No Monkeying Around with Fluency
Adapted from Brittany Revel’s Swing into Fluency
By: Caroline Vinson
Rationale: To become successful readers, it is important that students learn to read fluently. Fluency allows students to read smoothly and use expression. Fluent readers can recognize words quickly, automatically, and effortlessly. In order to become fluent readers, students must build their sight vocabulary. To do this, students must move away from decoding and move to automatic word recognition. We can use repeated readings to help students recognize words automatically and become more fluent readers. In this lesson, students will develop fluency skills through repeated readings with each other.
Materials:
To be successful you will need Happy Easter, Curious George by Margaret and H.A. Rey’s for each student, a timer for each pair of students, a Fluency Check--List sheet for each student, a Reading Record time sheet for each student, a Cover-Up Critter for each student (painted popsicle stick with two googly eyes glued to one end), a comprehension question worksheet for each student, and a graph to exhibit growth for students.
Procedures:
1. Teacher: All good readers work to be fluent readers so they can read quickly and accurately while trying to understand what the book is telling them. Fluent readers also read smoothly and with expression to make the story exciting. We can practice fluency by reading a book several times out loud. Each time we read it, we will know it better and better. This is called repeated reading!
2. The teacher will then model reading fluently. “I am going to read a sentence from one of my favorite books, Happy Easter, Curious George. (Slowly)”H--e fff-e-d th-e b-uuu-nny a carr---ot ” Hmm, let me read this again and see if I can do better. (slightly better) He fed the bunnay, oh bunny, a cart, I mean carrot. Now that was a little better! But I know I can do better so I am going to try again. (Just right) “He fed the bunny a carrot. That was so much better! I read it smoothly, at a good pace, and with expression. It took me a few tries to get it just right, but that’s why we do repeated readings!”
3. The teacher will then engage the students in a book talk of a chapter from Happy Easter, Curious George. “This is a story about a monkey named George! He is a very curious monkey that likes to discover new things. One day on Easter, he went to the park with the man with the yellow hat. George gets so excited to see Easter egg dying that he has to join in, but what’s that man doing with their prized creations once they are done? Are you curious to see what will happen next? Let’s read and find out!”
4. Give a copy of the text, cover up critters, reading record sheets, fluency checklists, and a timer to each set of partners. “Today everyone will be working on your fluency with a partner. Each of you will take turns reading the story. You will each read it three (3) times. You can use your cover--up critter to help you figure words out if you need it. While you are reading, your partner will time you then record it on the reading time sheet I will give you. Your partner will be looking to see if you are reading faster like a cheetah, smoother like a swan, with more expression like a monkey, and remembering more words like an elephant. Remember to use only your kind words when discussing with your partner their reading skills! After you finish reading, talk to your partner about the book!
Assessment:
Walk around the classroom during the activity to monitor student reading and recording. Have the students turn in their score sheets after finishing their repeated reading three times. Check the score sheets to see if there are improvements. Graph each student’s individual words per minute read so that they can see their improvements (Use words read x 60 divided by amount of seconds it took them to read the text). Ask the students comprehension questions on a worksheet to check their understanding of the text.
“Who did Curious George go to the park store with?
What was happening at the park that was special?
How did Curious George make a mess?
In the end, what happened to Curious George’s eggs?”
Reference:
Rey’s, Margaret and H.A. Happy Easter, Curious George. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2002.
Revel, Brittany. Swing into Fluency: Growing Independence and Fluency Lesson.
Assessment Sheets:
Fluency Checklist
Reading Record
1st read: ____________min____________sec
2nd read: ____________min____________sec
3rd read: ____________min____________sec