GROWING FLUENCY

Baking Into Fluency

Rationale:

For a reader to fluent, there are certain ingredients needed. Fluency means reading with automatic word recognition. A successful, fluent reader can read and reread decodable words in a written text. Reading comprehension is always the goal, but we have to be fluent before we can comprehend the text. Students will be taught decoding, cross checking, rereading, and mental marking skills, in order to become more fluent readers.

Materials:

Timers (one for each pair)
Pencils
Peer Fluency sheet (one for every student)
Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes (copy for every student)
Expo markers
White board
WPM sheet (one for every student)

Procedures:

Say: “In today’s lesson, we’re going to work towards being fluent readers. Once we become fluent readers, we can easily understand the words without having to take the time to figure out what the words actually are. Being a fluent reader makes reading much more enjoyable and fun! Let’s begin!”
Say: “Now let’s take a look at the sentence on the board: I want to eat some cake. Alright, now I want you to listen very close to me and see if I sound like a fluent reader to you. I /w/ /w/ /w/ /w/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /t/ /t, want…. to….. ear…... some.. /c/ /c/ /c/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /k/ /k/ /e/ /e/, cake. I want to ear some cake? Well that doesn’t make any sense. I want to eat some cake. Did you notice how I went back to reread the sentence when I was finished because I noticed it didn’t make sense? That is called cross checking and it’s a skill that fluent readers need to be successful.”
Say: “Can I have a show of hands if you think I read the sentence like a fluent reader would. (Wait for responses) Everyone that didn’t raise their hands, are right! Some words were choppy and read very slowly. I also didn’t decode correctly the first time and the sentence didn’t make any sense. However, when I read it the second time, it was smooth and made sense!”
Say: “Now that you all know what a fluent and nonfluent reader sounds like, I want you to practice your fluency. We’re going to practice by reading Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcake. This is a story about Pete the Cat and his friend Gus. They make cupcakes for a party and set them on a window. The next thing they know some cupcakes are missing, we’ll have to keep reading to figure out who the mystery person is taking their cupcakes!”
*Give each pair a peer fluency sheet and a timer.* Say- “I want you to pair up with your shoulder partner. The person with the least amount of letters in their name is going to read first; the person who is not reading, is going to time their partner.” *Explain how to use the timer.* “I want you to repeat this process three times. The first go around, the person with not reading and with the timer will just listen and keep time. Then the second and third reading, you should write down their time, fluency and expression. I also want you to write down if you notice any changes that happened in between the three rounds. Make sure to switch roles after one person has read three times.”
Say- “After you both are done, talk about your progress through the readings and tell your partner something you think they did well on and improved on.” You might say “You read a lot more fluently in the third round!” “Remember while you’re reading to be respectful to your partner and really listen because you would want the same for yourself. It is okay if you need to take a little bit to decode a word! I also want you to remember our crosschecking skills and how you can reread a sentence to make sure a word is right and makes sense.”
While the students are reading to each other, walk around and make sure they are on task and that they do not have any questions. Once the partners are done, collect their papers and calculate their WPM= words x 60 / seconds.
After students are done, have them come up individually to test their fluency. Be sure to have a WPM graph and put a cupcake where the desired goal is and tell them we want to get the person to the cupcake so they can eat their cupcake, to increase their motivation.
*Hand out a paper with RC questions* While students are reading to you, the other students will be answering reading comprehension questions about Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes. They will turn in these after they are complete. If students finish this before you are done with listening to kids read, have them read their own library book.

READING COMPREHENSION-

1. Why were Pete and Gus making cupcakes?

2. How many cupcakes did they make?

3. Who took the cupcakes?

4. Did Pete stay mad at the person that took the cupcakes?

5. Did Pete end up having cupcakes at his party?

FLUENCY CHECKLIST-

Title of book: ______________________

Student’s name: ____________________ Date ________________

Partner’s name: _____________________

After 2nd Reading After 3rd Reading

________________ ________________ Remembered more

words

________________ ________________ Read faster

________________ ________________ Read smoother

________________ ________________ Read with

expression

WPM= words x 60 / seconds

0 - - - - 10 - - - - 20 - - - - 30 - - - - 40 - - - - 50 - - - - 60 - - - - 70 - - - - 80 - - - 90 - - - 100

Correct Words Per Minute

References:

Dean, Kim, & Dean, James. (2016). Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes. New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Jordan Westmoreland, Hopping Into Fluency. https://jwestmoreland113.wixsite.com/mysite

Fluency Lesson Ideas

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/lessons/fluency/

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