Growing Independency and Fluency

Growing Independence and fluency

Scrubbing Up Fluency

Rationale: Reading fluency is vital to reading comprehension. When students become fluent readers they are able to recognize words automatically and effortlessly, resulting in devoting more of their energies to comprehending the text on a deeper level. Through decoding, cross checking, and mental marking students develop automaticity and become fluent readers. This lesson is designed to guide readers towards greater fluency through repeated timed readings and oral reading to assess students fluency through expression, prosody, and incidentally comprehension.
Materials:
- Half a class set of
- Half a class set of stopwatches
- Cover-up critter
- Sentence strip that reads: "Harry runs from the bath tub"
- Fluency checklist (class set)
  - I noticed that my partner read (check yes or no)... after 2nd reading, after 3rd reading
  - Remembered more words
  - Read faster
  - Read smoother
  - Read with expression
- Sheet to record time (class set)
  - Name:____ Date:_____

1st reading:____

2nd reading:____

3rd reading:____

Procedures:
1. Explanation: “We have been working on our reading, and today we are going to work on becoming fantastic, fluent readers! Who knows what it means to be fluent? (let students respond) I hear some great answers, fluent means that we can look at words and know what they are automatically, which means we do not have to stop and decode them to figure the word out. We want to become fluent so we can understand stories better and make them more exciting for people who listen to us read.”

Review: (post sentence strip on the board)“I am going to put up this sentence. I want you all to listen to how I read it. H-h-h-a-a-a-r-r-r-y-y-y r-r-r-u-u-n-n-s-s-s f-f-r-r-r-o-o-m-m the-e b-b-a-a-a-t-t-h-h-h t-t-t-u-u-u-b-b-b. Was it hard trying to understand what I was reading? I am going to try again and this time make it easier to understand.(read faster and more fluent but not with much expression) Oh! It’s ‘Harry (harr/E/) runs from the bath tub,’ I understand now that I reread it a few times. It was easiest to understand the last time because I read with fluency and expression. Wasn’t it a lot more fun and interesting when I read with fluency and expression (let children respond). Well today, we are going to work on becoming fluent so we can all read stories with fluency and expression.”

Explanation of how/ Model: “Sometimes you all are going to come across a word that is a little tough to read. If I am reading and find this word (write jumped on the board) that I have trouble reading I know I need to use my cover-up critter to help me take it one sound at a time. When I use a cover-up critter, I always start with the vowel first and cover all the other letters up (cover all letters except u). I see the vowel u and I know u=/u/, so now I am going to look at the letters before the vowel and that’s the letter j that says /j/. When I glue that together we get /j/ /u/, but I still have to uncover the rest of the letters (uncover m, p, e, d). M and p say /m/ /p/ and e and d say /e/ /d/. I want to put it all together now, /j/ /u/ /m/ /p/ /e/ /d/ (blend it a few times), jumped! So whenever we get stuck on a word, that is how we figure it out.”

Booktalk: “Harry is a white dog with black spots that loves his family very much, but does not like baths at all. One day, Harry decides he will hide his scrubbing brush in the backyard before a bath. After he does that, he decides to wander off from home. While Harry is gone, he gets so dirty that his family cannot recognize him! Do you all think his family will realize that it’s Harry? Will Harry be allowed back home or taken to the pound? Read it and find out.”

Explanation of Activity: Pair up students and give each a fluency checklist, time sheet, one stop watch per group, and one copy of Harry the Dirty Dog per group. “I am going to read the beginning of Harry the Dirty Dog and you all will follow along in the story. Make sure to listen for how I read with fluency and expression” Read first three pages.

Instructions: “Now we are going to do repeated readings with a partner. This helps us become more fluent because it gives us a chance to practice reading faster, smoother, and with more expression each time you read. You also are able to understand what you read better. When I give you a partner, one person will read while the other person times. After the first person has read, record their time on your time sheet and fill out the fluency checklist at the bottom of the sheet for each time your partner reads. Once the first person reads, switch and let your partner read. Go back and forth until both of you have read three times each. Make sure you read smooth like I read the sentence earlier, you are not trying to read as fast as you can because I want you to be able to understand what you are reading.”

Assess: Assessment will occur as students time each other’s readings with the fluency checklist and time sheet. The teacher will collect the sheets when students are done and use the fluency formula to evaluate progress of each student.

References:

Dr. Bruce Murray, Making Site Words

Zion, Gene. Harry the Dirty Dog. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1956.

Allison King: Scrubbing Up Fluency