Growing Independence and Reading Fluency

Testing Fluency with Funny Jokes

Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to get students to read more fluently by quickly being able to recognize nearly all words by sight. This will allow students to focus on the understanding and comprehension of what they are reading with ease and expression. Fluency is a very important skill for students to learn so that they can become fluent and efficient readers. Through repetition, modeling, cover-ups, cross checking, and practice students will use this lesson to become more independent with their readings!

Materials: A stopwatch for each pair of students, pencils for each student, cover-up critters, fluency chart, fluency checklist for each student, sample sentences for the teacher to model, white board, expo marker, and class set of the book “Awesome Jokes that Every 8-year-old Should Know” by Mat Waugh.

Procedures:

Say: “Hello Class! Does anyone know what it means to be a fluent reader? (Take answers) Those were all great answers. Fluent readers can read texts and understand the meaning. Becoming a fluent reader takes a lot of practice, but it makes reading more fun! This is because you can focus on the meaning of the reading instead of focusing on decoding words.”
Say: “Can someone remind me what we do when we get stuck on a word? (Take answers) Yes, coverup critter is what I was looking for! They help us break up the unknow word into chunks. Let’s try to use our cover up critter with the word ‘slow.’” (Have slow written on the board) Start by covering up everything expect the S. “S says /s/” Now uncover the l. “L says /l/.“ “Now we uncovered the /s/ and /l/, that says /sl/.” Next uncover the o. “O says /o/.” “Okay, now we have /slo/ we just need to figure out the ending.” Uncover the w. “W says /w/.” “Now let’s put it all together, ssllooow. That’s it, slow. We used our coverup critter to figure out the word, slow!”
Say: “Now I am going to write a sentence on the board and read it. Let’s look at this sentence (on board: If slow old men use walking sticks, what do fast old men use?) I am going to read this sentence for you, and you are going to tell me if you think I am a fluent reader. If ssllow, slow old men use wwwallkkingg, walking sticks, what do fffar, no fast men use? I will now reread the sentence so I can become more familiar with the words and what they mean. I can also make sure the sentence makes since. If slow men use walking sticks, what do fast old men use? I knew that far didn’t make since and that st made /st/ so I corrected to fast. After rereading, it was much easier and faster to understand the sentence. This strategy of rereading is called cross checking and can be very helpful to becoming a fluent reader. So if you get stuck on a word like we did with this sentence, we can cross check and then use a cover-up critter to figure out the word. Now put your hand on your head if you think I read that sentence as a fluent reader. (response) No you are right, I had to decode and cross check to figure out fast. If I was a fluent reader, I would read it like this: If slow old men use walking sticks, what do fast old men use? I read that sentence with no stopping or trouble just like a fluent reader does. Now let's turn to a partner and practice reading this sentence until it is fluent!
Say: “To help us practice our fluency we are going to read the book ‘Awesome Jokes that Every 8 year old Should Know!’ We will read this book by ourselves then pair up and share our favorite books with a partner.”
*Put students in pairs* Each pair will get a copy of the book, a stopwatch, a pencil, and a fluency checklist. Say: “Now we are going to play a fluency game” The students will play rock, paper, scissors to see who will read first and who will time first. Then, the student with the stopwatch is going to time how fast their partner reads the first three pages. They will record the time on the sheet that I have handed out to you. While they are reading, also make some marks for words that your partner misses so we can calculate their words per minute! After writing it down, switch jobs with your partner! Do this three times each. As you listen to your partner read, I want you to listen to how their reading changes mark on your fluency checklist when they make a mistake (saying a wrong word, not knowing a word at all, or skipping the word) *The teacher will walk around and observe* *Take up fluency checklists when they are done with the activity*
Say: “Now we will calculate our words per minute. *Tell them the number of words in the book* Take the number of words that you had a mistake with and subtract it from the words in the book. Do this for both the second and third time. This lets us see how you progress with your reading fluency.
Say: “Now to review one last time I am going to have each of you come up to my desk and reread 3 jokes. *Time the amount of time it takes to read the section* *Use this information to calculate the words per minute* Record their words per minute number on the fluency checklist and chart. Get them to bring up their record sheet with them so I can attach it to their assessment sheet.

Assessment: I will assess them by recording their reading progress in words per minute visual and on the checklists.

Reading Comprehension Worksheet:

Does the little girl like swim lessons at first, why?
What made the little girl finally get in the water?
How does the little girl’s feeling towards swim lessons change as the story goes on?

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

Time: Time:

(Words x 60) / seconds = WPM

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