Growing Fluency

The Magical World of Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency Design

Rationale: To be a successful reader, one must learn how to read automatically, fluently, and consistently. Fluent reading is necessary for improving comprehension, expression, and speed of one’s reading. Instead of focusing on decoding every word, student’s who can fluently read can reflect on what they are reading. Through practicing reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students will build confidence in fluently reading and become excellent readers.

Materials:

Eve of the Emperor Penguin (class set)
Pencil (one for each student)
Stopwatches (class set)
Personalized graph to chart reading time (one for each student)
Cover-up critters (one for each student)
Sample sentences on white board for teacher to model (“Maybe the tree house is back.” And “The tree house started to spin.”)
Expo markers (to write on board)
Peer fluency sheet (one for each student)
Teacher fluency checklist (one for each student) with attached comprehension questions.
Student fluency checklist (one for each student)

Procedures:

Say: “Who wants to be an excellent reader? Well I have a secret for you! In order to become an expert at reading, we must be able to read fluently. When we read fluently, we read effortlessly, without hesitation, and recognize words immediately. To recognize words automatically, we have to develop a large sight vocabulary that includes almost all the words we might read in a text! When we have a large sight vocabulary we can do many things. First, we can understand what we’re reading better. Second, we can read with better expression. Third, we can read with more speed. And fourth, we can read more complex and difficult texts. You might ask, ‘How do I get this large sight vocabulary?’. You get it through a method called repeated readings where we practice decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading.”

2. Model: Say: “I’m going to show you how you should always crosscheck when you come across a word you don’t know in a sentence. For example, when I see this sentence, [Reveal sentence “Maybe the tree house is back.” on board], I might read “Maybe the tree /h/ /o/ /s/ hmm that doesn’t sound right, let me finish reading, is back. Hmm, I know that a tree /h/ /o/ /s/ isn’t a thing. Oh! Tree house! That’s right!” Then I would reread the sentence with the correct word, house, one more time to get back into my story.

3. Model: Say: “Now I’m going to show you the difference between a fluent reader and a non-fluent reader. Let’s look at this sentence [displayed on board] ‘The tree house started to spin.’ A non-fluent reader might read it like this: The tree hh-ooowww-ss-eee ss-ttt-aartt-eedd to sspp-iiinnn. If I read that slow and stretched it out that much it would be hard to know what I just read! A fluent reader would read like this: ‘The tree house started to spin.’ My words flowed together and I understand what I read! Now you try reading fluently: The tree house started to spin.

4. Say: “To practice reading fluently, we’re going to read chapter 1 of the Magic Tree House book: Eve of the Emperor Penguin. This chapter is about a girl named Annie and her brother Jack. One summer day a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods and Jack and Annie found it. They soon discovered it was a magical tree house that took them different places but disappeared when they returned back home. One fall day when Jack and Annie were outside raking leaves and taking pictures they saw a big flash in the sky! Jack and Annie ran to the tallest tree in the woods to see if the flash in the sky was the tree house returning. Will the tree house be back? And where will they go this time? We’ll have to read our chapter to find out.’

5. Children will each be given a copy of the book and a cover-up critter. Say: “Now we’re going to read to ourselves and practice reading fluently. If you finish early, start to reread chapter 1 of Eve of the Emperor Penguin again.” Teacher will walk around the classroom to keep children on task. Teacher should give 10-15 minutes for children to read chapter 1. Once students finish, regain attention to informally assess comprehension via group discussion.

6. Say: “Now, I want you to get with a partner and you are going to read the chapter to your partner. (Pass out stopwatches to each student along with fluency charts and fluency checklist for students). One of you is going to read chapter 1 while the other partner uses the timer to time the reader. The partner with the stopwatch can follow along with the reader as well. Read the chapter 3 times to your partner. Remember to record the times that you scored on the fluency graph. Use the Fluency check list to see how well your partner did after they read to you three times. You will mark if they remembered more words (elephant), read faster (cheetah), read smoother (swan) and read with expression (monkey) after each reading. And then you should switch roles with your partner and let your partner read while you listen, time, and check off the list.”

7. Assessment: Once the students have finished three rounds of repeated reading, have each student turn in his or her checklist. Teacher should now call up students one by one and perform repeated readings with each student, graphing his or her progress on the fluency chart as he or she hopefully improves. In between each round of repeated reading, make sure to praise or encourage students on aspects of fluency that they have improved and make suggestions when needed. After the three rounds have been completed, ask a few comprehension questions: What two people were waiting in the tree house for Annie and Jack when they got there? (Teddy and Kathleen) Where are Jack and Annie going on a mission to this time? (Antarctica) What are Jack and Annie looking for on their mission? (the secret of happiness)

Peer Evaluation:

Fluency Checklist: