Climbing to Fluency
Madelyn Brown
Growing Independency and Fluency
Rationale: If we are fluent readers, we can comprehend reading! Students have to practice remembering words, reading faster, reading smoother, and their expression in order to gain fluency. Fluency is when nearly all words are sight words for a reader. When students can automatically read with minimal effort, students can reflect on what they read due to their reading comprehension skills. Students can improve their reading rate and gain fluency through decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading decodable texts. These skills are very important for fluent readers.
Materials:
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Timer for each pair of students
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Sample sentences on poster board
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Fluency checklist sheet – for partners
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Pencils for each student
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Reading rate forms – for teacher
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Reading comprehension questions
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Copies of Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark
Procedures:
1. Say “Today, we are going to reach one of our goals to become a fluent reader. A fluent reader can read a book quickly and smoothly with expression because they can automatically recognize the words they are reading. It is important to be a fluent reader because they are able to comprehend what is going on in the book. That makes reading more fun!”
2. Say “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the poster board: I ate eight apples. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read the sentence aloud. I a-a-a-t-t-e-e-e, a-a-t-e-e, oh ate. I ate eght apples. That doesn’t make sense. Let me try again e-e-i-i-g-g-h-h-t-t. Oh, eight. I ate eight apples. Did you notice that I got stuck on a word when I read the sentence? I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word eight said. That did not make sense, so I went back and reread the sentence to figure out which word would make the most sense which was eight. This is called crosschecking and rereading which are very important to become fluent. I became a fluent reader after using these strategies. I read the sentence effortlessly after I figured out the hard words. I want you to turn to your partner and practice reading the second sentence on the poster board. Read the sentence aloud to one another until you can read the sentence automatically and fluently.”
3. Say: “Let’s think back to when I read the first sentence and got stuck on the words ate and eight. To figure out what the word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning to try to figure out what the word said. After rereading it because of the hard words, I could figure out the words. This is called crosschecking, and it is very important to use it when becoming a fluent reader!”
4. Pass out Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark to each group of partners. Now say, “Now we are going to practice being fluent readers by reading Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark. In this first book of the series, Jack and Annie, a brother and sister, find a tree house that is filled with books. In this book of the series, the magic tree house takes them on an exploration in prehistoric times. We have to keep reading to figure out what happens on their adventure! Students will read the first chapter silently to themselves. Then, we will reread the first chapter with a partner without helping them.” Pass out the peer fluency checklists and timers to each group of partners. Say, “We are going to play a game and time each other while one person reads two pages. Reader 1 will begin reading the pages while Reader 2 is timing Reader 1 when they read the first two pages. When Reader 1 finishes, Reader 2 will record their time on the sheet that I handed out. Then, you and your partner will switch places. Reader 2 will read the same two pages while Reader 1 times them and record their time. As you listen to your partner read the pages out loud, listen to them to see if they can remember more words, read with expression, and read more smoothly. Please mark these changes on your paper as they read along. You will do this 3 times”
5. When they are finished with the three timed reading trials, have one student at a time come up to your desk and bring their peer fluency checklist. They will read the first two pages to you. As they read, you will time them on the passage read out loud and use the formula ((words x 60)/seconds = WPM) to record on the reading rate form how many words per minute they read.
6. Then ask the students to retell the story to their partner. While they are doing this, walk around and ask students two reading comprehension questions (found below) and listen to them as they retell the story in their own words to make sure they are fluently reading the passages allowing them to comprehend the pages.
Reading Comprehension Questions:
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What is the relationship between the two characters introduced? What are their names?
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What did they come across on their walk?
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What was in the treehouse?
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What book did Jack open?
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What’s the main problem in the first chapter?
Fluency Checklist:
Title of book:
Student’s name:
Partner’s name:
After 2ndreading After 3rdreading
_____________ _____________ remembered more words
_____________ _____________ read faster
_____________ _____________ read smoother
_____________ _____________ read with expression
Reading Rate Form:
0 ---- 10 ---- 20 ---- 30 ---- 40 ---- 50 ---- 60 ---- 70 ---- 80 ---- 90 ---- 100
Correct words per minute
References:
Hannah Lee, Nothing Fishy About Fluency!
https://hml0015.wixsite.com/mysite-2/growing-independence-and-fluency
Book: Osborne, Mary Pope. Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark. Published by Penguin Random House. New York, NY. 1992.
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