Growing Fluency
If You Give a Mouse Some Fluency!
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Rationale: When we are bettering our skills as a reader, we want to become more fluent. Fluency allows us to recognize words automatically, effortlessly and accurately. Fluent readers can obtain comprehension without spending time trying to decode words. Students will learn to read fluently by decoding, crosschecking, rereading, and mental marking. Students will gain independence and gain fluency throughout this lesson by repeated readings, allowing for comprehension of stories.
Materials:
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Poster that States “I love to eat cookies!”
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“If You Give A Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Numeroff
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Pencils
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Paper
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Timesheets
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Stopwatches
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Coverup Critters
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Fluency Checklist
Procedures:
1. Begin class with, “Today we are going to learn how to become a fluent reader. What do you think of when I say a fluent reader?” Wait for student responses. “A fluent reader can read all types of books. When we are fluent, we can read effortlessly and with expression to make the text more exciting because we recognize words automatically! Fluent readers can comprehend all types of texts which makes reading so much more fun!”
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2. Display the sentence strip reading, “I love to eat cookies” on the board for the students to see. Say: “Alright, everyone! Listen to how I read this sentence you see on the board. (Read by separating each sound). “I l-l-o-o-v-v-e to eat c-c-o-o-o-o-k-k-ie-ie-ie-s-s-s. Was that easy or difficult to understand? Wait for the student’s responses. That’s right, it was not easy to understand what I was saying. Let me try reading this sentence again. Read the sentence slightly faster and slightly more fluent. This was a little better, right? I still did not get the full message from the sentence. Let me try once more! Now read the sentence quickly, smoothly, fluently, and expressively. “I love to eat cookies!” It makes a lot more sense now, right? Does everyone see how I reread the sentence a few times before I could understand what it meant? Which reading did all of you follow and understand the easiest? Wait for the student’s responses. That is exactly why it is so important that we learn to become fluent readers. Today our goal is to learn how to do just that!
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3. Say: “When you get a word you don’t know you can use your cover up critter to figure out what the word is. Let me show you an example.” Write the word “tell” on the board. “I’ll use the cover up critter to help me figure out this difficult word. First, I start with the vowel and cover up every other letter. The vowel here is “e,” and I know that e=/e/. Once I figure that out, I’ll uncover the letters before the vowel. In this case, it is the letter t, which says /t/. Then I’ll put up the t and the e together to get /t/ /e/. Now I’ll uncover the letters that are left, l and l. I know they say /ll/ when they are together. Now I’ll put it all together… /t/-/e/-/ll/… ‘tell.’ That isn’t too hard, right? It can even be fun if you look at it like a riddle.”
4. Give an engaging book talk about “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”. Say: “In this book we meet a mouse who loves cookies! But when you give a mouse a cookie, it causes him to want many more things! He will wants milk, a mirror, and scissors, but why?? What will he want next? Let’s read the book to find out!”
5. Explain to the class that they will now be doing repeated reading with an assigned partner. “We do repeated readings because they will help us become more fluent readers. Each time we read a story it gets easier to understand! I will read the beginning out loud to you all, and I want you to follow along with me. I will read as fluently and expressively as I can, and I want you to follow along closely as I go.” Read the first 3 pages aloud.
6. Divide the class into reading pairs. Give each pair a copy of the book, a timer, a fluency checklist, a pencil, and a reading time sheet.
7. Once students are ready to go, give instructions. Say: “With your partner, one of you will read first, and the other will record on the fluency checklist. Each group gets to decide who goes first. Your partner will tell you when to start because they are timing you as you read the entire book. This is not a race, so do not try to be the fastest reader because you cannot “win”. This is an exercise to increase your fluency, not finish a book faster than your partner. After you have read, and your partner has recorded your time, you will switch roles. When you are the recorder, tell your partner when to begin reading, and remember to start the timer when you say “begin”. When your partner has finished the book, remember stop the stopwatch and record their time. You will fill out the fluency checklist and then repeat this process three times. This will test to see if your fluency has improved through each of the readings.”
8. While students are doing their work you can walk through the room to keep up with your students’ progress. The teacher can offer a little bit of help but keep in mind this is a task that is meant to monitor their fluency as readers.
Assessment: Students will assess each other by filling out the fluency checklist and the time sheet. The teacher assesses each student by using the fluency formula to determine words per minute: (wordsx60)/ seconds. Also, the teacher will comprehension questions while walking around the classroom. “why do you think the mouse wanted so many things? What made the mouse want ______? What do you think the mouse will ask for next?” Lastly you will assign each student to write a summary paragraph of the story. This helps to assess the level at which each student is comprehending the lesson.
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Fluency Checklist:
I noticed that my partner….
After 2nd Reading…
After 3rd Reading…
My partner remembered more words - yes or no
My partner read faster - yes or no
My partner read smoother- yes or no
My partner read with expression - yes or no
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Reading Record Time Sheet:
Name: __________________
Date: ___________________
1st Reading: _______________
2nd Reading: _______________
3rd Reading: _______________
Reference:
https://moultonkaylae.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-and-fluency-de - Kayla Moulton, If You Give A Pig Fluency
Harris, Caroline. Swimming into Fluency Reading.
https://ceh0108.wixsite.com/carolineharris/growing-independence-and-fluency
Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.
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Image:
https://portsong.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/if_you_give_a_mouse_a_cookie.jpg
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