Rationale: Fluent reading is the ability to automatically recognize sight words and to read quickly with understanding and expression. The purpose of this lesson is to teach students how to become fluent readers by teaching strategies such as decoding, crosschecking, rereading, and fast reading for understanding. The students will reread a text over and over to help build fluency skills.
Materials.
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Stopwatch for each student pair
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class set of Swimmy by Leo Lionni
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pencils
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class set of fluency graph paper
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class set of partner reading progress checklist
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class set of comprehension worksheet
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whiteboard
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dry-erase marker
Procedures:
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Say: Today we will work on reading with fluency! This means to read words quickly, automatically, and with expression. When we are fluent readers, we read at a fast pace and understand what we’ve read. To become more fluent, we can read the same thing over and over to become familiar with the words. So, we are going to swim into fluency by practicing with repeated readings.
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Say: When you are working to become a fluent reader, you might come across a word that you don’t know. The first thing you can try is decoding with a coverup critter. Let me model how to decode an unfamiliar word: beach. [Cover up and say each phoneme individually with coverup critter.] Good, /b//ea//c/h/ like a bird screeching, /E/. Sometimes, decoding doesn’t work, so we have to remember to finish reading the sentence to see if we can figure out the unfamiliar word. This is a strategy called crosschecking. [Put sentence on board: I swim briskly across the pool.] Let’s read it together. “I swim brrrisss-k-ly? across the pool.” You can read the rest of the words in the sentence to figure out that the word is briskly! After crosschecking, you’ll want to make a mental mark of the word in your head, and then always go back and reread the sentence from the beginning. Now that you know the unfamiliar word, your rereading of the sentence should be more fluent and smooth!
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Say: “We know what to do when there is a word that we don’t know which will help us become fluent readers. Now, I am going to model how to read fluently. [Put sentence on the board: “Swimmy was surprised when he found a school of fish.”] Slowly read: Swimmy was /s//u//r//p//r//i//s//e//d/ when he found a school of fish? Is that word sur-pr/i/sed? That doesn’t sound right! Sur-pr/i/sed when he found a school of fish...? Oh, its surprised like Swimmy wasn’t expecting it! Now listen as I reread: Swimmy was surprised when he found a school of fish. That sounded a little better. [Read quicker and with expression] Listen again: Swimmy was surprised when he found a school of fish! Did you hear how I read more quickly and with expression? I sounded like an expert reader that time. We decoded the word, then crosschecked, and then reread to make sense of the sentence. Remember, when we read the same thing over again, the words start to go into our sight word vocabulary and we start to automatically recognize them. That is how we become fluent readers! You will get better each time.
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Say: Now, we will practice reading fluently by reading a book called Swimmy. Swimmy was the only black-colored fish out of all his other fish friends. All of the other fish were red, but Swimmy was special because he could swim extra fast. One day, a big tuna fish swam up to Swimmy’s school of friends and he swallowed everyone up besides Swimmy. Swimmy was left alone, and he became sad. Finally, Swimmy came upon a new school of fish! What will happen when Swimmy asks them to swim with him? Will they go explore with him? Will they all become friends? Or will Swimmy have to keep searching to find different friends? You will find out what happens to Swimmy because you will read the whole story with a partner!
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Say: Pair up with your partner and get ready to take turns reading. [Pass out books, stopwatches, reading progress checklists, fluency graphs, and coverup critters.] You will each read the story three times, alternating back and forth. When you read, your partner will time you with the stopwatch and then record your time. Your partner will also record how smooth and expressive you are reading by filling out the reading progress checklist. In between turns, you should also kindly give your partner tips on how to improve. If you get stuck on a word, try the coverup critter to decode and if you still don’t know the word, crosscheck by finishing the sentence. Each time, you will become more fluent! When you are both finished reading three times, go back to your desk and individually complete the questions on the comprehension sheet.
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[Collect the partner reading checklists and calculate the progress of each student.] Say: I will call you up to my desk and we will talk about your progress from the fluency graph after reading Swimmy, and you will read a few pages aloud to me. [Use formula (words X 60 / seconds) and the checklist to determine each student’s placement on the graph.] After everyone is finished, we will go over the comprehension questions as a class.
I. Partner Reading Progress Checklist:
Title of Book: ________________________________________
Total # of words in book: ______
Reader: ___________________________
Recorder: __________________________
1st time: ___ Words in ___ seconds
2nd time: ___ Words in ___ seconds
3rd time: ___ Words in ___ seconds
Which turn did my partner…
read fastest: ____
read smoothly: ____
read with expression: ____
II. Graph of Reading Fluency:
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
III. Reading Comprehension Sheet
1. Swimmy swam ______ than/as all of the red fish.
A. Faster
B. Slower
C. The same speed
2. What kind of fish swallowed all of Swimmy’s friends?
A. Flounder
B. Blowfish
C. Tuna
3. Which creature did Swimmy not run into when he was alone?
A. Sea turtle
B. eel
C. lobster
4. Why did the new school of fish not want to explore with Swimmy?
A. They didn’t want to be his friend
B. They were scared of the big fish
C. They didn’t like Swimmy
5. What did Swimmy and the new school of fish do to be able to swim freely in the sea?
A. Swam only at the bottom of the ocean
B. Hid in an anemone every time they saw a big fish
C. Swam in the shape of a big fish
References:
Leo Lionni, Swimmy, New York, Dragonfly Books, 1991.
Cranston, Molly, “Making Friends with Fluency.” https://mcranz15.wixsite.com/mysite/el-lesson-design
Korn, Erin, “Running Into Fluency.” https://erinkorn29.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-and-fluency
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