Growing Independence and Fluency
Flipping for Fluency!
By: Callen Popwell
Rationale: Fluency is being able to read quickly where nearly all of the words are sight vocabulary. This means that they recognize most of the words on the page, shifting to focusing more on the speed of their reading and their expression. It is an important skill for students to learn. If students are fluent readers, reading becomes more efficient, and they can start to read for understanding at a quicker pace. In order for students to become fluent readers, they must read, decode, crosscheck, and reread words. Reading books and answering questions about the material encourages students to work on reading comprehension. Students will use the strategy of cross checking after readings of decodable text and repeated readings to gain fluency and independence in reading!
Materials:
- Timer/stopwatch for each pair
- Cover up critter
- Sample sentences on a whiteboard for the teacher to model
- Fluency Checklist (one for each student)
- Fluency chart
- Pencil for each student
- Class set of the book “The Thing Lou Couldn't Do” by Ashley Spires
Procedures:
- Say: “Good morning class! Today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers! What do you think it means to be a fluent reader? A fluent reader is someone who is able to read quickly and smoothly because they recognize the words that they are reading. When we become fluent readers, it makes reading easier and much more enjoyable because we understand what is happening in the story!
- Say: “Let’s review before we begin! Do you remember what we do when we get stuck on a word? We use our cover up critters to help us sound out and blend the word. Let’s look at this sentence on the board: I like to flip on the beam. I am going to read this sentence to you, and you are going to listen to find out if I am a fluent reader! /I/, /l/-/l/-/l/-/I/-/I/-/I/-/ck/-/ck/-ck/, like, to flip on a /b/-/b/-/b/-/E/-/E/-/E/-/m/-/m/-/m/-/m/, beam. Oh, that doesn’t make sense. It must be like. I like to flip on a beam. Did you notice that when I read the sentence I got stuck on the word like? To figure out what word it was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried out that word. That did not make sense though! So, I went back and reread the sentence to figure out what the word should be to make sense in the sentence. This strategy of rereading is called cross checking, and it is really important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Give me a thumbs up if you think I read like a fluent reader? I did not read that sentence as a fluent reader since I had to reread the sentence to figure out the last word. Here’s how a fluent reader would have read that sentence: I like to flip on a beam. I read the sentence effortlessly which meant it was much easier to understand, too! Now turn to a partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board: I flip on the bars. Read it aloud to one another until you can read the sentence fluently!”
- Say: “Now it’s your turn to practice reading fluently! Everyone turn to the person sitting to your right. This is your partner for this activity! We are going to read The Thing Lou Couldn't Do. In this book a little girl, Lou, is very adventurous. She does all these fun stories until one day they want to try something new and climb a tree. Lou decided she could not do this and told her friends many reasons why. Really she was just too scared to try though. Will Lou end up climbing the tree and be brave? We will have to read and find out!
- Students will read the whole book silently to themselves. After, they will each read the whole book to their partner. They cannot help their partner read while they are listening.
- After they read, pass out the book, stopwatches, and fluency checklists to each group. Say: “Now we are going to play a fluency game. One partner will start the game off and the other partner will be in control of the stopwatch. The student with the stopwatch is going to time how fast their partner reads the first three pages. They will record the time on the sheet that I have handed out to you. While they are reading, also make some marks for words that your partner misses so we can calculate their words per minute! After writing it down, the partners will switch jobs! Do this three times each. As you listen to your partner read, I want you to be listening to how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words, read faster, read smoother, or read with more expression? Mark these changes on your paper!
- While the students are reading in pairs, walk around the classroom to monitor progress and offer any assistance that might be needed.
- After the students have read through the passages three times each, have them come one at a team to read the first three pages to you. Ask them to bring their record sheet so you can attach it to the back of the assessment sheet. You will time them on the paragraph read aloud and record their words per minute
Assessment: I will assess them by recording their reading progress in words per minute visual and on the checklists.
Reading Comprehension Worksheet:
1. Who is Lou?
2. What is Lou scared of?
3. Did Lou face her fears?
Fluency Checklist:
Title of Book: __________________________________
Student’s Name: ____________ Date___________
Partner's Name: ______________________________
After 2nd Reading After 3rd Reading
_________ _________ Remembered more words
_________ _________ Read faster
_________ _________ Read smoother
_________ _________ Read with expression
Time: Time:
(Words x 60) / seconds = WPM
0 - - - - 10 - - - - 20 - - - - 30 - - - - 40 - - - - 50 - - - - 60 - - - - 70 - - - - 80 - - - - 90 - - - - 100
Correct Words Per Minute
References:
Fishing for Fluency by: Anna Sienkiewicz
https://als0095.wixsite.com/readinglessons/growing-independence-and-fluency
Flipping for Fluency by: K. Coltrain
https://klc0083.wixsite.com/mysite/gif
Spires, Ashley. The Thing Lou Couldn't Do. Kids Can Press, 2017.
Reading Comprehension Worksheet
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ashley-spires/the-thing-lou-couldnt-do/
