Rationale: Reading fluency is the ability to recognize words quickly, accurately and automatically. The student is transitioning away from slow decoding and into reading smoothly and quickly. Students need to develop sight word vocabulary to increase fluency. To become successful readers, fluency is important because they can focus their attention on becoming quick in their ability to read smoothly, increase expression, and comprehend the text. To gain fluency and speed, it is best to use the method of repeated reading. In this lesson, students will be able to use the strategy of crosschecking throughout the repeated reading of a decodable text. Students will gain confidence in their ability to become more fluent, independent readers.
Materials: Class set of Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal; stopwatches for each pair of students; partner reading checklist; reader response questions; fluency assessment graph; cover-up critters for each student; dry erase board; dry erase markers
Procedures
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Say: “Alright class, today we are going to become fluent readers! What do you think it means to be a fluent reader? [Wait for answers] Those are great guesses! A fluent reader is someone who is able to read very quickly and smoothly because they recognize the words; this helps us understand what we are reading. Once we are fluent readers, we will love and enjoy reading books even more than before! We can practice fluency by reading a book more than once. You can become a fluent reader by being able to read at a steady rate and it does not sound choppy.”
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Say: “Who can tell me what cross checking is? [Wait.] Crosschecking is a strategy we use to make sure what we are reading makes sense, and it helps us if we find a word we don't know. We can use context clues to crosscheck. Let's try. I am going to write a sentence on the board and we will read it together. Write: The dog takes a nap in the sun. Say: The dog takes a nape in the sun. The dog takes a nape? Hmmm, no that doesn't sound right. Oh wait, the dog takes a NAP in the sun. That’s right! After I figured out the hard word, did you notice I didn’t stumble on any words when I read the sentence again? Since I didn’t stumble on any words, it made it easier to comprehend the meaning of the sentence.”
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Say: “Today, we are going to be reading a portion of the book, Junie. B Jones Is A Party Animal. Booktalk: This book is about a girl named Junie B. Jones. Junie B.’s friends are named Grace and Lucille. Lucille rides to school with her nanna, while Grace and Junie B. have to ride the school bus. This is because Lucille has a rich nanna. Junie B. and Grace get invited to Lucille’s rich nanna’s house for a sleepover. Junie B. must learn the rules of a sleepover before her parents will let her go. Do you think she will learn all the rules of a sleepover? Let’s read to find out!”
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Say: “Now, I want you to get with a partner (the person sitting next to you) so that we can play a fluency game.” [Pass out to each person a reading checklist sheet] “I want you to look at this sheet with me while I explain. You’ll be reading aloud chapter 1 to your partner. You will take turns reading it aloud 3 times each. After the 2nd and 3rd readings, make a checkmark by the elephant if they ‘remembered more words’, by the cheetah if they ‘read faster’, by the swan if they ‘read smoother’ and by the monkey if they ‘read with expression’. Now let’s get started!” [Walk around to monitor and observe partner reading]
Reading Checklist Sheet
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[After partner reading is done, collect the reading checklist sheets.] Say: “I’ll be calling people up individually to my desk to read to me.” Assess individual student reading by having them read to you. Time the reading with a stopwatch. While they read, mark reading miscues. Calculate the individual’s words per minute with the formula (# of words x 60/# of seconds). Record this number on clipboard list next to that student’s name. Using the Fluency Assessment Graph, show student where they are at by moving the basketball player higher and higher until he scores a slam dunk at a goal of 100 wpm.
Fluency Assessment Graph
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[Pass out a reader response question sheet to each student] The purpose of this is to ask them reading comprehension questions to see if they understood what they read. Say: “After reading with me at my desk, I want you to answer these questions at your desk to see if you remember all about the chapter you just read with me.” [Collect sheets when everyone gets done].
Example Questions:
1. Why did Junie B. want to go over to Lucille’s house?
2. Who are Junie B.’s friends?
3. What problem occurred at the sleepover?
I will collect the questions and evaluate the students’ answers to assess each student’s fluency of the reading.
References:
Miller, H. http://hlm0012.wixsite.com/haleymiller/growing-fluency
Murray, Bruce. “Developing Reading Fluency”. The Reading Genie. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/fluency.html
Park, Barbara., and Denise Brunkus. Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal. Random House, 1997.
Smith, K. http://korismith334.wixsite.com/kindergartenkids/growing-independency-and-fluency
Horizons:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/horizons.html
