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Buzzing Around for Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency

Anne Scott Turner

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Rationale: Fluency reading is being able to read effortlessly and automatically. This is when the student is moving away from decoding the words to reading the words effortlessly without any thought. When a student is able to read fluently, the student can focus more on content and reading quicker. The student can improve their fluency by participating in repeated readings. When the student is practicing their fluency, they need to develop sight words. By gaining fluency and sight words, the student will begin to enjoy reading more because they are able to read quickly, get the content of the message, and not get frustrated with what they are reading. This lesson will require a student to crosscheck while doing the repeated reading of the book. This activity will help with the student’s ability to read independently in repeated and timed reading.

 

Materials: Copy of the book Junie B. Jones is a Party Animal by Barbara Park for each student; dry erase board; dry erase markers; stop watches for timed reading; partner reading checklist; reader response questions; child-friendly graph

 

Procedures:

  1. Say: Today we are going to be developing our fluency. When we are fluent in reading, we can enjoy reading more and understand the story better. Even if you do not enjoy reading right now, you will begin to because you will be able to fluently read the books. When you are a fluent reader, you will be able to read at a steady pace and not read the words in a choppy way.

  2. Say: I am going to write a sentence on the board and read it out loud. I want you all to tell me if I sound like I am reading the sentence fluently or not. Write the sentence: The turtle walked around the house. ‘Thhhhhheeeeeeee ttt-uhh-llle, uhhh no thhhheeee ttttuhherrrlle, oh turtle, wwwaakkkdd, oh walked, uhhhhrrowd, ummm I don’t know, thhee hhowss, oh around the house. The turtle walked around the house!’ Do I sound like I am fluent in reading? You are right, I do not sound fluent. Now that I know what the sentence is I am going to reread the sentence to make sure I understand what I am reading. ‘The turtle walked around the house.’ As you can see, I reread the sentence quicker and understood what I was reading. What was I having problems with? You are correct, I was having problems with the correspondence and sounding out the words to help figure out the words. Once I realized my mistakes, I was able to continue with the sentence and figure out the rest of it. After I fixed all my mistakes, I went back and reread the sentence to get the full meaning of each word. This strategy is called crosschecking.

  3. Say: Today, we are going to the read the book Junie B. Jones is a Party Animal. Junie B. Jones is going over to her friend’s house for a sleepover. Before she is able to go, she has to learn all of the rules of sleepovers. We will have to read to find out if Junie B. Jones can still have fun even with all of the rules of sleepovers she is given! [You will need to write down the directions on the board and explain the directions as you write them or after you write them. Assign each set of partners a certain chapter.]

  4. Say: Now you all are going to pair off. You will each have one partner. You will each get a turn to do your own evaluations of each other’s reading. Remember that we are always nice to each other and never make negative comments to one another. The first person is going to start by reading one chapter. The other partner is going to be timing how fast the person reading reads the chapter. The reader is going to read the chapter aloud three times. After the second and third time, the timer will write down how long it took the reader to read the chapter. The timer should make notes about how the reader gets better each time he or she reads. Does the reader remember words like an elephant? Do they read faster like a cheetah? Do they read smoothly like a swan on the lake? Do they read with expression like a monkey? You can mark if they do by using the printed out paper I give you. You are now able to begin. [You should walk around the classroom and observe the students while they are doing this activity.]

 

 

Peer Fluency Check

Name of Reader: ________________

Date:__________________

1st time:_______________

2nd time: _______________

3rd time: _______________

I noticed that my partner…

After which read? 2nd 3rd

Remembered more words

Read faster

Read smoother

Read with expression

 

   5. Say: When you and your partner are finished with the first part of the fluency reading, you will do another               activity. You are going to be figuring out exactly how many words per minute each of you can read. The reader         will read the chapter one more time and the timer will time how long it takes while also writing down any                 mess up that the reader does. You will do this by putting a check mark on the top of the page every time the               reader makes a mistake. I will also come around and give you the number of pages in the chapter. Once you             are done, you will subtract the number of miscues from the total number of words. You are also going to write         down the time it took for the reader to read the chapter. [You will walk around and answer any questions the           students may have and make sure they are on task.]

 

Partner Reading Progress Checklist

Total # of words in chapter: _________

Reader: _______________

Checker: ______________

1: ______ words in ______ seconds

2: ______ words in ______ seconds

3: ______ words in ______ seconds

Which turn sounded the smoothest? _________

Which turn had the least number of errors? _______

 

   6. Say: You will assess the students by determining their WPM by using the formula: words X 60/seconds. You               will then check each student’s comprehension of the chapter they read by asking basic questions from the                 chapters such as: “How old is Junie B. Jones?”, “Who is Junie B. Jones’ best friend?”, “What does Junie B. Jones           have to do to save her friend a seat on the bus?”

 

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