Rationale:

This lesson is designed to improve students reading fluency. To be fluent

means having the ability to read words accurately and automatically. Effortless word

recognition allows students to focus on what they are reading. 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:

1. Sentence strip with sentence ‘She ran and picked up the base’ and ‘Batter up! Called the pitcher’

2. Class copies of Play Ball Amelia Bedeliafor each student 

3. Stop watch for every peer group of students

4. Pencils for each student 

5. Partner Reading Fluency Sheet for each student (see below)

6. Reader Response Comprehension Form (see below)

 

 

Procedure:

1.  Explain. Say: “We are going to learn how we can improve our fluency. Fluency is very important when learning how to read. Does anyone know what the word ‘fluency’ means? [wait for response].  Fluency is being able to read accurately and at a steady pace without having to stop and decode each word. Reading fluently helps us to fully understand what we read and what happened in the story. When we learn to read fluently all the time, we will become better readers and know all of the details of the story! Not only will we become better at understanding, but we will also be able to read with expression. This means that we can change our tone of voice to express different moods and emotions in the book. We can use a loud voice when a character is yelling (speak louder here), but we can also use a quiet voice when a character is whispering (whisper here). Today, we are going to practice being a fluent reader!

 

2.    Say: “Before we start, I am going to show you all how to crosscheck when we see a word that we may not remember. (Model) and say: “Here we see a sentence (show the sentence ‘She ran and picked up the base’). I may read this as ‘She ran and  /p/I/c/k/e/d/’ and think hmm… that is not right! Let me read the last part of the sentence and see if I can figure it out. ‘up the base.’ Oh! ‘She ran and picked up the base” I said a long I, but it is a short i so we must say /i/. Let’s read the full sentence now- ‘She ran and picked up the base!”

 

3.    Model: Now, let’s practice fluency with a repeated reading by reading the sentence I have written on the poster. The poster says “Batter up! Called the pitcher!” I’m going to read the sentence and I want you to listen and think about if my reading is fluent or not. ‘B-a-tt-er up, c-a-ll- oh called the pp-ii-t-ch-er.’ Was that fluent? Did I read with expression? No, did you see how I stretched the words out slowly? I made a mistake and had to correct the word myself. This is what makes it difficult to understand what we are reading when we do not read each word correctly. Let’s try to read it again and see if I can read a little smoother and quicker. ‘B-a-t-t-er up up c-a-ll-e-d the pitcher!’ That was better, but I am still not reading like a fluent reader. Let’s try to read this one more time, (read smoothly and add expression): ‘Batter up! Called the pitcher’ Perfect! That is how a fluent reader would read this sentence. Now let’s all read it together (have each child read with you): ‘Batter up! Called the pitcher!’”

 

 

4.    Say: “To become a fluent reader, we have to practice a lot. When I read our sentence the first time it was very difficult for me to read it quickly and smoothly because I had never read it before. I had to take some time to decode the words that I was not familiar with. When I read the sentence the second time, it was a little bit smoother because I had read it and decoded it one time before. The last time I read it, it was quick and smooth like a fluent reader because I knew each word and added expression when I read. Now that we know what a fluent reader is and is not, we are going to practice our own fluency. You saw me become a fluent reader, you can too!”

 

5.    Book talk: Say, “This story is about a girl named Amelia Bedelia who goes to play baseball with her friends, but she does not really understand the rules. When her team tells her to ‘tag the runner’ she begins searching for a tag in her bag! Instead of “putting Dick out” at first base, she grabs him and walks him out of the stadium! Will Amelia Bedelia learn the correct way to play baseball? Do you think her team can teach her in time to win? Lets find out!”

 

 

6.    Partner Practice: Say: “Now we are going to practice our fluency by working in pairs. Find a partner to read with and then come and get a Partner Progress Checklist, Reader Response Form, a stopwatch, and 2 books. I will give you the number of words in a book when you settle in a reading spot, and you can write that number at the top. Each partner is going to read the book aloud three times. When your partner is reading, you are going to time them with your stopwatch. Also mark how many mistakes your partner makes. If they make a mistake, mark it down on your sheet of paper. Always remember that mistakes are not bad! All of us are going to make mistakes when we are building fluency and that is the only way we will get better! When your partner is done reading, subtract the number of words missed from the total word count. Record that number and the amount of time that it took them to read from the stopwatch. After you and your partner have both read the book three times, I want you to talk about the book. Answer the questions on the Reader Response Form and write your answers down on separate sheets.”

 

7.    Assess the students’ progress from evaluating answers on the Reader Response Form and determining each students’ words per minute using the (words x 60 / seconds) formula. Make each individual student’s progress with a sticker on the fluency chart. Update these charts so that the students can watch their progress and see a visual goal.

 

 

 

 

Comprehension Worksheet Questions:

Name:_______ Date: ______

1. What did Amelia Bedelia do when they told her that Dick was stealing second base? She ran and picked up the bae and said that second base is safe!

2. What mistake did Amelia Bedelia make as the catcher? She pushed the batter out of the way and caught the ball

3. What did Amelia Bedelia do to make sure that her team won at the end of the book? She stole all of the bases and then ran to her house when they said run home

 

Partner Reading Fluency Sheet

Name: ____ Date:____ Partner:____

1. ​

2. ​

3. ​

Which try (1, 2, or 3) sounded the smoothest?

Which try (1, 2, or 3) had the least number of errors?

Which try (1, 2, or 3) was the fastest?

Which try (1, 2, or 3) did your partner read with the most expression?

 

 

Resources : 

Sarah Northcutt, “A Mouse with Fluency”:

 https://smn0016.wixsite.com/readinglessons/growing-independence-and-fluency

Peggy Walsh, “Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia”(1996)  

Bruce Murray, Developments Lesson Design: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/developments/