Flying into Fluency
Growing Independence and Fluency Design
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Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to help students develop fluency in reading more developed texts that are usually longer than they are used to reading. A crucial part of comprehension is fluent reading, which needs to be natural to a reader. Effortless word recognition will allow students to reflect on and comprehend what they are reading. Students will be able to be confident in reading and fluency with the help of reading, decoding, crosschecking, and rereading the text. Students will be able to use these strategies while reading in order to gain fluency and independence in reading. This lesson will enhance students’ fluency and independence in repeated and timed reading by crosschecking and rereading.
Materials:
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Pencils
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Timer/stopwatch for each pair of students
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Class set of the Wind Flyer by Angela Johnson
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Sample sentences on the whiteboard for the teacher to model
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Peer Fluency Sheet for each student
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Reading Rate forms for the teacher
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Teacher Fluency Check (one for each student)
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Comprehension questions
Procedures:
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Say: “Good morning class! Today we are going to work to become fluent readers together. Does anyone know or have any guesses on what a fluent reader is? *student responds to question* A fluent reader is someone who is able to read quickly and smoothly because they are able to recognize words. If we can recognize words, then we can better understand what we are reading since we would know each word’s meaning and how they sound. If we become fluent readers, then it will make reading much more fun and enjoyable because we would be able to comprehend what we are reading! I know that it would be so much fun to be able to pick up a book, start reading, and understand what we are reading… so let’s get started so we can be fluent readers, too!”
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Say: “To start off, we are going to look at a sentence that I have written on the board: Nic enjoys flying planes. Now I need y’all to listen closely to what I am saying! I want you to tell me if this is what a fluent reader should sound like or not when I read this sentence out loud. Nic e-e-e-n-j-j-oy-oy-s, e-n-joy-s, ah enjoys. Nic enjoys flying plans. Wait… that doesn’t make sense. Nic enjoys flying plans?? It must be planes. Nic enjoys flying planes.”
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“Did y’all hear how I got stuck on the last word, plane when I read the sentence the first time? I had to reread the sentence from the beginning to figure out what the word was. When I first read it, I thought the word plane said, plans. To fix my mistake, I went back to the beginning and reread the sentence to figure out which word made the most sense. The strategy that I just used is called crosschecking. Crosschecking is a super important strategy that all fluent readers must do whenever they read because it helps us understand what the sentence is actually supposed to say. Here is how a fluent reader would have read that sentence the first time: Nic enjoys flying planes. I just read the sentence with no problems which meant it was much easier to understand. I want you to turn to your partner and practice reading the second sentence I have on the board. Travis likes to play golf on sunny days. Read it out loud to your partner until you both can read the sentence fluently.”
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Say: “Now class let’s think back to when I read the first sentence that was on the board. When I got stuck on the word plane, I had to reread the sentence from the beginning to figure out what the word meant. When I tried to figure out what the word plane said, I pronounced it like the word plans. The sentence was very confusing and didn’t make sense, so I had to reread the sentence to figure out what the word should say to make the sentence sound correct. Crosschecking is very important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers because it helps us understand what the sentence is actually supposed to say when we get a word messed up!”
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*pass out books to the students* Say: “Now we are going to practice and try to become fluent readers by reading the Wind Flyer by Angela Johnson. I want you all to read silently to yourself, and then you will read with a partner. Remember to be polite while your partner is reading and not talk, correct, or interpret them while they are reading to you. Book Talk: Great Uncle learned that he loved to fly at the young age of just five-years-old. WOW, that is so young! He always wanted to find ways to fly, even if it meant jumping off the roof of the barn into hay. He loved it so much that he wanted to make a job out of it whenever he got older and bigger. Let’s keep reading to find out what Great Uncle did whenever he got older!!”
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Students will read the whole book silently to themselves first. They will then read the book aloud to their partner without helping them or getting frustrated at their partner while they are reading.
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*Pass out both recording sheets and stopwatches to each group* Say: “Now we are going to play a little game to see where everyone’s fluency is at. We all need to put our listening ears on to understand how to play so you can do this little test correctly. The first reader, reader #1, is going to start the game off and reader #2 will be in control of the timer. Reader #2 is going to time how fast reader #1 can read the first two pages. Reader #2 will then write down the time on the sheet that I have handed out to each of you. You and your partner will swap places after Reader #1 is done. Everyone will do this three times. I want you to have your listening ears on when your partner reads aloud the pages because I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words from the time before? Do they read with more facial expressions? Is there a change in voice as they read more? Please pay attention to details like these and mark the changes that you notice on your paper.”
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After the students get finished with their partner work, call one student at a time come to the desk to read the first two passages to you to make sure that they were actually reading and comprehending the text. They will bring their record sheet, so you can attach it to the back of their assessment sheet. As they read, you will time them on the paragraph read aloud and use the formula given to record how many words per minute they read. Assessment: Call each student to the back to read the passage that they read with their partner. Ask comprehension questions. Time how long it takes the students to read their two pages and record the students’ words per minute on their chart. When the students receive their WPM, they will fly their plane through the sky. The goal is to fly the plane to the destination on the other side. The students will reread the passage with the teacher, moving their plane. Between readings, the teacher will scaffold by asking open-ended questions. Say: “I am going to call each of you back one at a time and ask you about the story to make sure you are actually understanding what you are reading and have you read the pages you read to your partners to me. Please bring your record sheets up to my desk whenever your name is called.”
(Words x 60)/ Seconds = WPM
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0----10----20----30----40----50----60----70----80----90----100
Correct WPM:________
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 More Expression
Reading Comprehension Worksheet:
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What did Great Uncle do whenever he got older?
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What did he fly across when he was eleven years old?
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How old was Great Uncle when he first found out that he loved to fly?
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What is one thing that you have learned after reading?
References:
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Book: Johnson, Angela.
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"First, Fluency!" by Caitlin Brown, https://caitlinbb.weebly.com/growing-independence-and-fluency-design.html
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"Soaring into Fluency" by Stevie Potts, https://sites.google.com/view/steviepottsctrd3000/growing-independence-and-fluency
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