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Growing Fluency

If You Give a Pig Some Fluency!

By: Caroline Dean

 

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

  • Poster that States “I like pancakes in the morning”

  • “If You Give A Pig a Pancake” by Laura Numeroff

  • Pencils

  • Paper

  • Timesheets

  • Stopwatches

  • Coverup Critters

  • 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!”

2.    Say- Now, let’s practice fluency with a repeated reading by reading the sentence I have written on this poster. The poster says- “I like pancakes in the morning.” I am going to read the sentence aloud to you, but I just want you to listen this time. I want you to think about if my reading is fluent or not. (slowly) “IIII liiiiike paaaaannn-caaaaakes iiiinn ttthheeeee moooorn-iiing.” Was that fluent? Did I read with any expression? No, that sentence did not make sense because I was not reading with fluency. Listen again as I read the same sentence. (reread better) “I liiike paaancaaakes iin the mooorning.” Was that easier to understand? *wait for responses* Right, that was better, but it still was not fluent. When I noticed that my sentence did not make sense, I re-read the sentence to figure out what the sentence was saying. This strategy is called crosschecking and I want you all to do this when you see that what you read does not make sense. I am going to read the sentence one more time (perfectly). “I like pancakes in the morning.” I read the sentence effortlessly because I am a fluent reader. By re-reading the sentence and using my reading strategies, I was able to master the sentence. It is so important to become a fluent reader and today our goal is to learn how to do just that!

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 “fell” 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 f, which says /f/. Then I’ll put up the f and the e together to get /f/ /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… /f/-/e/-/ll/… ‘fell.’ 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 Pig a Pancake”. Say: “In this book we meet a pig who loves pancakes! But when you give a pig a pancake, it causes him to want many more things! He will want some syrup, then need a bath, want some bubbles, a rubber duck and more! Eventually, he will want a hammer, some nails and wood, 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. During this time you can walk through the room to keep up with your students’ progress. You 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 pig wanted so many things? What made the pig want ______? What do you think the pig 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.

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

Reading Record Time Sheet:

Name: __________________

Date: ___________________

1st Reading: _______________

2nd Reading: _______________

3rd Reading: _______________

 

Reference:

Rutledge, Emily. If You Give a Mouse Some Fluency.

https://sites.google.com/view/elr0018/growing-fluency

 

Harris, Caroline. Swimming into Fluency Reading.

https://ceh0108.wixsite.com/carolineharris/growing-independence-and-fluency

 

Numeroff, Laura and Bond, Felicia. If You Give a Pig a Pancake. New York, New York. HarperCollins Publishers, 1998. Print. 

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