Rationale:

Fluency is the ability to read effortlessly with automatic word recognition, and is key in reading for comprehension. As a reader gains fluency, they are able to read faster, read more words, and better comprehend the reading. This lesson will ensure that readers understand the importance of fluency, the strategies of crosschecking and decoding, and how to monitor and promote progress through repeated readings.

Materials:

-Nate’s Bike Ride By Geri Murray (1 per pair of students)

-Whiteboard

-Marker

-Stopwatch (1 per pair of students)

-Partner evaluation sheets (1 per student)

-Bike Reading Graph (1 per student)

-Teacher Evaluation Sheets (1 per student)

 

 

Procedures:

 

1. Say, “We all want to become excellent readers, right? Well, how do we become excellent readers? Anyone have an idea? (Allow students to answer).  To become excellent readers, we must be able to read fluently. When we read fluently, we are reading effortlessly with automatic word recognition! If we are reading with automatic word recognition, this means that we have a large sight vocabulary! This sight vocabulary is so large that it includes most of the words that we see day to day in text. Once we are able to read with this type of accuracy, we will become excellent readers by practicing and increasing our speed as we read! We also can add expression while reading. This will lead to an increase in our comprehension skills and will allow us to read a variety of difficult texts. So, the first step to gaining fluency is adding to our sight vocabulary. How do we do that? By decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading.”

 

2. Say, “Since we now know how to become a fluent reader, I am going to model how we should decode and crosscheck when we come to a unfamiliar word. (Write sentence on the board ‘Tim and Nate went down the wrong store isle.’) Okay, so let’s take a look at this sentence. If I was reading this sentence, I might read ‘Tim and Nate went down the wrong /i//z//l//e/…on the izle? Hmm…that doesn’t make sense. /I//l//e/…/I/ /l/, oh! The s is silent! Isle. Okay, now that I have decoded and crosschecked to learn an unfamiliar word, I need to go back and reread the sentence so that I can understand it. ‘Tim and Nate went down the wrong store isle.’”

 

3. Say, “All right, now that we have reviewed decoding and crosschecking, I want to model how we can read fluently. (erase old sentence, and write two short sentences on the board, ‘I am going to read these sentences that are on the board. ‘Tim…./m/ /e/ /t/ Nate at the /b/ /I/ /k/ /e/ track…race track. They /h/ /a/ /d/…had…/f/ /U/ /n/…foon…fun.’ That wasn’t very fluent was it? I couldn’t really understand what I was reading because I had to stretch out the words and sound them out. Okay, let me read the sentences again. (read sentences a little faster, but without expression) ‘Tim…met Nate at the bike…track. They…had fun.’ Okay, that was better! I didn’t have to stop and sound out the words this time. I was able to read a little bit faster, but it was still slow and sounded choppy. I’m going to read them again. (read sentences faster this time, with expression) ‘Tim met Nate at the bike track. They had fun!’  Great! The sentences flowed and I understand the meaning. Tim and Nate went to the bike track and they had fun together. I recognized the words automatically and I was able to read it fluently!” 

 

4. Say, “Now we are all going to practice fluency by reading Nate’s Bike Ride. “

 

Booktalk: “In this book, Nate has this friend Tim who really wanted to go on a bike ride. But Nate was lazy, and did not want to come. He wanted to nap! But, Tim comes up with a plan to get Nate on a bike. What is his plan?! Will Nate ride a bike?! We have to read Nate’s Bike Ride to find out!”

 

5. Pair the students together (reader 1 and reader 2) and give each pair a copy of Nate’s Bike Ride along with two copies of the reading assessments, and stopwatches. One stopwatch per pair, two assessments per pair. Say, “Remember, we are practicing fluency, so you and your partner will each read the book several times to practice. You each will read for one minute at a time. You will use the stopwatches I gave to each of you to time each other. This is how the fluency practice will go: Reader 1 will begin reading the book while Reader 2 starts the stopwatch and listens. When Reader 1 has read for one minute, then the timer will be stopped. Reader 1  will pass the book to Reader 2 and Reader 2 will give the stopwatch to Reader 1. After both readers have read the book for one minute, the readers will again switch roles.

When reading the book for the second time, the partner who is using the stopwatch will listen and mark the reader’s improvement from the first round on the checklist that I gave you (Hold up checklist). Make sure to make notes of mess-ups. On the checklist, you should make a note if you notice the reader remembering more words, reading faster, reading smoother, or reading with more expression.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once both partners complete the second round of reading, a third round should be completed in the same way. Readers should again make note of mess ups, expression etc.

 

Assessment:

Once the students have finished three rounds of repeated reading, have each student turn in his or her checklist. I would then call students up one at a time, and allow him or her to perform a repeated reading with me, marking their progress and moving the bike up the fluency chart when improvement is seen. After the three rounds have been completed, ask a few comprehension questions: “Did Nate ride the bike?” “How did Tim get Nate to ride the bike?” “Are Tim and Nate still friends?

 

Teacher Fluency Checklist Worksheet: (used for end assessment by teacher)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Lesson: Hit a Homerun with Fluency