Growing Independence and Fluency

Frolic into Fluency with Gerald the Giraffe!

Rationale: Fluent reading is essential in comprehending texts. In order for students to read effortlessly and automatically, they must practice expression, pace, and comprehension. Effortless word recognition allows students to reflect ono what they are reading. Through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students will be able to confidently improve their reading rate and grow into fluent readers. Students will use the skill of crosschecking after readings of a decodable text and repeated readings to gain fluency and independence in reading,

Materials:Pencils; stopwatch and timer for each pair; coverup critters; class set of Giraffes Can’t Danceby Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees; sample sentence on board for teacher to model; peer fluency checklist for each student; reading time log; partner reading progress sheet with attached comprehension questions.

Procedures:

1. Say: “Today we are going to learn how to improve our fluency when reading. Can anyone tell me what the word ‘fluency’ means? Fluency is when you read words quickly and automatically with expression or feeling. When we read with fluency, we comprehend more of the story and the story becomes much more exciting and enjoyable.”

2. Now say: “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board: Rae ate lunch by the lake. Everyone put your listening ears on. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence aloud to you. /J/-/j/-/j/-/e/-/e/-r-r-r-/u/-/u/-l-l-l-d-d, Gerald, likes to d-d-d-/a/-/a/-n-n-/s/-/s/-/s/, d-a-nce, oh dance. Gerald likes to dance to m-m-/oo/-/s/-/i/-/k/, Gerald likes to dance to ‘moosic’. Oh, that doesn't make sense. It must be music. Gerald likes to dance to music. Did you notice that when I read the sentence, I got stuck on the last word? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word lake said, lak. That did not make sense, did it? So, I went back to reread to figure out what the word should read that would make sense. This strategy is called crosschecking, and it is super important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Since I figured out these hard words while reading it helped me become fluent. Thumbs up if you think I read that like a fluent reader. Exactly, no I wasn’t reading like a fluent reader because I had to decode the words in the sentence. Here's how a fluent reader would read that sentence: Gerald likes to dance to music. I read the sentence effortlessly, and it was much easier to understand! Now turn to a partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board. ‘Giraffes are very clumsy, and have a hard time learning to dance’. Read it aloud to one another until you read fluently.”

3. Say: “Now let’s think back to when I read the first sentence when I got stuck on the word ‘music’. To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word music said, ‘moosic’. That made the sentence very confusing. So I reread the text to figure out what the word should say so the sentence makes sense. This is called crosschecking, and it is very important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers!”

4. Now assign a partner for each student and pass out the books. Say: “We are going to practice being fluent readers by reading Giraffes Can’t Danceby Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees. Gerald is a giraffe and he is very excited about his jungle’s Jungle Dance. However, Gerald is very clumsy and can’t dance! Do you think Gerald will be able to learn how to dance before the party? You have to read Giraffes Can’t Danceto find out!”

5. Students will read the first three pages silently to themselves. Then they should each read a chapter aloud to a partner. They must not help their partner read while they are listening.

6. Next, pass out the recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say: “Now we are going to play the fluency game. Put your listening ears back on to understand how to play. Reader 1 is going to start the game off, and Reader 2 will be in control of the timer. Reader 2 is going to time how fast Reader 1 reads the first two pages. Reader 2 will then record the time on the sheet that I have handed out. After recording the information, Reader 2 will read, and Reader 1 will time and record. Do this three times each. As you listen to your partner read aloud the pages, I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words, do they read with more expression? Mark these changes on your paper.”

7. After the student pairs have read through the passage three times each, have the students come one at a time to read a paragraph from the first two 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 use the formula given to record how many words per minute they read.

Words x 60/ seconds read

Use a list of comprehension questions to assess how their fluency is affecting their comprehension.

Assessment: I will review each student’s results from the following checklist:

Partner Fluency Sheet: