Growing Independence and Fluency Design

If you give a Mouse Fluency

Rationale: To become an expert in reading and reading comprehension, reading fluency needs to become natural to the reader. Reading fluency means reading with automatic word reignition. This process can be acquired by reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading. Through these process students will gain automatic word reignition, confidence, and improve their reading rate. When readers can automatically recognize words without little to no effort, they can work toward understanding the message of the text. Once readers have this technique down pact, their reading comprehension will improve drastically.

Materials:

1. Timer / stopwatch- 1 for each pair

2. Peer fluency sheet for each student

3. Sample sentences “I like to eat cookies.”

4. Teacher fluency checklist – 1 per student – w/ attached comprehension questions

5. Reading rate forms (for teacher)

6. Class set of If you Give a Mouse a Cookie- Laure Numeroff

7. Cover-up critter for each student

8. Pencil and paper for each student

9. Fluency check list- 1 per student

10. Fluency checklist- I noticed my partner…

After 2^nd reading…after 3^rd reading

_____ Remembered more words

_____ Read faster

_____ read smoother

_____ Read with expression

· Reading record time sheet

Time record sheet:

Name: ____________________

Date: _____________________

1^st reading ___________________

2^nd reading __________________

3^rd reading __________________

Procedure:

1. Begin the lesson by saying, “Good morning class, today we will be learning about how can become expert readers through critiquing our fluency. Does anyone know what the word fluent means? (wait for response). Once we critique our fluency, we will be able to recognize words automatically, which means we do not have to stop our reading to decode each word. We will also begin to read more quickly, smoothly, and with more expression. Once we have become more fluent, we will be about to comprehend the message of our readings and able to make the readings more enjoyable. Also, we will be able to read a loud to our peers and the readings will become more enjoyable for others to listen to and follow along.

2. Next say, “so to help each of you become expert readers through fluency we will start by practicing an example sentence together. Let’s look at this sentence that I wrote on the white board: “I like to eat cookies” Listen to the way that I read it to you, I-I l-l-l-i-i-k-k t-t-o-o E-E-t-t co-oo-k-i-e-s. That was very hard to understand. Let me try to read it again but a little faster and a bit more fluently.” (read sentence). Reply, “that seemed a bit easier to read, but I still did not get the full message of the sentence. Let me try and read it to you all one more time and this time I will read it quickly, smoothly, and with much fluency. OH YUM! I like to eat cookies! Now that makes sense! See how I had to re-read a few ties so that I could fully understand the message the sentence was giving to the readers?” Ask students: “Which reading was the best for you to understand and easiest to follow along with?” (Wait for response). “Which do you all think was the hardest to follow along with?” (Wait for response). Explain to students: “The first sentence I read was read without fluency, so it was very hard to understand and comprehend the full message what I was reading. However, after I re-read the sentence a few times, I was realized the emotions that the sentence was giving readers and was able to read it accordingly. This made it easier to understand and comprehend that I enjoy eating cookies. Therefore, it is important to become fluent readers, you are one step closer to becoming an expert reader. Let’s get started guys!

3. Next, say: “Lets remember some techniques that we have learned so far, when I got stuck on a word in the sample sentence, I re-read the sentence to see if I could discover the word that would make the best sense. We also can use our neat little cover-up critter to figure out the word that we are struggling on. If you are curious on how to use your cover-up critter, I can show you and example.” Proceed to write the word pan on the board. “I am going to pretend that I do not know how to say this word, and I am going to use my cover-up critter to help me. First, I will begin with the vowel and cover up all the other letters in the word. The vowel is I, and I know that i=/i/. Then I will uncover the letters before the vowel. In this word, I have a which says /i/. Then I will include the vowel with my first letter, and I will get /p/ /i/. Now I will uncover the remaining letter t and I know the sound it makes. When I put all my sounds together, I get the word, pit. See how easy that was with this simple word, we can also use this method for more rigorous words as well. If the cover-up critter does not work efficiently, then the crosschecking method of re-reading the sentence could helper better!”

4. The next step in the lesson is to put each student in sets of pairs and pass out the class copies of If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. I will then give a book talk about the book and explain the situation of in the story to engage the students and get them to ponder on what could happen. I will state “In this book, the main character is a little boy and he gets a visit from a moose. He thinks it would be nice to give him a muffin, but then he cannot figure out a way to have the moose leave. Let’s find out what happens and if the moose really ever leaves.”

5. Next, as the teacher I will explain to student to move together with their assigned partner and participate in a repeated reading. I will also be handing out a timer, a fluency checklist, a pencil, and a reading time sheet. “We participate in repeated readings because they help gain experience on fluent reading. The more we read, the closer we come to being expert readers. I am going to read the beginning of the book aloud to you, and I want you each to follow along in your book. I am going to read with as much fluency as I can, so I want you to pay careful attention as I read.” Read the first 3 pages aloud with much expression and with much smoothness for students to have better understanding for when they practice themselves.

6. Once the students have been assigned their designated spot in the classroom and have gotten familiar with their partners, the teacher will give the instructions. “In this activity, one of the partners will be the reader, and the other partner will be recording. The student who’s first letter in their names come first in the alphabet will be the first to read. The reader will begin when the recorder tells the partner tool. You will read the entire story and your partner will time you. Remember friends, this is not a race! This activity is to help get one more step closer to becoming experts and work on our fluency. Make sure to take your time and work on reading smoothly. After the first reader is finished reading, the partners will switch roles of reading and recording the time taken to complete the story. Once the partner recording tells the other partner to begin reading, that is your cue to start the timer. Time your partner until he or she has finished reading the whole first 10 pages; when they are finished, be sure to stop the timer.” (take time to go over the timer instructions allowing students to practice starting, ending, and resetting.) “Write your partners name on the time sheet. Then you will fill out the fluency checklist based on how your partner read that section of the book. Then you will fill out the fluency checklist based on how your partner read that section. Once you fill out both sheets, you will continue to trade tasks for three more times. This means reading the first 10 pages three times each and filling out the fluency check list for each time your partner reads after recording.”

7. Before beginning the lessons ask for a volunteer to help you do a practice lesson. By showing the students an example, this will help them have a better understanding on what to do and how it will help them in the future.

8. While students are working together, teacher should be walking around observing and being available to answer questions if students need assistance. Teachers are available to assist but encourage students to do it on their own as much as possible.

9. Assessment: When students complete the instructions of alternating reading the first 10 pages and being the recorder. The students will complete the fluency checklist and the time record sheet. The students will then come to the teacher to allow him/her to asses the fluence of each student using the formula Words x 60/Seconds. This will be done by the students reading the first three pages of the book to the teacher. The teacher will also ask students to write a paragraph on what he or she read in the first 10 pages. This summative assessment will help the teacher determine the student’s comprehension of the section. This assessment could take place while students are separately coming to the teacher for fluency.

Growing Independency and Fluency Rubric: (for teachers use)

Student Name: ______________________

Date: ________________________

Student read three times

_____/1

Student responded to reading comprehension questions.

_____/1

Student filled out Peer Fluency Sheet for partner

_____/1

Student improves fluency

_____/1

Student improved accuracy