Rationale:

This lesson’s goal is to help students develop fluency in longer and more advanced texts. Fluent reading is the ability to recognize sight words immediately and read quickly with expression while comprehending the text. Readers should be encouraged and motivated to read and reread decodable words and texts. Throughout this lesson, students will be taught how to become fluent readers themselves and how to decode, crosscheck, reread, and understand. At the end of the lesson, a better idea of the student’s ability to read texts fluently and independently will be known.

 

Materials:

1. Stopwatch (one for each pair of students)

2. Pencils

3. Fluency

4. Partner Reading Progress Checklist (one for each student)

5. Comprehension Questions Form (one for each student)

6. Class set of Rainbow Fish 

7. Coverup critters (one for each student)

8. Whiteboard or smartboard with example sentences displayed

 

Procedures:

1. Explain. Say: “We are going to talk about fluent reading today. Whenever we read fluently, we fully understand what we read and can keep up with what happened in the story. When we learn to read fluently all the time, we will become better readers and know all of the details of the story! Not only will we become better at understanding, but we will also be able to read with expression! This means that we can change our tone of voice to express different moods and emotions in the book. This makes reading super fun and entertaining! We can use a loud voice when a character is yelling (speak louder here), but we can also use a quiet voice when a character is whispering (whisper here). Today, we are going to practice being a fluent reader!

2. Say: “Before we start, I want to show you all how to crosscheck when we see a word that we may not remember. It is a very helpful skill to use! (Model with coverup critter on blue) and say: “Here we see a sentence (show The Rainbow Fish sentence “Shocked, the little blue fish ran away.”). I may read this as “Shocked, the little /b/ /l/ /u/ /e/” and think hmm… that is not right! Let me read the last part of the sentence and see if I can figure it out. “fish ran away.” Oh! “Shocked, the little blue fish ran away.” I said short u and short e, but it is  /oo/. The last part of the sentence helps me see that the word is describing the fish! Let’s read the full sentence now- “Shocked, the little blue fish ran away.”  

3. Model: “Now let’s talk about how a fluent reader reads, but also how a non-fluent reader reads to help us better understand fluency. Our second sentence is “They called him rainbow fish.” A non-fluent reader would read this as “They cc-A-lled, oh wait called him rrrr-ai-nn-bb-ow fish.” See how I stretched the words out slowly? I made a mistake and had to correct the word myself. This is what makes it difficult to understand what we are reading when we do not read each word correctly. Let’s try to read it again and see if I can read a little smoother and quicker. “They c-a-ll-ed him r-ai-n-b-ow fish.” That was better, but I am still not reading like a fluent reader. Let’s try to read this one more time, (read smoothly and add expression): “They called him rainbow fish.” Perfect! That is how a fluent reader would read this sentence. Now let’s all read it together (have each child read with you): “They called him rainbow fish.”

4. Say: “To become a fluent reader, we need a lot of practice! When I read our sentence the first time, it was very difficult for me to read it quickly and smoothly. I had to take some time to decode the words that I was not familiar with. Having to take time and decode made me lose track of what the sentence was saying. This would make it hard to comprehend the story! When I read the sentence the second time, it was a little bit smoother because I had read it one time before. The last time I read it, it was quick and smooth like a fluent reader because I knew each word and added expression when I read. Now that you saw me become a fluent reader, you can too!”

5. Book talk: Say, “This book is about a beautiful fish with sparkling rainbow scales! One day, a little blue fish asked rainbow fish for one of his scales. Rainbowfish said no, and then none of the other fish would have anything to do with rainbow fish. He became so lonely! What do you think rainbow fish does? Do you think he gets the fish to talk to him again? You’ll have to read and see!”

6. Partner Practice: Say: “Now we are going to practice our fluency by working in pairs. Find a partner to read with and then come and get a Partner Reading Progress Checklist, Comprehension Questions Form, a stopwatch, and 2 Rainbow Fish books. Each partner is going to read the book aloud three times. Use your coverup critter if you get stuck on a word! When your partner is reading, you are going to time them with your stopwatch. Also, mark how many mistakes your partner makes. If they make a mistake, mark it down on your sheet of paper. Always remember that mistakes are not bad, they help us learn and become better readers! All of us are going to make mistakes when we are building fluency and that is the only way we will get better! When your partner is done reading, subtract the number of words missed from the total word count. Record that number and the amount of time that it took them to read from the stopwatch. Then answer the yes/no questions about your partner’s readings. After you and your partner have both read the book three times, I want you to talk about to book. Answer the questions on the Comprehension Questions Form and write your answers down on separate sheets. When you get finished, you will come to see me and finish the rest!”

7. Have students come see read the book individually and bring their checklists. Assess the students’ progress by evaluating answers on the Comprehension Questions Form and determining each students’ words per minute using the (words x 60 / seconds) formula. Make each individual student’s progress with a sticker on the fluency chart. Update these charts so that the students can watch their progress and see a visual goal.

 

 

Partner Reading Progress Checklist:

Reader: __________

Partner: __________

Reading #1: 

Time (seconds):

Miscues:

 

Reading #2: 

Time (seconds):

Miscues:

Did the student read with more expression? Yes or No

Did the student read smoother? Yes or No

Did the student read faster? Yes or No

 

Reading #3: 

Time (seconds):

Miscues:

Did the student read with more expression? Yes or No

Did the student read smoother? Yes or No

Did the student read faster? Yes or No

 

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) sounded the smoothest? _______

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) had the least number of errors? ______

 

Reading Tracker:

0-----10-----20-----30-----40-----50-----60-----70-----80-----90-----100

 

(Words x 60) / seconds= WPM

 

Comprehension Questions

Name _________

Directions: On your own piece of paper, answer these questions with at least one complete sentence.

1. In the beginning, did Rainbow Fish play with the other fish?

2. What made Rainbow Fish sad?

3. Who did Rainbow Fish talk to for help and what did they tell him to do?

 

Resources: 

Caroline Goodson, Making Friends With Fluency https://callieanng.wixsite.com/my-site/growing-independence-fluency

Emily Forest, The Bad Seed’s Transformation to Fluency

https://emiley991.wixsite.com/my-site/growing-independence-fluency