Caroline Elizabeth Hall

Rationale:

This lesson aims to help students develop fluency in longer, more developed texts. Fluent readers can read quickly, automatically, and accurately. We want readers to be able to read and re-read decodable words in text. Throughout this lesson, students will practice their reading fluency and gain experience with silent and partner reading. They will read for fluency with the teacher, graphing progress and going over unfamiliar words between readings. At the end of the lesson, the teacher will have evidence of the student’s ability to fluently read texts. 

Materials:

• The book: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams (one for group + teacher copy, 32 page book)

• Stop watch/timing device for each pair of students

• Chart to record student's words per minute

• Copy of passage on the smart board to model fluent reading

• Copies of passage (one for the students to read and one for each student for the teacher to record on)

• Fluency checklist (to pass out to students)

• A small flashlight image with Velcro that moves in relation to the students WPM (1 for each student)

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

Correct Words Per Minute

Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: __________________________________

Student’s Name: ____________   Date___________

Partner's Name: ______________________________

After 2nd Reading       After 3rd Reading

_________                    _________                   Remembered more words

_________                    _________                   Read faster

_________                    _________                   Read smoother

_________                    _________                   Read with expression

Procedure:

1. First explain to the students what it means to be a fluent reader.

Say: “We want to all become fluent readers because being fluent means we don’t need any extra help to read things that are interesting to us. Wouldn’t you all like to be able to read whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted all by yourself? A fluent reader reads automatically and with expression! They can use special voices for each of the different characters in a story or quiet voices for parts that are more suspenseful. They can also recognize all the words in the book and understand the text they are reading. What is happening in the story is their main focus, and they get to enjoy it! Doesn’t that sound great? All it takes is a little bit of practice to become a fluent reader. Today we are going to do just that!”

2. Say: “There are a few tools that you have already learned that will help you become a more fluent reader. Let’s think about them. First, you have to be able to decode words. Remember, It’s okay if you get stuck on a difficult word. I’ve been a fluent reader for a long time and even I sometimes get stuck on strange looking words! Cover-up critters are great to keep handy to help break up larger words. If we still find ourselves stuck, we can use a great method known as cross-checking. This means reading the remaining words in the sentence to see if we can get the word we are stuck on instead of using the pictures to help us. This strategy is useful because it helps us focus on what is happening in the story. We also want to always remember to reread the sentence when you come across a word that gives you trouble. Let’s go over our reading tools together again: We decode, crosscheck, discover the word and reread the entire sentence for comprehension. Now we are ready to read for fluency!”

3. Say: “Now I am going to read from the board aloud. Listen as I read and decide whether you think I am a fluent reader or a beginner” (Sentence: Mary and Sam played hide and seek. Have sentence on smart board so that students can follow along from their seats). M, /a/-/a/-/a/, Rrrr, /e/-/e/-/e/ and s-s- /am/ p-lay-ed h-/i/-d and s-/i/-k, Mary and Sam played hid and sik.”

4. Say: “I had a lot of trouble with that sentence. I’m going to use my cover-up critter to decode these difficult words and see if the sentence makes more sense: Mary and Sam p-lay-ed h-/I/-d-e and s-/ee/-k. I broke the word up into smaller parts that make more sense to me. I think I should try one more time so that the sentence sounds a little bit smoother: Mary and Sam play-ed hide and see-k. That was perfect! Did you understand the sentence I read aloud? I’m sure Mary and Sam had a lot of fun playing hide and seek. Since I was able to break up the word and figure it out with my cover-up critter I am going to go back and read the sentence again so I can mentally mark the passage. “Mary and Sam played hide and seek.” Wow, I was able to read that much faster and more fluently. Always remember to go back and read the sentence!”

5. Say: “Now I am going to read the sentence one more time so that I can add expression. ‘Mary and Sam played hide and seek!’”

6. Now, ask the students a questions about the way that you read the sentence the first couple of times. Say: “What did you notice about the first time I read the sentence? Did you have a hard time understanding the sentence the first few times I read it? By the end, what changed? Did you find yourself wanting to hear more about the story when I read with expression?”

