Miss Ayres

Skating Across the Ice with Fluency

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Growing Independence and Fluency

Lauren Ayres

 

Rational: So that students can become fluent readers, they must practice their reading abilities, improving accuracy, smooth reading, speed, and expression. Fluency is important because it is a step toward reading comprehension, because when they read fluently, they have a chance to focus on context and meaning instead of spending all of their time decoding. When the students reaches fluency, nearly all the words they read will be sight words resulting in reading faster and adding expression. 

 

Materials:

• Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish

• Repeated Reading checklist

• Progress chart (ex: running man or ice skater moving across paper)

 

Procedure:

1. Begin by saying, “Today we are going to learn how to read smooth like an ice skater. What does it mean to read smoothly? It means that when you read, the words flow well; this helps with fluency (being smooth, fast, and accurate). Sometimes even fluent readers mess up, but they go back and reread the sentence. So if you come to a word you don’t know, try to decode it, cross check, see if it makes sense with what the sentence is trying to say, and reread to understand and read smoothly.”

 

2. “Reading smoothly takes a lot of practice! Rereading helps us become more comfortable with our reading and allows us to become smooth readers.” Write “Draw the drapes when the sun comes in” on the board. Then read it to the class as if you are trying to learn how to iceskate. “Draaaaw… the…draaaaaps.. when.. the…suuuuuunn…cooooomes...in. Oh! Draw..the…drapes…when…the…sun…comes…in. Draw the drapes when the sun comes in.”

 “Did you hear how when I didn’t know the word drapes I kept reading the whole sentence then went back to figure out what the word was? Then I read the sentence again, then again to read it fluently so that instead of stumbling around on the ice, I practice my skating and can go across the ice smoothly. Today we are going to read Amelia Bedelia three times so that we are able to become fluent, smooth readers.

 

3. “Amelia Bedelia is about a girl who cleans a house that belongs to a very rich family. Mrs. Rogers, her boss, gives her a list of things to do while she is working. Amelia reads some of the times on the list wrong…Do you think she’s going to mess up and do something bad? Let’s read and find out.”

 

4. After reading the book as a class, students break off into groups of two and take turns reading the book to a partner a second and third time. As they read, their peer will fill out the reading checklist analyzing the fluency of their peers reading.  After each reading, discuss what each partner needs to do better and read again. The third time should be better than the second. Swap out who reads and who does assessment.

 

5. Once every student has finished reading, get feedback from the class. “Who felt like they read more fluently the third time than the very first time you read? What helped you most?”

 

Assessment: Student’s fluency will be assessed individually by meeting with the teacher one-on-one. They will read Amelia Bedelia while the teacher takes notes on accuracy, how smoothly they read, and heir expression followed by questions about the book to confirm that they are comprehending what they are reading. 

 

References:

Allman, Amber. No More Robot Reading. Growing independence and fluency lesson design. 

          http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/allmanagf.htm

 

Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish; HarperCollins Publishers; 1963