Rationale: Fluent reading is the ability to automatically recognize words and to be able to read faster, smoother, and with comprehension. The purpose of this lesson is to teach students how to read fluently by teaching a variety of strategies. These strategies include: decoding, crosschecking, rereading, and fast reading for understanding. The students will build their fluency by reading a text repeatedly.

 

Materials:

• Stopwatches for timing (enough for every two students)

• Pencils

• Peer Reading Progress Checklists (every student)

• Copy of The Ugly Duckling (every student)

• Copies of Duckling comprehension questions (every student)

• White board/markers

  • “Abby made 30 cookies and gave Izzy 2 to eat”.

  • “Miller ran after the cat”.

 

Procedure:

1. Say: “Today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers!” “Does anyone know what that means?” (pause for responses) “It means we will practice our reading skills, and start reading smoother and quicker! This will make reading more fun, interesting, and understandable! So how do we do this? We will read the same passage(s) multiple times, and each time it will get easier to read. Now lets get started!”

2. Say: “Everyone look at this” Turn to the white board and point to the sentences written (Abby made 30 cookies and gave Izzy 2 to eat). “I am going to read it and I want ya’ll to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader. Aaaaaaabbbbyyyyy mma-aaaddee thiiiiirrttyy co-kies a-and ga-a-ve Izzzy t-ew to , I mean cooookies a-aannd gga-avee Izz-ey t-ew to eeeaat. Do I sound like a fluent reader?” (pause for response) “No, I do not sound like a fluent reader”. “I used decoding to sound out some of the words”. “Did you notice that I got stuck on the word cookie? To figure out what it said I read, using crosschecking, and figured out that it said cookie. Now lets try again” (pause) “Abby made 30 cookies and gave Izzy 2 to eat”. “Give me a thumbs up if you think I read that fluently”. (pause for response). “Yeah, that was much better! I read it effortlessly, and it made it easier to understand. Now, we are going to get into pairs and practice reading the second sentence that is on the board.” Miller ran after the cat. “Take turns reading aloud until you can read the sentence fluently.”

3. Say “Lets go back a second ago to when I got misread on the word cookie. I finished reading the sentence, and was able to figure out that co-kie was cookie. When that happens, its called crosschecking. We can check on a word by reading the entire sentence. This is a very important strategy to use when becoming fluent readers.

4. Say: “Today we will read The Ugly Duckling to practice on our fluency. In this story, there is a baby duck that doesn’t feel like he fits in with his family. Everyone thinks he is too ugly. So he runs away to find another family.. but they think he’s ugly too. He finds a nice farmer couple that takes him in, but they think he’s going to lay eggs for them, but he doesn’t. They shoo him away.. will he find a home?

5. Say: “Okay, now get your partner from earlier, and pick a spot in the room where you two can read to one another. I will give everyone two Reading Progress Checklists. Before you start, count the number of words in the passage. First, each partner will take turns reading parts of the passage aloud to one another (three times). One partner will read, and the other partner will use a stopwatch to time him or her. The partner that is using the stopwatch will write down all the “uh-ohs” the other might make when reading aloud and will write down your time once you have finished the passage. (Shows how to mark mistakes on board with drawing X). Once you have finished, you may return to your desk and answer the questions on your Duckling worksheet!”

6. (Collect the Progress Checklists) Say: I will call each of you up to my desk to discuss your progress. I also have a passage from The Ugly Duckling that I would like for you to read to me”. (I will use formula [words x 60 seconds] and the checklist to determine the students placement on the graph) “When everyone is finished we will go over the answers to the worksheet”.

 

1. Reading Progress Checklist

Title of Book: __________________

Number of words: ______________

Reader: _______________

Recorder: _______________

1st time: ______ Words in _____seconds

2nd time: ______ words in _____ seconds

3rd time: ______ words in _____ seconds

Read the fastest: ______ turn

Read the smoothest: _____ turn

 

1. Graph of Reading Fluency

 

 

10    20    30   40   50   60   70   80   90   100

 

 

1. Duckling Worksheet

1. The ugly duckling was born

1. First

2. Middle

3. Last

1. Was the mother duck proud of the ugly duckling?

   1. Yes

   2. No

2. How far did the ugly duckling fly?

   1. 10 miles

   2. 20 miles

   3. He didn’t fly at all

3. The ugly duckling didn’t fit in because…

   1. He was ugly

   2. He was a goose

   3. He was a swan

 

 

 References:

 

https://hml0013.wixsite.com/literacydesigns/growing-independency-and-fluency

 

http://www.dltk-teach.com/fairy-tales/ugly-duckling/story.htm