Fishing for Fluency

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Rationale: When working towards becoming a stronger reader, we want to become more fluent. When we are fluent readers, we can recognize words quickly and accurately. By becoming fluent readers, we are able to better understand the meaning of the text rather than spending time decoding words. Students will learn to read fluently by decoding, crosschecking, rereading, and mental marking. Being a fluent reader allows the student to enjoy the story through comprehension. 

 

Materials: 

• Stopwatch (for each pair of students)  

• Pencils

• Primary paper

• Peer fluency sheets (with number line) to show improvement in speech

• Small figurine to track fluency

• Cover-up-critters (one per student) 

• Class set of the book- Nobody Listens to Andrew

• Poster with the sentence to be modeled 

• Comprehensive worksheet for each student 

 

Procedures: 

1. Say- Today we are going to learn how to become a fluent reader. A fluent reader can read all types of books. When we are fluent, we can read effortlessly and with expression to make the text more exciting. Fluent readers understand the stories that they read. When we become fluent readers, we improve our reading comprehension.  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. This process is called repeated reading. 

2. Say- Now, let’s practice fluency with a repeated reading by reading the sentence I have written on this poster. The poster says- “My favorite place to play is my back yard.” 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) “MMMM-y fav-orrr-t pllllac to pppp-l-aaay is mmm-y b-ak yyyy-a-d” Was that fluent? Did I read with any expression? No, that sentence did not make sense because I was not reading with fluency. Listen again as I read the same sentence. (reread better) “ My fff-a-v-orrr-it ppp-l-a-ce to p-l-a-y is mm-y b-a-k yy-ard” 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 saying. This strategy is called crosschecking and I want you all to do this when you see that what you read does not make sense. I am going to read the sentence one more time (perfectly). “My favorite place to play is my backyard.” 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 master the sentence. 

3. Say- It takes practice to become a great 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 have decoded the words before. The third time I read it I was able to master the sentence and become fluent. Now that we have learned what a fluent and a non-fluent reader is, we are going to practice our fluency. We will practice by reading the book Nobody Listens to Andrew. Imagine if no one listened to you when you told someone a story? In the text, Andrew finds something in his bed, and it is not supposed to be there. He needs to tell someone because he needs help, but no one will listen to him. Everyone is too busy to listen to Andrew, but then, they all hear a noise from upstairs. Will they finally listen to him? What is in the bed upstairs? Let’s read to find out. 

4. Say- We will work in pairs to begin working on our fluency. I am going to assign you a partner (Assign everyone to a partner and give each student a peer fluency sheet and a timer). Discuss with your partner who is older. The older partner will read fist. Whoever is not reading first will keep time with the timer. (Demonstrate how to work the timer). When it is your turn to read, you will read three times, and 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 that you read, your partner will time you. The partner in charge of keeping time will write the time down and tell if his partner read with fluency and efficiency. This partner should also write down any differences between the second and third reading. After both partners have read three times, I want you to talk through what you wrote down. Remember to use kind words when discussing with your partner. We do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. After you finish reading and recording, discuss the book with your partner. Did you like it? Is it what you expected to happen? When you are finished, you should go back to your seat and fill out your reading comprehension worksheet and turn it into me. 

 

 

 

 

Fluency Sheet: 

 

 

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

 

 

Reading Comprehension Worksheet: 

1. Who saw something upstairs? 

2. Did anyone listen to Andrew? 

3. What excuse did Dad give when Andrew tried to tell him that he saw something? 

4. What was in the bed upstairs? 

5. Why did the bear leave the woods and go into the house?

 

 

References

Attia, Andie. “Flying into Fluency.” https://aka0029.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/growing-    independence-and-fluency

Cover-Up Critters http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/materials.html

Guilfoile, Elizabeth. Nobody Listens to Andrew. Gina and Company, 1985.