Miss Breanna's Designs

 

Rationale: To become an expert in reading and reading comprehension, reading fluency needs to become natural and automatic to the reader. Students who are fluent in their reading are able to comprehend the text easier and are able to enjoy the reading.  The more a student practices, the faster and more fluent they become at reading. Through reading, decoding, cross checking, mental marking, and rereading, students will be able to confidently improve fluency and grow into improved readers. It is important to increase reading rate as well as increasing their comprehension ability. This activity will enhance their fluency and independence in repeated and timed reading.

 

Materials: 

-Timer/Stopwatch for each pair of students

- Pencils

- Cover Up Critter

- Fluency Checklist

- Peer Fluency Sheet 

- Reading Comprehension Questions

- Class Set of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”

 

Procedure: 

1.Say: “In order to be the very best readers we can be, we must be able to read fluently. Reading fluently is when you can read smoothly, and you don’t have to sound out each word. By becoming fluent readers, we are able to enjoy the book we are reading much more because we can focus on the story and not get hung up on each word.  Today we are going to practice this by reading the same book multiple times. Each time we read a text, we become more familiar with the words and confident in our reading ability. While your partner is reading, you will time them on how long it takes them to read it. Each time I want you to set a goal for yourself that is quicker than the time before.

 

2.  Now, let’s practice fluency with repeated reading from a sentence from “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” On the board I have written, “If you give a mouse a cookie, he will want a glass of milk.” I am going to read the sentence aloud to you, but I just want you to listen this time. I want you to think about if my reading is fluent or not. (slowly) “IIII-f y-ooo-uu g-iii-v-e a m-o-uuu-ss-e a c-oo-k--eee, h-eee, w-i-lll, w-a-nnn-t a -g-l-a-sss of m-i-l-kkk.” Was that fluent? Did I read the sentence with any expression? No, that sentence did not make any sense because I was not reading with fluency. Listen again as I read the same sentence. (reread better) “If y-oo-u g-iii-v-e a m-o-uuu-s-e a c-oo-k-i-e, h-ee, w-i-lll w-a-nnn-t a g-l-aaa-ss of m-i-l-kk.” That was better, but it still was not fluent. When I noticed that my sentence did not make sense, I re-read the sentence to figure out what the sentence was trying to say. This strategy is called cross checking and I want each of you to do this while you are reading. I am going to read the sentence one more time (perfectly.) “If you give a mouse a cookie, he will want a glass of milk.” I read the sentence effortlessly because I am a fluent reader. By re-reading the sentence and using my reading strategies, I was able to read the sentence with fluency. 

3. Say: “It takes time to be a fluent reader. When I first read the sentence, it was difficult because I had never read it before. But, when I read it again, it was a little easier because I had previously decoded the words. The third time I read it, I was able to master the sentence and become fluent in my reading. Now that we have learned what a fluent and non-fluent reader is, we are going to practice. We will practice by using our book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” In this text, a mouse gets a bite of cookie, then wants a glass of milk to go with it, then continues to want thing after thing. Does the mouse always get what he asks for? What all does the mouse ask for? We will have to read to find out. 

4. Say: “Today we will be working in pairs to begin working on our fluency. I am going to assign you a partner (Assign each student to a partner and give them each a peer fluency sheet and stopwatch/timer) Whoever is not reading first will keep track of the time on the timer. (Demonstrate how to function the timer/stopwatch) When it is your turn to read, you will read three times, then your partner will read. The first time you read, you will not be timed. The partner will just listen. The second and third time you read, your partner will time you. The partner in charge of keeping time will write down the time, move the mouse on the Fluency Sheet to the correct number, and write if his/her partner is reading fluent and efficiently. This partner should also write down any differences they notice between the readings. After both partners have read three times, I want you to talk to each other about what you wrote down. After you finish reading and recording, discuss the book with your partner. Did you like it? Did you predict what happened? When you are finished reading and discussing, you should go back to your seat and fill out your reading comprehension questions and then bring it to me.” 

5. Assessment: Collect all materials. “Good job reading you guys! I am so proud of each of you! Now I want you to answer a few questions on your reading comprehension sheet so we can see if you can remember what you read. While each of you are writing, I am going to call you individually to my desk so that I can listen to you read fluently.” (Ask students comprehension questions when they are reading one on one as well) 

 

Fluency Checklist: 

Title of Book:_______________

Student Name: _______________

Partner Name:________________   Date: ______________

 

After 2nd Reading                 After 3rd Reading  

 

___________                         _____________ Remembered more words

___________                          _____________Read faster

___________                         ______________Read Smoother

___________                        _______________ Read with Expression 

 

Fluency Sheet:  

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

 

Reading Rate Chart: WPM = words x 60/seconds

 

Reading Comprehension Worksheet: 

1. What did the mouse want after he ate a cookie?

2. What did he look in the mirror for?

3. What did the mouse use scissors for?

4. What was the last thing the mouse asked for?

 

References: 

 

Book: Numeroff, Laura “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”

 

Murray, G. (2004) Reading Genie http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/communications/

1. Flying Into Fluency by Sherell Brown

   1. https://sites.google.com/view/readingwithmsbrown/growing-independence-fluency

2. Giving a Moose Fluency by Molly Whitlock 

   1. https://sites.google.com/view/mswhitlockslessondesigns/growing-independence-and-fluency-design

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