Growing Independence and Fluency

Pancakes with Fluency

Rationale:

Reading fluency is the ability to recognize words quickly, accurately, and automatically. Automatic word recognition allows children to read with expression and add emphasis. More importantly, it allows for reading comprehension. Students will learn to read fluently through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental-marking, and rereading. Students will improve their reading rate and grow their confidence into more expressive and fluent readers.

Materials:

Timer/stopwatch for each pair
Sample sentences on white board for teacher to model
Peer fluency sheet (one for each student)
Reading rate forms for teacher
Teacher Fluency Checklist (one for each student) with attached comprehension questions
Pencil for each student
Class set of If You Give a Pig a Pancake, by Laura Numeroff

Procedures:

Say “We are going to achieve one of our goals in becoming a fluent reader in class today. Does anyone know what a fluent reader is? (Calls on students to answer.)A fluent reader is someone who is able to read very quickly and smoothly because they are able to recognize the words. If we can recognize the word, then we can better understand what we are reading because we instantly know each word’s meaning. It makes reading much more enjoyable!”
Say: “Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board: I like butter on my pancakes. 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 l-l-l-l-i-i-i-k-k-k-e-e-e, l-i-ke, oh like. I like butter on me p-aaaa-nts?. Oh, that doesn’t make sense. It must be pancakes. I like butter on my pancakes. Did you notice that I got stuck on the last word 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 pancake said, pants. That did not make sense, did it? To fix 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 that sentence: I like butter on my pancakes. I read the sentence effortlessly which meant it was much easier to understand. I want you to turn to your partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board. The pig puts syrup on his blueberry pancakes! Read it aloud to one another until you read the sentence fluently.”
Say: “Now class let’s think back to when I read the first sentence when I got stuck on the word pancake. In order to figure out what the word was, I had to reread the sentence from the beginning and tried to figure out what the word pancake said; I pronounced it like pants. The sentence was very confusing, so I reread the sentence to figure out what the word 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!”
Now pass out the book to each pair that you have assigned. Say: “We are going to practice being fluent readers by reading theIf You Give a Pig a Pancake. This book is about a very hungry Pig, who really likes pancakes. But, when you give a pig a pancake he is going to ask you for syrup. And if you give the Pig syrup he is going to get sticky. What else will happen to the Pig in this crazy book about Pigs and pancakes? We will have to read to see what happens!
Students will read the whole book silently to themselves. Then they will read the book to their partner without helping them or getting frustrated.
Pass out the recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say: “We are going to play a game to test everyone’s fluency. Put your listening ears back on to understand how to play. 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 reads the first two pages. Reader 2 will then record the time on the sheet that I have handed out. You and your partner will switch places after Reader 1 is done. You will each do these three times. As you listen to your partner read aloud the pages, I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words, do they read with more expression, meaning more facial movement and change in their voice? Please mark these changes you notice on your paper.”
When they are finished with their partner work, have one student at a time come to your desk to read the first two passages to you. 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.