Rationale:
The goal of this lesson is to help children to become fluent readers. Children need to be fluent in reading in order to focus on comprehending the text instead of focusing on decoding each word. Through rereading, students are able to read automatically without having to think about decoding each word. Through word recognition, their reading becomes faster, smoother, and more expressive. Throughout this lesson, the children will work on building their reading fluency by rereading and participating in peer review.
Materials:
Pencils for each student; copy of the repeated reading peer checklist for each student; a stopwatch for each group of students (2 per group); a copy of The Berenstain Bears On the Moon by Stan Berenstain for each student; comprehension worksheet for each student; cover-up critters for each student; whiteboard and marker
Procedures:
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Say: Today, we are going to work on becoming better readers, and we do this by becoming fluent. To become fluent means to read faster, smoother, and with more expression. We are going to practice this by reading the same book more than once. After doing this, you will feel more confident and you could read this book to all of your friends and family. Let’s get started!
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Say: Have you ever been reading a book and you see a word you do not know? It’s okay if you get stuck on a word, but the important thing is to know how you can learn the word. The first step would be to decode words. You can do this by using a cover-up critter. Cover-up critters are our friends and they help us to read words we don’t know {model how to use a cover-up critter with an unfamiliar word}. We can also use our hand as a cover-up if we don’t have our critter or the words are written too big. We can use this idea to help us with this word that we do not know {write flight on the board}. We are going to uncover from left to right, just like how we read. We uncover an f sounds like we are brushing our teeth fffff next is /fl/. We then go to igh= /I/ and lastly t. Oh, flight, like in the sentence “the rocket took flight”. Once we uncover all the letters, we blend them together to form a word. If you are still stuck, you can use cross-checking to help figure out the word. If you are reading the sentence, you must finish to the end and see if you can figure out the word you don’t know based on the other words. For example, if you thought the word was fit, you could read to the end of the sentence “the rockets took fit” and know that doesn’t make sense. Maybe it is flight? Oh flight, like to fly. Once you have mastered decoding through using cover-ups, crosschecking, and reading to the end of the sentence, you are ready to move on to reading for fluency!
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Say: Now I am going to read a sentence from the board and I want you to decide if I sound like a beginning or fluent reader (sentence: flying in the sky can take you far. Have sentence on board so everyone can see). “Flyyyying in the skyyy can tacckkk, no takkkkeee you faaarreee, wait no far. Now I will reread the sentence to make sure I comprehend everything. Flyyyinggg in the skkkyyy can taaaakkkeee you fffaaaarrr. This was better, but I still can improve my fluency by reader faster, smoother, and with more expression. Flying in the sky can take you far! {read with expression}.”
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{Ask the students questions about they way you read} Say: What did you notice about how I read the first time? What did I struggle with? How did my reading change the second time? Which sounded the most exciting? In order to figure out the hard words, I had to reread the sentence to improve. You could also use your cover-up critter if you are still stuck on a word after rereading the sentence. When I reread the sentence, I learn that tack and fare do not make sense, do they?
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Say: Now it is your turn to practice! We are going to read the book The Berenstain Bears on the Moon. The Bears go on a trip in space and find all sorts of cool things. On their way there, they see a meteor shower and they find moon rocks. They start to miss home so they decide to head back to Earth. What do you think will happen? Do you think they will make it back? We are going to read to find out!
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Say: We are going to get with our partners and go to our reading area to read our book together. Everyone needs a pencil. One partner grab two copies of our book and go to your area. The other come up to me and get two copies of the peer checklist, a stopwatch, and two copies of the comprehension sheet. The first partner is going to read the book. The other partner will be timing and tallying how many mistakes the reader makes on the peer checklist for each time. It is ok to make mistakes because we are just learning fluency. I am going to tell you the number of words and you are going to do a simple math problem of subtracting the number right from the total number. You will also write down the time. The reader will reread this book and the timer will do the same thing as before for two more times. The partners will switch and do the same thing. After they are both done, they will answer the comprehension worksheet together.
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For assessment, I will call students up one by one to my desk to read the passage of text that they have been reading with their partner. I will take the number of words they get right (or self-correct), multiply it by 60 and divide that by the amount of time it took them to read it in seconds (WPM= words x 60/seconds). I will have a chart that shows the progression of WPM and they will chart their progression with a rocket ship blasting off. {This will be done 3 times with each student. While the other students are waiting, they will be reading, silently}.
Comprehension Worksheet:
Working with your partner, write the answers to these questions on a separate sheet of paper
Where are the Bears going at the beginning of the book?
Who goes in the spaceship?
What do they see along the way?
What happens at the end?
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Repeated Reading Peer Checklist:
Number of words in book: ______
Reader: ___________________________
Checker/Timer: __________________________
1: ___ Words right in ___ seconds
2: ___ Words right in ___ seconds
3: ___ Words right in ___ seconds
Which turn was the fastest? _______
Which turn sounded the smoothest? _______
Which turn had the most expression? _________
Which turn had the least number of errors? ________
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References:
Adapted from Hassett, Sarah. “Spring into Fluency” https://smhassett3.wixsite.com/lesson-designs/growing-independence-and-fluency
Berenstain, S. (1985). The Berenstain Bears On the Moon. Random House.
For more lessons: Horizons Website on Reading Genie
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