Melissa Murphree

Rationale: This lesson aims to help students develop fluency in longer, more developed texts. Fluent readers can read quickly and accurately using blending, and read automatically. We want readers to be able to… Read and Reread decodable words in connected text. Throughout this lesson students will practice their fluency and gain experience with reading text silently as well as reading to a partner. 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 a better idea of the student’s ability to fluently and independently read texts.

Materials:
            -      Pencils

            -      Stopwatch/timer for each pair

            -      Copy of Hi! Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold for each student

            -      Sample sentences on white board for modeling

            -      Peer fluency sheet (one for each student)

Procedure:

1. Say: Today we are going to become fluent readers! A fluent reader is someone who can read quickly and easily. They automatically recognize each word, which helps them understand what is going on in the story! This makes reading fun because we can quickly figure out what happens next in our stories.

2. Say: Now let’s read the sentence I’ve written on the board. [Emily went to the park.] I’m going to read it and I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader. E-e-e, m-m-m, /i/-/i/-/i/, l-l-l, y-y-y, Emily, w-w-w, /e/-/e/-/e/, t-t-t, Emily wet to the, p-p-p, /a/-/a/-/a/, r-r-r, k-k-k, Emily wet to the park. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. It must be went. Emily went to the park. Did you notice that when I read the sentence, I got stuck on the second word? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word went said, wet. But that didn’t make sense, did it? So I went back and reread the sentence to figure out what the word should read that would make sense. This strategy is called crosschecking and it is super important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Always crosscheck if you are not sure about a word you are reading.

3. Say: Did I sound like a fluent reader when I read that sentence? No, I didn’t! I had to decode most of the words and it took me a long time. Here’s how a fluent reader would read that sentence: Emily went to the park. Quick, effortless, and easy to understand.

4. Say: Today we are going to read Hi! Fly Guy to practice our fluency. This story is about a boy named Buzz who wants to enter The Amazing Pet Show, but he doesn’t have a pet. One day, he captures a fly and wants to enter it into the contest but the judges told him that a fly couldn’t be a pet. Do you think they will let the fly enter the contest or will Buzz have to find another pet? You will have to read to find out. I want you all to read once silently to yourself to see what happens to Buzz and his pet fly.

5. Say: Okay, now we are going to get into pairs with our partners and show each other our great fluency skills! [Give each student a peer fluency sheet and give each pair of students a stopwatch or timer.] One partner will be reading first and the other partner will be tracking the time. The first partner is going to read the story three times. The reader will read the first 10 pages of Hi! Fly Guy. The first read through will not be timed. The second and third time I want the second partner to keep track of the time it takes their partner to read it and also notice if your partner reads with fluency and if they are reading with expression. Also note if they change how they read after they have read each text a few times through. You should be able to see changes in fluency and expression. Now I want everyone to be a good partner and participate. Be encouraging to your partner and I will be walking around if you need any help. Remember to keep track of the time it takes your partner to read and what changes that they make. These will be turned into me at the end. Everyone start now!

6. [Teacher collects peer fluency sheets after repeated readings are complete; assess each student’s fluency by using the following formula]:
                                                                                                     words x 60
                                                                                                        seconds

The teacher will have each student (working individually) write a short paragraph about what they learned in the story. They will also answer three comprehension questions:

1. What did the fly eat?

2. What did fly guy do at The Amazing Pet Show?

3. What award did fly guy win at the pet show?

After using the formula to assess each student’s fluency, call each student up individually to read a few pages while the class is working on their writing assignment. The teacher will take note of words per minute and how the students’ fluency has improved.

References:

Arnold, Tedd. Hi! Fly Guy. New York: Scholastic, 2005. Print.