7.Say: “Now it’s your turn to practice! The book we are going to read today is called The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. This is a story about a little old lady who is walking home through the woods at dusk. As she makes her way through the woods to her cottage, she hears strange noises. She is approached by many different items and each time her response is, ‘I am not afraid of anything.’ Let’s see if the little old lady really isn’t afraid of anything! Do you think she can make it all the way home without getting scared?”

8. Say: “This book has many wonderful opportunities to practice reading with expression. As you read the book, you will notice many different interactive sounds and motions that are in capital letters. Before we begin, lets go over these movements and sounds together! The first sound you will hear is CLOMP, CLOMP. When you get to this part in the story, stomp each foot one time. Remember not to stomp too loud, you don’t want to distract other readers! Let’s try it together. (model how to silently stomp) CLOMP, CLOMP. The next movement is WIGGLE, WIGGLE. As you come across this part, I want you to wiggle in your seat! Let me see your wiggles! WIGGLE, WIGGLE. Great job, be careful not to wiggle out of your seat! Next up is SHAKE, SHAKE. When you see shake, shake I want you to shake your hands! Let’s try all three. CLOMP, CLOMP, WIGGLE, WIGGLE, SHAKE, SHAKE. Next we have CLAP, CLAP. When you come across this I want you to softly clap your hands together! Two claps. You will also see NOD, NOD. Each time you see this I would like you to nod your head two times! Lastly, we have BOO, BOO. When you see this I would like you to speak it just like you would imagine a ghost to say b-ooooo-ooooooo! Lets try all of our sounds and movements together: CLOMP CLOMP, WIGGLE WIGGLE, SHAKE SHAKE, CLAP CLAP, NOD NOD, BOO BOO! Great job!!! Now, I want you all to take a few minutes to read this book silently at your desk. We are not going to do these movements while we read silently, I would like you to try and not make any noise while you read.”

Teacher walks around with a clipboard and marks whether students are:

____ Voicing

____Whisper

____Lips moving only

____Silently reading in their head

Assessment:

Say: “It looks like everyone is finished. Awesome job reading silently! I am going to call you back to our reading table in groups and we are going to talk about the book together. When I call your name, please come back here with me. If you aren’t at this table, you need to keep practicing your silent reading.” (Call students back to reading table in small groups of four or five. Ask short, quick questions-about 1 per student- to check for comprehension and make sure students were actually reading. Send all students back to their desks.)

9. Say: “Now, we are going to break into pairs. One partner is going to read the story while the other records progress. Once the first reader finishes page 15, switch roles. Since you’ve already read this text silently at your seat, you have seen all of the words before. The reader will read the first 15 pages of the book three times and the recorder will fill out a sheet, marking how the reader is improving. The recorder will mark if the student remembered more words, read faster, read smoother, and read with expression the 2nd and 3rd time they read the book. Then you will switch places and repeat. Remember to use all of the skills we talked about earlier! You may now use the movements and sounds from the story that we learned earlier. Be expressive with your reading and have fun!”

(Pass out fluency checklist to each student, and give them time for each partner to read/fill out the checklist for their partner. Take these up. Teacher should walk around and monitor progress.)

10. For assessment, I will call students one at a time to read a passage of text that they have been reading with their partner. (Choose at your discretion. I used the first three pages). I will also ask three comprehension questions: What item approached the little old lady first? What sound did the two gloves in the story make? Did the little old lady become afraid of anything in the story? (I will time the students on how long it takes them to read the first three pages. I will record the student's words per minute on a chart.)

Text: Once upon a time, there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything! One windy afternoon the little old lady left her cottage and went for a walk in the forest to collect herbs and spices, nuts and seeds. She walked so long and so far that it started to get dark. There was only a sliver of moon shining through the night. The little old lady started to walk home. (74 words)

Words x 60 = WPM

Seconds             

When the student receives his or her words per minute, they will then move their flashlight to the correct WPM. The goal is to get the flashlight through the woods to the cottage as quickly as possible! The student will reread the passage a few times with me, moving their flashlight to the appropriate point on the graph each time. Between readings, I will scaffold by asking open-ended questions like, “Would you have been scared walking home alone if you were the little old lady?” Between readings, I will also point out words they have trouble with and use cover-ups to help them decode the word properly. 

                                Flashlight token used to show WPM; one per student

Williams, Linda, and Megan Lloyd. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. New York: Crowell, 1986. Print.