GROWING INDEPENDECNY & FLUENCY

FLYING HIGH FOR FLUENCY

GROWING INDEPENDENCE AND FLUENCY DESIGN

BY: MAKENZIE JONES

Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to help students become fluent readers. A fluent reader is defined as reading nearly all words accurately. To become a fluent reader students must comprehend reading and this takes practice! Students must practice reading with expression and speed so they can become fluent readers. This lesson plan will teach students to become fluent readers through modeling, practice, and repeated reading.

Materials:

Stopwatch/timer
Cover up critter
Pencils
Crayons
White board and markers
Sample sentence
Airplane fluency chart
Checklist for teacher
Reading progress checklist
Book: Amazing Airplanes

Procedures:

Say: Today, we are going to work on becoming fluent readers! What do you think a fluent reader is? Correct! A fluent reader is when someone can read with speed, accuracy, and with proper expression. Becoming a fluent reader is also important, because it can help you focus on what is happening in a story.
Say: Now I am going to write a tough word on the board. (Write the word flown on the board.) Now let’s say we come across this tough word while we are reading and need help sounding it out. If we become stuck on a word like this we are going to use our cover up critter to help us figure out the word. Let me show you how to use your cover up critter. Cover up all the letters except for the f. The f says /f/. Now uncover the l. The l says /l/. We now have f and l which says /fl/. Now uncover the ow. The ow says /o/ so now we have f,l,o,w which says /flo/. Uncover the last letter. The last letter is a n which says /n/. Now put all the letters together ffllllooownnn. Awesome job! We just put the word flown together. I’ve never flown in an airplane before.
Say: I am going to write a sentence on the board and read it out loud. After I read it I want you to tell me if I read it fluently or not. (Write: John likes to play with his toy plane) Jj/ooo/hh/n, John, ll/iii/kk/es, likes, tt/ooo, to, pp/ll/aaa/y, play, ww/iii/th, with, hh/ii/ss, his, tt/ooy, toy, pp/ll/aa,nn/s, plans. Oops I mean pp/ll/aa/nn/e, plane. Let me reread that sentence, John likes to play with his toy plane. After I read the sentence I knew plans did not sound right and I remembered our a_e says /A/, so I corrected plans to plane. John likes to play with his toy plane. Now that I have read this sentence correctly I can say that I crosschecked which is what a reader does when they do not know a word. Crosschecking is a strategy for making sure words read make sense and match the letters on the page. You use this strategy when what is read does not sound right or make sense. If this strategy does not work then you can use your cover up critter.
Say: To practice more fluent reading, we are going to read a book. Today, we are going to read the book “Amazing Airplanes.” Alright students, lets fasten our seat belts, because we are about to learn all about flying! We are going to follow an animal crew and watch them become pilots, baggage handlers, and air stewards and learn about important parts of the plane. So, let’s take off!
Say: Now I am going to pass out recording sheets and stopwatches to each group and we are going to play a game. Let’s listen closely now, so we understand the rules of the game. There will be two people in each group and reader one is going to start the game off and reader two will control the stopwatch. Reader one is going to read two passages out loud, as soon as reader one begins reading, reader two will start the stopwatch. So, reader two will time how fast reader one reads the two passages. When reader one is done, reader two will write down the time it took reader one to read the two passages on the paper I gave you. Once reader one is done reader one and reader two will switch jobs and you will do these three times. While your partner is reading, I want you to listen for changes each time your partner reads. Did your partner read with more expression, remember more words, add facial expressions, change their voice? And mark these changes you noticed on the paper I gave you.
Say: When you and your partner have finished your work, I will have one student at a time come up to my desk to reread the first two passages to me. Make sure you bring your record and assessment sheet with you. (As the students read I will record how fast they read and use a formula to record how many words per minute they read aloud)
Say: Now that we have finished our reading I will ask you some questions about our story “Amazing Airplanes.”