Growing Independence and Fluency

Flying Fluently Into Charlotte’s Web

Rationale:

Fluent reading is essential for comprehension. Once a child can read fluently, he or she is able to read words accurately and automatically. Not only is fluency important for those reasons, but it also allows the reader to expand their library and read more interesting books. In order for a child to become a fluent reader he or she must practice expression, pace, and comprehension. Through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students will become faster and smoother readers, working towards the goal of becoming fluent readers. In this lesson, students will use crosschecking and rereading with their peers as well as with the teacher to gain fluency and independence in reading.

Materials:

Pencils
Stopwatch (have one for each pair of children)
Fluency chart- to record student’s words per minute (have one for each child)
Fluency checklist
Reading tracker
Reading comprehension worksheets
Dry erase markers- to write sentences on the board
Sample sentences for the class
Class set of Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Procedure

Say: “Okay class, today we are going to work toward becoming fluent readers. Can anyone tell me what ‘fluent’ means? (wait for response) Correct, ‘fluent’ or ‘fluency’ means to do something accurately and easily. So in this case, we are working on becoming accurate and smooth readers. When we become fluent readers, we are able to automatically recognize words and comprehend the story much better. Can someone remind me what ‘comprehend’ means again? (wait for response) Awesome job y’all! Yes, ‘comprehend’ means to understand. Being able to comprehend our reading allows us to enjoy books so much more and to expand our reading library choices.”
Say: “Now let’s practice out fluency by reading the sentence I have on the board. (Matt left his ball.) I’m going to read the sentence out loud and I want y’all to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader. M-m-m, /a/-/a/-/a/, t-t-t, t-t-t, Matt, l-l-l, /e/-/e/-/e/, t-t-t, let, h-h-h, /i/-/i/-/i/, s-s-s, his, matt let his, b-b-b, /a/-/a/-/a/, l-l-l, l-l-l, Matt let his ball. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. It must be left. Matt left his ball. Did you notice that when I got stuck on the second word, I reread the sentence from the beginning to figure out what that word was? After rereading, I figured out that ‘let’ didn’t make much sense in that sentence. In order for me to figure out what that word was, I went back and reread the sentence and figure out that ‘left the ball’ would make a lot more sense than ‘let the ball’. This strategy is called crosschecking and it’s extremely helpful we we are learning to become fluent readers.”
Say: “So students, raise your hand if you thought I sounded like a fluent reader when I read that sentence. (wait for student’s response) Exactly, I was not being a fluent reader. I read that sentence slowly and struggled on decoding the words. A fluent reader would read the sentence like this: ‘Matt left is ball’. The difference between how I read that sentence from the first, was it was effortless, automatic, and could easily be understood.”
Say: “Now that we have gone over the differences between a non-fluent and fluent reader, we are all going to try it out ourselves. We are going to practice our fluency by reading Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. This story is about a little pig named Wilbur. Wilbur lives in a barn with lots of animals, but none of them want to be his friend. On one stormy day, Wilbur walked around the barn asking the animals to play and be his friend. Wilbur wasn’t having much luck, until he heard a voice say “I’ll be your friend”. Which animal do you think called out to Wilbur? What do you think they will do? Let’s read the story and find out!”
Say: “Okay, now I would like you all to grab a partner and begin working on your fluency skills. (Give each student a peer fluency sheet and give each pair of students a stopwatch or timer.) I would like one partner to read Charlotte’s Web, while the other person tracks the time. For this assignment I would like you to read up to Chapter 5. Each of you are going to read these chapters 3 times. The first time I would like the student reading to read through the chapters without being timed, but the second and third time you read the chapter your partner should time you. I would like the person timing, to write down how long it takes your partner to read up to Chapter 5 as well as if he/she is reading with fluency and expression. I want the partner timing to write down if they noticed any changes in how their partner read their second and third time through. After each of you have been the person reading and the person timing, you should talk about the changes you both saw in each other’s fluency and expression. I want each of you to be good listeners and great partners. Now let’s have some fun reading!”
Say: “Remember, if you you need any help don’t be scared to ask. I want this to be a fun assignment for y’all, but you’ve got to make sure to follow instructions. I’ll say the instructions one more time: be encouraging to your partner, keep track of the time it takes your partner to read, and make notes of the changes your partner makes while he/she reads. I’ll be collecting this at the end, so keep track of all of those things. Everyone can begin reading now.”

7. (Teacher collects peer fluency sheets after repeated readings are complete; assess each student’s fluency by using the following formula):

words x 60 

seconds

After using the formula to assess each student’s fluency, call each student up individually to read a few pages. During this time the class should be working on their writing assignment, answering reading comprehension/reflection questions: Was Wilbur brave? If so, how? Have you ever felt like you were lonely? When was a time you were a friend to someone in need? The teacher will take note of words per minute and how the students’ fluency has improved.