Rationale:

The goal of this lesson is to increase fluency in student’s reading. This fluency refers to their ability to be able to recognize words quickly, accurately and automatically. Students will learn to do this through repeated reading silently, with a partner, and one on one with the teacher. They will see their progress as they are timed each round of reading and will hopefully gain confidence in their abilities. 

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Materials:

-stop watches for each pair of students

-Biscuit Wants to Play-one for each student

-cover-up critters for each child

-peer evaluation worksheet for each student

-comprehension worksheet for each student

-graph of dog moving towards his bone to track gains

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Procedures:

1. Say: “Today we are going to work on our fluency while reading! This means we are going to be able to read words quickly and correctly with ease. When we read fluently, it is easier to understand the text and you can even add expression while reading. We will practice doing this today by reading the same book more than one time. Every time that we read it, we will become more familiar with the words and it will get easier and easier to read them. We call this repeated reading and it is so helpful for us. Once we feel like we have mastered the text, we should all be excited to share the story with our friends and family! 

2. Next, you will model crosschecking and decoding by reading a sample sentence from the board. Say: “Now I am going to show you how we can learn to crosscheck to figure out words when we are reading. (Sample sentence: The dog wags his tail when he sees his food.) Tthheee ddooooggg wwwaaagggsss hhiiisss ttt….when I get stuck on a word like this one I keep reading to the end of the sentence so I can try and figure out what makes sense. Wwhheenn heee sseeess hhiisss fooodd. The dog wags his t… when he sees his food. Oh! Tail! That makes sense. He wags his tail when he sees his food because he is excited to eat! This is how you use crosschecking to figure out words we aren’t sure of. Now that I know this word, I can make a mental mark of the spelling so I can remember it better next time I see it.”

3. Say: “Now let’s look at the difference between what fluent reading sounds like and what non-fluent reading sounds like. I am going to read the sentence on the board both ways and you tell me what you think sounds better.” Sample sentence-The dog chased the rat around the house until he caught it. Read the sentence as if you have seen if for the first time. “Thhee doogg chasseedd thhee rraatt aarrouunndd thhee hhoussee unnttill hee caaughtt ittt. When I read it like that, slow and stretched out, it is harder to understand what I am saying. But when I read it again I am going to try and make it faster and smoother. Listen! The dog chased the rat around the house until he caught it (read with expression and excitement). See! This time it sounded much more fluent because I am learning tough words. The more we read it the better we will get! Now your turn. Everyone try and read this sentence with expression.” Let them practice with their friends. 

4. Say: “To practice becoming more fluent, we are going to read the book ‘Biscuit Wants to Play’. This story is about a dog named Biscuit. Biscuit wants to play with two kittens but they don’t have an interest in playing with him. But suddenly, the kittens get into some trouble and Biscuit comes to the rescue! What do you think will happen? Do you think Biscuit will be able to save them?”

5.  Give each child a copy of the book, a cover up critter, evaluation worksheet, comprehension worksheet, and one stopwatch per pair of students. Say: “Now we are going to practice our reading fluency by working with a partner. When you are with your partner, you will take turns reading the story. Remember to use your cover up critter and crosschecking when you don’t know words. While you read, your partner will be timing you, using the stopwatch. Record the time on the evaluation worksheet. Your partner needs to listen closely to your reading to see if you are reading smoothly and with expression. Remember we are only going to use kind words with our partner. You should each read the book three times. After you are finished reading, talk about the book with your partner and work on the comprehension worksheet.”

  

Assessment: 

Walk around the room and observe as children are doing their repeated reading with partners. Once they have all read it three times each, have each student come one at a time to read it to you. Time the student as they read to you. The goal is for them read 85 words per minute. Make sure you have all the words printed on a piece of paper without illustrations so they aren’t distracted by pictures. Show the child their fluency on the graph (WPM) that shows a dog moving towards his bone. The closer he gets to his bone, the closer he is to reading 85 WPM. Take up their comprehension and evaluation worksheets to see if they improved their fluency while reading and to see if they understand what they were reading as well. Go over the reading comprehension answers with all the students as a class.

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Peer Evaluation Worksheet:

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Reading Comprehension Worksheet:

-How did the kittens treat the kitten when he wanted to play?

-How did the kittens get into trouble?

-How did Biscuit help rescue the kittens?

-What did Biscuit look like?

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Resources:

-Biscuit Wants to Play-by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (I Can Read book)

-cover up critters-http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/materials.html

-Wagging Tails for Fluency-Emily James-

http://emjames77.wixsite.com/portfolio/growing-independence-and-fluency

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