Growing Independence and Fluency

By: Katie Jones

 

Rationale: In order to help children gain confidence and fluency in reading, there are many approaches that can be taken. You should work with a fifty to one-hundred word passage, choose a passage at the students' instructional level, and have them read this same text over and over until they have mastered it by becoming a faster reader.  It is also important for you as the teacher to emphasize the importance of re-reading as well as reading expressively and speedily. The fluency formula is this: students should read and reread decodable words in connected text. There is no room for guessing using context when students are able to decode the words.

 

Materials: 

• A copy of Kite Day At Pine Lake for each student and teacher

• Kitchen timer for each pair of students

• Sheet of paper with a kite on it (One for each child and the sheet should also have a list of numbers going up along the kite string)

• Red, green, and blue crayons

 

Procedures: 

1. It is important to learn fluency because it helps you read smoothly and understand what you're reading. Say: “Today we are working on how to become more fluent readers.  When we learn to blend and decode we will be able to read unfamiliar words. This will help improve our fluency!”

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2. First explain decoding.  Use an example word to model how to decode. Say: “If I use the word 'got', I would start out by finding my vowel first which is /o/.  Then I would blend the letters G and O together to make /go/.  Lastly I will attach the /t/ at the end of the first two sounds to make 'got'.”

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3. Next explain blending. Say: “I'm going to say a word and I want you to tell me which way is better to say it.  Is c-a-t or cat better?  Cat, right!  That's an example of blending a word.”

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4. Say: Now I want everyone to have all their eyes on me.  I'm going to read you the first two pages in our book today.  I want you to listen carefully to how I read smoothly and with expression.  The teacher will read to model fluency.  “It’s kite day at Pine Lake. Can you fly a kite? Jeff’s kite is wide. It is a big size. Jeff’s kite is fun to fly.”  Teacher may read over this at least three times to give the students an idea of what they want to sound like.  Teacher should read clearly and smoothly.   

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5. Say: “Okay everyone, it's time to practice our fluency! I'm going to partner you into pairs.  Each student will have a copy of .  I want one partner to be partner A and the other to be partner B.  I want you to take turns reading to each other.  Partner A may read the even pages while partner B reads the odd pages.  Partner A will begin.  Ready, Go!!”  Teacher will walk around and take notes of each child's reading.  If the partners are done before the teacher gets to listen to them, they should reread.   

   

6. Say: “Now we're going to play a little game.  I'm going to pass out a kitchen timer to each pair of students.  I want you partner take turns reading for 1 minute each.  When the timer goes off on the kitchen timer, stop reading.  I want you to count how many words you read and graph that on your sheet of paper with adding bows to the kite string.  You may practice this three times, but only for 1 minute per turn. Use the red crayon for your first turn. Use the green crayon for the second turn. Use the blue crayon for the third turn.  If you get done with your 1 minute reads early, you may keep reading the book to each other for more practice.”

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7. The teacher will take up the graphed sheets.  The teacher will then calculate each child's words per minute from that sheet. 

 

Sources:

Meg Miller, “Speedy Readers”

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/begin/millermgf.html

 

Mallory Durham, “1, 2, 3, Read!”

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/begin/durhamgf.html

 

Cushman, Sheila, Rona Kornblum, and Patti Briles. Kite Day at Pine Lake. Carson, CA: Educational Insights, 1990. Print.