Flying into Fluency!! 

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Growing Independence and Fluency Design 

Caroline Bibbee

Rationale: This lesson is in place to help reading students develop fluency in longer, and more developed texts, and chapter books. When the students become fluent readers they should be able to read and cognize the words immediately and accurately. Fluency makes reading more enjoyable and more fun for the children. Once they can read fluently they tend to like reading and begin reading for leisure. I want my students to be able to read and reread decodable words in text which will help them improve their fluency skills, and their speed. In this lesson students will be practicing their reading fluency with a repeated reading of the chapter book, “The Chicken Squad”. Students will use cross checking after reading to improve fluency, and independence when reading more advanced books. Repeated readings with comprehension being the focus and word help in between readings will lead to fluency by moving the words into sight vocabulary. 

Materials:

-Class set of “The Chicken Squad” 

-Sample Sentence written on a white board 

-timers and sheets for students to record times 

-teacher sheet to assess each child's progress 

Procedures:

Say: “Today, we are going to be working on becoming strong fluent readers. Our end goal is for all of us to become amazing fluent readers, can anyone tell me what fluent means? What do you think of when you hear the words fluent reader? Fluent readers are people who can read a book easily and at a good speed! Fluent readers can recognize words automatically without having to think or sound them out! Fluent readers understand what they are reading and the context of the story!”

Say: “Now lets all turn towards the board. Look at the sentence I wrote on the board. (example: Sally and Pat sat at the shack) Okay class listen very carefully to me reading it out loud. I want you all to listen to see if I sound like a fluent reader! S/aaaa/-ll-yyyy /a/-n-d Pat sat at the shhhhaaackkk. Did you notice how I sounded each word out when I read it? Is this what fluent readers do? NO, fluent readers do not need to sound each and every letter of each word out! This is how a fluent reader would read this sentence: Sally and Pat sat at the shack. Notice how that time I read it smoothly which was easier to understand? Now I want everyone to turn to their buddy and practice reading the second sentence on the board (example: Dan and Sam swam back to the raft.) Keep reading it over and over until you become fluent. 

Give each student a copy of the book, “The Chicken Squad”. Say: Okay class, in front of you is a new book! It is called The Chicken Squad. Can everyone make a chicken sound? This book is about four little chicks named: Dirt, Poppy, Sugar, and Sweetie. They spend their days solving mysteries and fighting crime.

Have the students read the first three pages silently to themselves. After they have done this have them read out loud to their buddy over and over until they are somewhat fluent. Tell the students to not correct or help their partner, just to keep reading until they get it. 

Next, pass out recording sheets and timers to each set of partners. Say: Now we are going to play a fun fluency game! Listen very carefully to my directions so you all will know how to play! The first reader is going to be the starter of the game. The second reader will control the timer. The timer will time the first reader when they read the first two pages of the book out loud! Then you will write down the time on the sheet I passed out. Remember fluent readers are able to read at a good steady pace. After the first reader goes you will switch jobs and the second reader will read while the first reader times and records. You are going to do this THREE times in a row. I want you to listen to your partner reading and try to listen if you can hear them becoming more fluent.  

(Recording sheet should just have two columns for the children to keep track of their times) 

After all of the students have completed the fluency game, have each student go back to their desk. Call each student up one by one to assess their progress. Have the student read one paragraph from the pages they have been reading over and over and make sure to mark down what words they struggle with, and also mark down how many words they can read per minute. 

Have the students read the entire first chapter of the book on their own. Ask them to write a summary of that chapter and draw a picture to go along with it. 

References:

https://alc0103.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-and-fluency

“The Chicken Squad” by Doreen Cronin