here I stand with a whole list of things to do.”

• Display board with: ‘My, what nice folks. I’m going to like working here,’ said Amelia Bedelia.’

• Comprehension questions worksheet

• Graph for rereading activity (one for each student)

 

Procedure:

Explain: “Who wants to become a master reader? Master readers can read accurately and quickly.  Today I will give you the key that you can use to unlock master reading! Master readers have many words in their sight word vocabulary (those are the words you can look at and know immediately). As we unlock the door to reading fluency, we will better understand the meaning behind the words we are reading. Get ready to learn the tools to read like a master!”

 

Say: I’m going to show you how we learn how to read words that are unfamiliar. This ‘key’ is called crosschecking. Watch me read a sentence, crosschecking when I get to an unfamiliar word. <Refer to board: Here I stand with a whole list of things to do.> "Here I stand with a /w//h//O//l/"… hmm I don’t think /w//h//O//l/ is a word. I will finish the sentence to see if that helps me with the word: … ‘Here I stand with a /w//h//O//l/ list of things to do.’ Oh, I bet that word is whole! That makes more sense. I will mark out the “w” because you don’t hear it in the word ‘whole’. Now I will reread the sentence and jump back into the story!

 

Say: Good work crosschecking! Now that we have learned how to crosscheck, we can step closer to reading fluently. Listen to me read this sentence twice and give me a thumbs up when it sounds like a fluid reader and thumbs down when it sounds like a beginning reader.

<Read with no expression, choppy> ‘My, what nice folks. I’m going to like working here,’ said Amelia Bedelia.’

<Read with appropriate pauses and expression, fluidly> ‘My, what nice folks. I’m going to like working here,’ said Amelia Bedelia.’

Right, so the second time you heard the sentence it sounded like a fluid reader. When I read the sentence the first time, it was very hard for me to understand what I was reading because it was so choppy. The second time, I understood because I used the right expression and pauses! It is much easier to really understand the story when you don’t have to focus so much on each individual word. Lets all re-read the sentence on the display board out loud with expression: My, what nice folks. I’m going to like working here,’ said Amelia Bedelia.’

 

Say: “ Now we will read a chapter in this book, Amelia Bedelia. Book talk: This book is about an unconventional (that means not ordinary) maid named Amelia. This is her first day on the job… and her family leaves her all alone! She wants to do a good job but has trouble understanding what she is supposed to do! I hope she doesn’t mess anything up too bad!”

 

<Pass out a copy of Amelia Bedelia to each child.>

 

Say: Lets practice fluent reading. We will read one chapter today of Amelia Bedelia. Open your books to page one and read until the end of the chapter. If you finish early, don’t move on to chapter two, but begin to reread the chapter to yourself so you can understand more! Allow about 10 minutes- walk around and assess. Ask comprehension questions.

 

Say:  <As you pass out journals> Now we will practice reading with fluency with a partner. Don’t worry about the comprehension sheet now; we will come to that soon. We will be reading chapter 1 again. Decide who will be Reader 1 and who will be Reader 2. Reader 1 will read the chapter to Reader 2. Then Reader 2 will read the chapter to Reader 1. Once both students have read, get them to write (or draw if unable to write) what happened in the chapter until the whole class has finished.

 

Assessment: Have each student turn in his or her journal once all the students have finished. While the students are sitting at their desks, working on a comprehension worksheet, have students come up, one at a time, and implement the repeated reading strategy. Students will read the chapter while the teacher times. Ask a few comprehension questions and have them read it again. Mark the students mistakes and score the results. Graph their progress and encourage improvement. 

 

Click here to return to handoffs.

 

 

References: 

 

Parrish, Peggy. Amelia Bedelia. Harper Collins. 2010.

 

Anna Dilworth, Climbing the Mountian of Fluency

https://sites.google.com/site/annasresearchbasedlessonplans/home/growing-independence-and-fluency