Anna Cagle's Lesson Designs

Rationale: This lesson is designed to help students read fluently. These fluent readers will be able to read words quickly and automatically. Fluency helps students comprehend what they are reading, while making the story more enjoyable. Students will do repeated readings of text to help them become more fluent. 

 

Materials: Pencils, stopwatch, peer fluency sheet (one for each student), teacher fluency sheet (one for each student), whiteboard, markers, A Cheetah Hero article from Time for Kids website.

 

Peer Fluency Check

Name of Reader: _____

Date: _____

1st time: _____

2nd time: _____

3rd time: _____

I noticed that my partner…

After which read? 2nd or 3rd

Remembered more words

Read faster

Read smoother

Read with expression

 

Teacher Fluency Check: ____

Name of Reader: ____

Date: ____

Time: ____

Words x 60/time in seconds: __WPM

 

Procedures:

1.     Begin the lesson by saying, “Hello class! Today we will be working on becoming fluent readers by doing repeated readings. What does it mean to be a fluent reader? Can anyone take a guess? Wait for class to respond. “Fluent readers read quickly, accurately, and with expression because they can recognize words automatically. This also helps with comprehending the text, which makes reading more enjoyable.”

2.     Say: “To become a fluent reader, you must be able to figure out words you do not understand. Some strategies you can use when you come to a word you do not understand is crosschecking. You read the word, try to decode it, and if you cannot decode then you will finish the sentence. Once you finish the sentence, you will see if you can figure out the word. Once you figure out the unfamiliar word, then you should reread the sentence to become more fluent when reading that sentence. You will also get a better understanding of what the sentence is saying. For example, let’s look at the sentence on the white board: John went to Africa last week. I am going to show you how to crosscheck. John went to A-f-free-c last week. Hm that did not sound right but after reading to the end of the sentence I realized that’s Africa! So, it is John went to Africa last week!”

3.     Say: “Now, think back to when I read the sentence on the white board. To figure out what that word Africa was, I read the sentence and thought it said Afreec. I realized that did not make sense, but after finishing the sentence it helped me realize that it said Africa. This strategy is called crosschecking. This is a really important strategy to use when trying to read fluently.”

4.     Give partners to each student and pass out the article A Cheetah Hero. “Okay class, now we are going to practice being fluent readers by reading the article. This article is about a little boy named Joris Hutchinson who loves cheetahs, but he figures out that they may go extinct. What will he do to stop this? You will have to read to find out!”

5.     Students should take turns reading the article once. After they read the article once each, they should practice rereading it and fixing the words that they messed up on.

6.     Pass out recording sheets and timers to each group of students. Say: “Now, we are going to play a game to help make you even more fluent. The first reader is going to start by reading the article again. The other student will time the reader to see how fast and fluently the reader can read while recording data into the time sheet. After recording the information, the second reader will read and the first reader will record. Do this three times in a row. As you listen to your partner read the pages out loud, listen to how they change their reading each time they get more comfortable. Make sure to mark the changes on your paper. Time to begin!”

7.     After the student groups have read each passage three times, have the students come individually to my desk to read the article aloud. Use this formula: words x 60/ seconds to see how many words the student can read per minute. Listen for fluency. After they finish reading, make sure to ask questions to make sure they have comprehended what they have read.

Reader Response/Comprehension:

1.     What was this article about?

2.     What did Joris Hutchinson do to help the cheetahs?

3.     Where does this take place?

 

References:

Worley, Meredith. Finish Line Race to Fluency. https://mdw0036.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-fluency

Time for Kids. A Cheetah Hero. https://www.timeforkids.com/g2/cheetah-hero/

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