Learning Fluency with Our Pal Poppleton
Rationale:
This lesson is designed to improve students reading fluency. Reading fluently means that a student has the ability to read with nearly all the words being sight vocabulary. As a result, readers can read at a fast pace and with expression. They must first be able to decode words in the text they are reading in order to have reading fluency. In this lesson, students will learn the strategies and skills that it takes to become a fluent reader through modeling and practice. Students will use the strategy of crosschecking after readings of a decodable text and repeated readings to gain fluency and independence in reading.
Materials:
Class Set of Pencils
Half Class Set (Partner Work) Stopwatch and timer
Cover-up critters
Class Set of Poppleton in Winter (by: Cynthia Rylant)
Class Set (2 per partner set for each other) Fluency checklist
Class Set of Reading time log
Class Set of Partner reading progress sheet
Procedures:
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Say: “Today we are going to learn how to improve our fluency when reading. Can anyone tell me what word fluency means? Fluency is when you read words quickly and automatically with expression. When we read with fluency, we comprehend more of the story and the story becomes more exciting, too. To become fluent readers, we must be able to recognize a large amount of sight words, or words that we know automatically, without having to decode them. To gain sight words we have to practice reading through a method of repeated reading where we can decode, crosscheck, mental mark, and reread.”
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Say, “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board: ‘I walk to school on my own.’ Everyone put your listening ears on. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence aloud to you. ‘I walk to the s-t-o-re on my one, oh I walked to the star on me one. Oh wait, that doesn’t make sense. It must be I walk to the store on my own.’ Did you notice I got stuck on some words when I read the sentence? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word said to correct myself. I went back and reread the sentence to figure out which word made the most sense. This strategy of rereading is called crosschecking, and it is super important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Since I figured out these hard words while reading, it helped me become fluent. Here’s how a fluent reader would have read the sentence: ‘I walk to the store on my own.’ I read the sentence effortlessly which meant that it was much easier to understand. I want you to turn to your partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board. ‘My mom packs me chips for lunch.’ Read it aloud to one another until you read the sentence fluently.”
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Say, “Now let’s think back to when I read the first sentence and got stuck on the words. In order to figure out what the words were, I had to reread the sentence from the beginning and try to figure out what the words said; I pronounced it like the words but the sentence was still confusing, so I reread the sentence to figure out what the words should say to make the sentence sound correct. This is called crosschecking, and it is very important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers!”
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Say: “I want you to read the book “Poppleton in Winter” by Cynthia Rylant. I want you to read silently at your desk. In this book, Poppleton’s house grows very long icicles in the winter. The mailman tells Poppleton that he should do something about the super long icicles. Then his mom tells him that the icicles might hurt someone on the head. Still, Poppleton doesn’t do anything with the icicles. Does Poppleton keep the long icicles on his house? Does someone get hurt? I want you to read and find out. Reading silently is without whispering or moving your lips. I want you to read it silently in your head!”
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After the students read silently, I will pair them up with partners. Say: “You and your partner will now get a stop watch and a copy of “Poppleton in Winter”, a reading rate chart, and a fluency checklist. You and your partners are going to read (3 times each), to build on your fluency. You will take turns being the reader and one will be the timer. The timer will time your partner reading the book, and then record their time on the reading rate chart. When you are the one timing your partner, be sure that you hit start as soon as they start reading and hit stop right then they are done. Record all three times on your chart. After your partner has read the book once, make sure you fill out the fluency checklist along with the reading rate chart. This will help your partner and see if you are improving.” Before the students start reading, I will model how to fill in the chart and use the stopwatch. I will then observe the students reading the book. I will walk around the room and ask any questions the students may have make sure that they are filling in the correct time.
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After students are done reading collect data after yourself to analyze and assess how your students did and who still needs to work on. Use your observations of the class as well. Each student will read to you individually. Mark improvements needed and miscues, and ask comprehension questions. I will ask questions such as:
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Why did the mailman tell Poppleton he should do something about the icicles?
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What is a finch?
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What idea did the finch suggest to do with the icicles?
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What did they end up making with the icicles?
7. Each day, I will set a certain time for the students to get to go with their partners to practice reading for fluency. After a week of reading, I will assess each student individually and give them a different partner. This will allow them to see how another student is reading and what they could learn from them.
Checklist:
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Did he/she read smoothly?
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Did he/she show facial expression?
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Did he/shehave voice changes?
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Does the student have an overall understanding expression?
Name _________
Time after first reading _________
Time after second reading ___________
Time after third _________
(Words x 60)/ Seconds= WPM
0 - - - - 10 - - - - 20 - - - - 30 - - - - 40 - - - -50- - - -60 - - - -70 - - - -80 - - - - 90 - - - -100
Correct Words Per Minute
The following fluency checklist filled out for each reading partner will also be used as an assessment:
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Title of the Book:
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Student’s name:
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Partner’s name:
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Make a check if the following is true after the 2nd and 3rd readings:
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Remembered more words:
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Read faster: Read smoother:
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Read with expressions:
References:
Having Fun With Fluency! Part 2: Strategies Readers Will Enjoy
Poppleton In Winter:
Rylant, Cynthia, and Mark Teague. Poppleton in Winter. Scholastic Inc., 2008.
