Rationale: This goal of this lesson is to help students develop fluency in longer and more advanced texts. The idea of reading fluently is the ability to recognize sight words immediately and quickly reading with understanding and expression. Readers should be encouraged and motivated to read and reread decodable words and texts. Fluency will also help reading to become more enjoyable as you are reading smoothly with no obstacles to overcome. In today’s lesson, students will learn how to become fluent readers themselves as well as how to decode, crosscheck, reread, and understand texts. At the end, you will have a better understanding of the student’s ability to read texts fluently and independently.

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Materials:

• Stopwatch (1 for every 2 students)

• Pencil

• Word count sheet (1 for every child)

• Fluency graph -- Fish

• Fluency chart to record student’s words per minute (one for each child)

• Calculator

• Book: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

 

Procedures:

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1. Say: “Today we are going to work towards becoming fluent readers. Who knows what being a fluent reader means? ‘Fluent’ or ‘fluency’ means to do something accurately and easily. In our case, we are working towards becoming faster and more accurate readers. When read fluently, we are able to automatically recognize words and are able to comprehend the story much better. When we comprehend our reading, we enjoy books so much more and can expand our reading library choices.

2. Say: “Let’s look at the sentence on the whiteboard at the front of the room: (That fish is swimming very fast). I am going to read the sentence twice, and I want you to listen and see if you can figure out which one is more fluent. ‘Th-a-t (that!) f-i-sh (fish!) i-s (is!) s-w-i-m-m-i-n-g (swimming!) v-e-r-y (very!) f-a-s-t (fast!). That fish is swimming very fast. Now, I’m going to try that again. (read smoothly and with expression) That fish is swimming very fast! Of these two tries, which one sounded better to you? If you think it was the first try, raise your hand. Now, if you think it was the second try, raise your hand. If you said the second try, you’re right! It was smoother, faster, and I used expression. If you can do all of those things, you’re reading with fluency.”

3. Say: “I know something that will help you! If you’re stuck on a word, you can read to the end of the sentence to try and figure out what it says. In most cases, you will find a clue in the sentence to help you figure it out! This is called cross-checking. Once you figure out what the word is, you should go back and re-read the entire sentence to help you make sight words and become a more fluent reader.”

4. Say: “Today, we are going to work on becoming fluent readers by reading a book called The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. (Pass the book out and give each child their own copy.) This book is about a beautiful, colorful, shiny fish that lives in the sea- The Rainbow Fish. He is so proud of his scales and loves them so much that he doesn’t want to share them when asked by a blue fish. How will the blue fish react? Will the Rainbow Fish learn to share? Now, I am going to read the first two pages aloud and I want you to follow along while I read! (Read the first two pages).

5. Partner Practice: Say: “Now we are going to practice being fluent readers by working with a partner. Once you have found a partner and settled into your reading spot, send one partner up to the front to get a fluency chart and a stopwatch. You and your partner are going to read the next five pages of The Rainbow Fish aloud to one another three separate times. As your partner reads the pages to you, I want you to listen very closely and recognize which words your partner missed. 

6. (Write directions on the white board for students to follow along as you explain the assignment) Say: “You and your partner should count the total amount of words on the next five pages. Once you’ve figured out how many words there are, put that number at the top of the page. Then, decide who is going to read first. If you are the partner that is not reading, you need to be paying close attention to your partner’s reading the mistakes they make. For every mistake, make a little tally mark. [Show the tally method on the board and model it]. When your partner begins reading, make sure you start the stopwatch!

7. Say: “After you have each read those pages three separate times, you will calculate your fluency with an equation I’m about to give you! Take the total number of words from those pages that you found before we started and multiply that by 60. Then, you will divide that number by the number of seconds it took each of you to read the pages. Your answer will read ‘___ words in ___ minutes.’ After you’ve made the calculations, you will fill out your fluency chart with those numbers. 

8. Say: “After you have finished calculating, we are going to answer a couple questions about the story to see how well you were able to comprehend it!” [Pass out paper with questions printed out]. 

 

 

Partner Reading Progress Checklist:

Total # of words in chapter: ______ Reader: __________________

Partner: __________

1: ___ Words in ___ seconds

2: ___ Words in ___ seconds

3: ___ Words in ___ seconds

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) sounded the smoothest? _______

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) had the least number of errors? ______

 

 

 

Reader Response Form:

Name ________

Directions: On your own piece of paper, answer these questions with at least one complete sentence.

1. What does the blue fish want from the Rainbow Fish?

2. How does the rainbow fish feel about sharing?

3. How do the other fish feel about the Rainbow Fish?

4. Does the rainbow fish have a lot of friends?

 

 

Fluency Graph:

 

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Resources:

Pfiser, Marcus. The Rainbow Fish.

 

Talbot, Emma “Swimming for Fluency”

https://eept2300.wixsite.com/mysite-1/growing-independence-and-fluency

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