CRTD 3000

Flourishing in Reading Fluency 

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Growing Independence and Fluency

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By: Margaret James Stephens

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Rationale: Students must be fluent readers in order to comprehend reading and to have a meaningful reading experience. Fluent reading is recognizing words automatically and effortlessly. When students become fluent readers, they will be able to understand the meaning of a text and reflect on their reading. Students will become fluent readers when they read, decode, cross-check, mental mark, and reread. This lesson is designed to teach fluency by repeated reading and reading within a time limit. Students after this lesson should improve their fluency and be able to read texts quickly, effortlessly, and within a time limit. This lesson will bring students meaning to the texts they read.

Materials: Sentence strip that states, “Ramona bugs her older sister Beezus”, Beezus and Ramona book by Beverely Cleary, stopwatch for each pair of students, timesheet, pencils and paper, coverup critter, teacher fluency checklist, and peer checklist (one for each student), and reading comprehension worksheet.

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Procedures:

1. Say: “Today class we are going to become fluent readers! What does a fluent reader mean to you? What do you think a fluent reader is? [listen to responses]. A fluent reader class is someone who can read smoothly and fast because they recognize the words in a book. When we become fluent readers, we will comprehend the story and the story becomes meaningful to us! We must recognize sight words or words that we know automatically, without decoding them to become a fluent reader!”

2. Say: “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board: ‘Ramona bugs her older sister Beezus.’ Can you put your listening ears on for me while I read this sentence? I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read it. “Raaamoonnaa, r-a-m-o-n-a, oh Ramona! Ramond bugs her alter sister Beezus.” Wait! alter does not make sense in the sentence, it must be older! Ramona bugs her older sister Beezus. Did you notice I got stuck on the word older? To figure out what older was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried the word alter for older. That did not make sense to me, so I fixed it myself! I went back and reread the sentence to figure out which word made the most sense. This strategy of rereading that I used is called cross-checking. Cross-checking is important to become a fluent reader. I figured out that hard word while I was reading, and it helped me become fluent while I read. A fluent reader would read the sentence: “Ramona bugs her older sister Beezus”. Did you see and hear how I read it smoothly and fluently? It makes the sentence much easier to understand!”

3. Say: “Now think back to when I read the first sentence and got stuck on the word older. To figure out the word older, I had to reread the sentence from the beginning and try to figure out what older said; I pronounced it like the word alter. Alter sounded confusing to me, so I reread the sentence to figure out the word older. I learned that it was older because older made the sentence sound correct. This is cross-checking! It will help you to become a fluent reader! I want you to use cross-checking as you read!

4. Say: “I want you all to read the book, Beezus and Ramona. It is one of my favorites! We are going to read chapter one of this book to practice becoming fluent readers. In this chapter, we learn about Beezus and Ramona. Beezus is nine years old and her little sister Ramona is four years old. Beezus thinks Ramona is her biggest problem and a pest. Beezus believes that Ramona always gets in her way. Beezus is sitting sewing a teakettle in the living room, meanwhile, Ramona is riding her tricycle in the living room with a harmonica in her mouth. Ramona crashes into the coffee table. How do you think Beezus will react to her little sister distracting her? You will have to keep reading the chapter to find out what will happen!

5. After the students read the first chapter silently to themselves, I will break them into partner groups. I will give each pair a copy of the book, a stopwatch, a fluency checklist, a pencil, reading comprehension worksheet, and a reading timesheet. With their partner, they will reread the first couple of pages without helping or criticizing each other. I will say: “The more we do repeated readings the better fluent readers we become because we have a better understanding of that story!”

6. Say: “You and your partner will read chapter 1 three times each to help build fluency. While one partner reads the other one will be the timer. The timer's job is to time the reader reading and record their time on the reading timesheet. Remember when you are the timer starts the stopwatch as soon as they start reading and hit stop when they are finished reading. Make sure all three times are recorded on the timesheet. After your partner has read chapter one see if you are improving each time.” [I will model how to fill in the fluency checklist and use the stopwatch. Then I will see if anyone has questions.] Say: “As you listen to your partner read, I want you to be listening to see how their reading changes. Do they remember more words? Do they read faster? Do they read more smoothly? Please add comments to your paper if you see any changes”. While students read, I will be walking around the classroom to check if students are filling out their timesheets correctly and if they need any help.

7. Once the students are done reading with their partners, each student will come up to my desk and read the first five pages of chapter one. The student will bring their timesheet with them, and I will attach it to the back of their assessment sheet. As each student reads to me, I will time them on the read-aloud and use the formula given to record how many words-per-minute they read.

8. Each day students will get together to practice reading fluently. After a week of reading, I will assess each student individually and assign them a new partner. This will allow for students to see how their peers read and learn new things from different peers.

 

Fluency Checklist:

Partners name:

Your name:

• I noticed my partner was good at....

• I noticed my partner struggled with....

• After reading the 1st reading...

• After the 2nd reading....

• After the 3rd reading....

• Read faster – yes or no

• Read smoother – yes or no

• Read with enthusiasm – yes or no

 

Reading Record Time Sheet:

• Name:

• Date:

• Book title:

• 1st reading:

• 2nd reading:

• 3rd reading: 

 

Formula:

Words x 60 / seconds= WPM

0—> 10—>20—> 30—> 40—>50—> 60—> 70—> 80—> 90—> 100

Correct words per minute:

 

Reading Comprehension Worksheet:

1. Who is Beezus named after?

2. What does Beezus do when Ramona runs into the coffee table?

3. What book does Beezus read to Ramona?

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