Growing Independence and Fluency

Sailing Towards Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency Design

Rationale:

Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. Being fluent and automatic allows more opportunity for reading comprehension since less time is spent figuring out the word or sentence. This lesson will help students understand reading with speed and fluency by timing their reading speeds and having fellow students assess their fluency with worksheets.

Materials:

Class set of “Days with Frog and Toad” by Arnold Lobel (One per student)

Stopwatches (one for every two children)

Pencils

Dry erase board and marker

Speed read charts (one per student)

Fluency Rubric (one per student)

Fluency Chart - Sailboat sailing across the sea (# of words) to an island (assessment)

Speed Read Chart:

Name: __________________ Date: ________

Reading time: ___________

Fluency Rubric:

Name: ________________ Evaluator: _______________Date: _________

I noticed that my partner: (mark an X in the blank)

After 2nd After 3rd

Read Faster

Read Smoother

Read with Expression

Remembered More Words

Procedure:

1. Say: Today we’re going to practice reading fluently and with expression. In order to be successful readers, we have to learn how to read fluently. When we read fluently, we recognize words automatically which helps with comprehending a story because you do not have to sound out each word. [Write the sentence “Sit on the red box” on the board]. It’s normal to read this as Siiiiiit oooonnnnnnn theeeeee reddddddddd boxxxxxxxxx. As you build fluency you will be able to read this more fluently. We will practice reading this with expression and adding an exclamation point at the end “Sit on the red box!”

2. Say: When we read and we come to a word that we don’t know, we will use a coverup critter. [Give each student a cover-up stick. Write the word clock on the board. Model how to read the word using the cover-up stick] First, we look at the vowel. It says /o/. Now look at the c. /c/ Add the l sound. /cl/. Put the /o/ and /cl/ together to get /clo/. Now we add the /ck/ sound. We get cl-o-ck. [Write the word "brick" on the board and sound it out together as a class].

3. Say: Remember that reading fast is not the only thing we need to do. Let’s look back at our sentence on the board. If I read “sit on the red box!” so quickly because I wanted to finish the sentence, I might not understand the sentence. We need to read so that we can understand. We can also crosscheck. [Write “The dog smells bad” on the board] If I read, “The dog smills bad,” I would think, You know, that just doesn’t make sense. The dog smills? Smills is not a word, this must be smells.

4. [Divide the class in pairs and give all students the two reading rubrics] Say: Today we’re going to read “Days with Frog and Toad.” In this book, Toad wants to spend time with his friend Frog, but when he goes to Frog’s house he reads a note that says that he only wants to be alone. Toad notices that Frog is sad so he does whatever he can to cheer him up. Will Frog cheer up? We’ll have to read to find out! [Students will take turns reading and recording each other’s progress. The recorder will set a stopwatch and have the reader begin when the clock starts and they will stop when the reader finishes reading. This task will record the speed at which the reader is reading.]

5. After both have filled out the chart, have them read to each other again and have the recorder make notes about the reader’s fluency. The reader and recorder will switch jobs again and repeat. Allow the students three readings by having both readers reading to each other again and each partner taking note on their fluency the third time.

6. Collect all of the time and fluency charts.

7. For assessment, have each student come to the reading corner and read “Days with Frog and Toad” aloud. Time each one individually, make miscue notes, and mark it on their fluency chart. Next, ask some comprehension questions to see if they understood the story

Where did Toad find Frog?
What did Toad do to try and get Frog’s attention?
What did Toad bring for he and Frog to eat?

Reference:

Lobel, Arnold. Days With Frog and Toad. 1979

Merrit, Annamarie.,Sailing to Fluency https://sites.google.com/site/msmerritts1stgradeclass/guided-fluency

Murray, Bruce. Developing Reading Fluency. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html

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READING FLUENTLY WITH MS. FIELDS