Growing Independence and Fluency Design

Fluency Monsters

Addie Herrlin

Rationale: It is necessary for students to gain fluency in order to become expert readers. Fluency, or automatic word recognition, helps students to recognize sight words without effort. Repeated reading practice is a good venue for students to transition from slow decoding to faster fluency in reading, which will make reading more fun and accessible. Students have to read with good expression at a pace that is appropriate for the text, and imagine the story in their head to develop reading comprehension. In order to move to fluency and independence in their reading, students will practice crosschecking during readings of decodable texts, as well as practice repeated reading.

Materials:

-Sentences for the teacher to model for the students

-Peer fluency sheets for teacher and students

-Cover up critters for students and teacher to model

-Class set of The Monster in the Attic by Lisa Trumbauer

-Stop watches for every pair

Procedure:

Say : “Class, today we’re going to practice working on our fluency. Fluency is very important in reading so that we can all become the best reader we can possibly be. Does anyone know what fluency is? [Listen to their answers] Good. So, fluency is being able to read every word you come across easily and without effort. Fluency lets us focus on the story the words are telling us instead of trying to decode all the words in the book. One thing a fluent reader, which we all want to be, does is reading with expression. Reading with expression means reading, either aloud or in your head, what the character says the way you think the character would say them. Does everyone understand?”
Say: “Okay, everyone, we’re going to put our eyes on the board and I’m going to show you what I mean. [“The boy likes to catch the ball” is written on the board.] I want you all to listen very closely and see if you can tell if I read the sentence the way a fluent reader should. The bbb/oo/y, boy, llll/i/ke/ss, likes? to catch the bb/aa/ll. The boy liiiikes to catch the ball. The boy likes to catch the ball. Did you see what I did when I needed help with a word? Right, I kept going until I knew what the word said and what the sentence meant. Then, I read the sentence again and again until I could figure out what the word “likes” actually was. When I kept reading it over and over, I could figure out that the “i” in likes says its name, “i.” This is called crosschecking. Crosschecking is really important when we’re developing fluency. It’s important to remember to cross check and also take your time when you’re reading. We have to remember not to race anyone else and read for ourselves, right? Right! Remember how helpful crosschecking is when you’re reading.”
Say: “Okay, so you all remember how I said that sentence on the board. Do you think I read it like a fluent reader would? Right, I didn’t! I need to decode the sentence and the unfamiliar word and that made my reading slower and sound choppy. I’ll read the sentence correctly and fluently for you. The boy likes to catch the ball. Can anyone tell me what I did differently this time? Right, I read it much more smoothly, and I didn’t decode. It was easy this time. Now we’re going to work with our partners. I’m going to write another sentence on the board, and you’re going to read it to your partner until you can read it fluently and easily.” [Write “The girl went down the stairs to get milk.” on the board]
Say, “Great job, everyone! We’re all well on our way to becoming fluent readers. Next, we’re going to read a story called The Monster in the Attic so we can practice developing fluency. The Monster in the Attic is about a boy named Jack whose birthday is tomorrow. His mom makes him go to sleep, but in the middle of the night a really loud noise wakes him up! There’s something in the attic! What do you think is up there? We’re going to have to read it so we can find out what’s in the attic. Everyone is going to get their own copy of the book and I want you to try to read silently. Does anyone know what that means? Reading silently means reading in your head to yourself. It means no whispering or moving your mouth. Just see if you can do it. “
Say: “I love how quietly you all read. Now we’re going to get back with our partners and we’re going to play a fluency game that goes with The Monsters in the Attic. Remember to always treat your partner the way you want to be treated. We have to be nice and never, ever make fun of anyone. The first partner is going to read first and the second partner is going to listen. The first partner is going to read the story to their partner three times; after the first time, the listening partner is going to time the second and third times the reading partner reads the story. When you’re listening, I want you to be really careful listeners. Do you hear the reader get faster and smoother? Do they read with more expression? Listen for those things and be ready to write them down on your paper. Okay, start!” During this activity, the teacher should observe the students by walking around the classroom and listening to the students read aloud. Students should reverse roles after the first turn.
After the game is over, have the students turn in their papers so the teacher can analyze the results and figure out who needs help. After this, the teacher should have each student read out loud individually to him/her privately. Remember to ask comprehension questions and make notes when miscues and mistakes. Good comprehension questions to ask would be, “What does Jack tell Liz is in the attic? Does Jack think that the monster is a snake? What does Liz say the monster is doing in the attic?” This will help the teacher to see if the students are comprehending what they’re reading and analyze their fluency level.

References:

Dennis, Cate: Now Boarding the Fluency Flight https://sites.google.com/site/catiesreadinglesson/home/now-boarding-the-fluency-flight

Black, Allie: Soaring into the Sky With Fluency https://sites.google.com/site/alliesresearchbasedlessonplans/home/soaring-into-the-sky-with-fluency

Trumbauer, Lisa, and Sergi Camara. The Monster in the Attic. Orlando, FL: Rigby, 2008. Print. http://www.amazon.com/Lbd-Monster-Attic-Literacy-Design/dp/1418934119/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1429584315&sr=8-12&keywords=the+monster+in+the+attic