Growing Independence and Fluency

Fluency with Ms Frizz!

Hannah Shaw

Rationale: The goal is for students to become more fluent when reading their longer and more advanced texts. The goal is for students to recognize words immediately. We want them to understand and comprehend the test while automatically recognizing words. This lesson will help to encourage students to decode, crosscheck and reread to help understand the texts that they are reading.

Materials

Sentence strip that says “Ms Frizzle goes inside the Earth ”
Stop watch for each student
Clipboards for each student
Copy of Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole
Pencils
Coverup critters
Time sheet
Fluency checklist
Paper for students to record comprehension activity assessment

Procedures:

Explain to students why it is important to practice reading! “The more we read, the more words we know and understand. The more we understand, the better we can read books and fully grasp their meaning!” “Today, we are going to practice reading so that we can be fluent readers!”
When we read fluently, it helps understand the book better and make more sense of sentences. If I were to read this sentence as “Mmmmsssssss Fffffrrrrrizzzzzzlllllll gooossssss innnnnsssssiiiidddddd ttttthhhhhhhheeeeeeeeee eeeeeeerrrrrrrttttttttthhhhhhhhh” It is a lot harder to understand than if I said Ms. Frizzle goes inside the Earth.
Review decoding “When we read a sentence and we get to a word that we don’t know, it is important to look for the letters that we know to help put the sounds together to say the word. We can use our cover up critter to help us figure out what the word is”. Write the word bike on the board and model decoding and using the cover up critter. “I know the b makes a bbb sound, and the i_e makes the I say its name. The k makes a kkkkk and then I can squish them all together to make bike! So remember, when we get to a word that we don’t know, we can make all the sounds separately using our cover up critter and then squish them together to find what the word is”
Review crosschecking “another way that we can find out a word that we don’t know is by reading the rest of the sentence to see if we can figure out what that word is. When I read this sentence (Ms Frizzle goes inside the Earth) I can use the context of the sentence to figure out a word. Ms Frizzle goes insid? IsId the earth? OH! Ms. Frizzle goes inside the Earth! I was able to read the sentence and figure out what the word inside was using the context from the rest of the sentence.
When we read, it is also important to read the story like you are talking! If the speaker is whispering, whisper that sentence to your partner. If the speaker is SHOUTING, make sure you read that sentence louder.”
Give booktalk “We are going to read a book about a teacher who has a magic school bus! She loads all of her students up in her magic bus and takes them on field trips. I wonder where she is going to take them to today! Lets read to find out”
Introduce the activity to the class “we are going to be doing repeated readings with a partner. The more we read a story, the better we will be able to read that story. I am going to read the first few pages of the book aloud”
Once you finish reading aloud, break the students into reading pairs (reading pairs assigned by the teacher). “once you get with your partner, you will decide who is going to read first. When it is your turn to read, you will wait til your partner tells you to go, and then you will begin the book. This is not a race! Read the entire book and your partner will time you. You will try to beat your own time, not your partners time so do not rush or pay attention to your partners time! Just your own! When you are recording the time, you will start the timer and let it run until they have finished the book. You will record the time of your partner and do this 3 times. So each of you will read the book a total of 3 times. The goal is for your fluency and time to improve each time. You will fill out the forms as you go”
Assessment- students will be able to assess each other and themselves as they complete the activity. afterwards, you can find out their words per minute. Ask the class to answer comprehension questions (this can be written or verbal). You can also get the students to each write 4 sentences describing the story in their own words. This helps to see if students were comprehending the reading.
1. Why did Ms Frizzle choose to take her students there?
2. What did she want us to learn today?
3. Where do you think Ms. Frizzle will take her students next?