Rationale: When we are fluent, we are able to read quickly and have almost all of the words in our sight vocabulary. If words are in our sight vocabulary, we know what words are right when we see them. This way, we don’t put so much focus on figuring out what the words are, but rather reading quicker and with expression. This is important for all students to learn in school. If you are fluent, reading becomes more efficient and you can start to understand what you read quicker. For us to become fluent, we first have to decode, crosscheck, and reread words. Reading books and answering questions about stories helps us to want to work on understanding what we read and develop good reading comprehension skills. Students will use crosschecking after reading a decodable book and repeated readings to gain fluency and become more independent readers.

 

Materials: 

1. One timer or stopwatch per pair of students

2. Sentence strips to show sentences on the white board

3. read time charts per student:

Name____ Date_____

1st reading time _________

2nd reading time_________

3rd reading time__________

4. fluency check sheet per student:

Name______ Partner______ Date_____

I noticed that my partner:

After 2nd after 3rd

        (  )          (  )   Remembered more words

        (  )          (  )   Read faster    

        (  )          (  )   Read smoother

        (  )          (  )   Read with expression

5. fluency chart (ice at bottom; goes to at least 85 words per minute) per student

6. small print out of skating Stanley per student

7. pencils for students

8. class set of Flat Stanley on Ice

9. Cover- up critters

10. Comprehension Quiz

 

Procedures:

1. Explain: Say: “Today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers. But what does being a fluent reader mean? [Wait for students to give answers.] Fluent readers can read quickly, smoothly, and with expression. They can do this because they recognize words automatically and do not have to figure out what each word is. Being able to read fluently helps us to understand what we are reading easier because we don’t always have to pause and figure out every word. This can allow us to have more fun when reading too.”

2. Review: Show the sentence “I like to ice skate when it is cold” written on the white board. Say: “Okay class. Listen to how I read this sentence. [Separate each sound] ‘ I l-l-i-i-k-k (e) to ice s-s-k-k-a-a-t-t (e) when it is cold.’ Was that easy or hard to understand what I was saying? [Wait for response from students] Right! It was kind of hard to understand what I read. Let me try again. [Read the sentence again but this time a little faster and more fluently.] That was a little better, but I still did not get the whole message. Let me try one more time! [Read the sentence quickly, smoothly, fluently, and add expression.] ‘I like to ice skate when it is cold!’ It makes sense now! Does everybody see how I reread the sentence a few times to help me understand better? Which reading could you understand the best? The first, second, or third? [Wait for responses.] This is why it is important for us to learn how to become fluent in reading. Today we are going to work on doing that!”

3. Model: Say: “Sometimes we come across words that are a little hard for us to read. If I am reading and I come across the word ‘leap’ [write word on the board] and I don’t know it, I know what to do. I would take out my cover-up critter to help me figure it out by uncovering the word sound by sound. Remember, when we use our cover-up critter, we start with the vowel and cover all of the other letters [cover all letters except ea]. I see the two vowels e and a and I know together ea = /E/. Now I am going to look at the letters before the vowel and that’s the letter l = /l/. Then I put the l and the ea together to get /l/ /E/. Next, I uncover the letter that is left over: p. I know p = /p/. Now I blend all of it together to get /l/ /E/ /p/… ‘leap’! So, when you get stuck on a word, remember that this is how we figure it out! Not too hard, right?” 

4. Model: Say: “But what if we decode a word and it still doesn’t make sense? [wait for answers] We have to crosscheck! Remember that means we finish the sentence and use the other words in the sentence to help us figure out the word. Let’s look at the sentence on the board”: ‘I will wear my big coat if it snows’ [write sentence on the board]. “I will /w//e//r/ my big coat when it snows ? Is that word /w//E//r/? That doesn’t make sense! I will weer my big coat when it snows? Oh! That word is wear! Now I am going to reread the sentence: I will wear my big coat when it snows” [read with expression]. “I sounded like a super fluent reader! We decoded and crosschecked an unfamiliar word, then reread it to understand the message. When we read a sentence again, we are able to recognize the words more automatically and put them in our sight word vocabulary. This helps us become more skilled readers since we get better each time!”

5. Say: “Now it’s your turn to practice reading fluently! [Give book-talk] Everyone turn to the person sitting next to you. This is your partner. We are going to be reading Flat Stanley on Ice.

Flat Stanley and his friend Arthur are excited to go ice-skating on the frozen lake. But when the weather suddenly warms up, Stanley finds himself skating on thin ice. Can he get off the melting ice safely? We have to read to find out!”

6. Activity: “Now that everyone knows their partner, I need one partner to come to the front and get all of the materials we need. [give one partner a copy of the book, a timer, 2 fluency checklists, 2 reading time sheets]. We are going to be doing repeated readings with our partner. We do repeated readings to help up get used to the words in a story and become more fluent readers. Remember each time we read something we get better at it. This will help us become more fluent readers. The more fluent we are, the better we are able to read and understand the story. I will read the beginning of the book out loud and I want everyone to follow along. I will read as fluently and with as much expression as I can. Make sure you pay close attention to how I read the story” [Read the first 3 pages].

7. Practice: When students are situated, say: “With your partner, one of you will read first, and the other will record. You two can decide who goes first. When it is your turn to read, you will begin reading when your partner says go. Read the first 3 pages of the book and your partner is going to time you. We are not racing to see who reads the quickest so do not rush through the story. We instead, want you to work on your fluency so that you can later read faster and smoothly, not fast to finish the book first. After the first person reads and your partner has recorded your time, you two will switch. The second partner will read and the other will record the time. If you are the time recorder, you tell your partner when to start. When you say ‘begin’, you will start the time and your partner will start to read. When your partner is done reading, stop the timer and record their time on the time sheet. Fill out the fluency checklist based on how your partner did. Once you both have filled it out, you will switch jobs again and each read a second time. You will each do this three times so that you each read the story three times. This will test to see if your fluency improves through each reading.”

8. [Walk around the classroom while students are working with partners to monitor and provide help if needed] Also, ask comprehension questions such as “What was Stanley really good at?” “What was Stanley not so good at?” “Who is Arthur?” to make sure students are understanding the story.

9. Assessment: Students will be assessed through what is marked on their time sheets and fluency checklists. Also, after students have finished reading the pages three times each, call them up individually to read the first 3 pages to the teacher. Ask them to bring their time record sheet. Time them on their read aloud and record their words per minute. When they are done, chart their time on the fluency chart and give them the comprehension quiz to make sure they understand what they have read. This will make sure that they comprehended the lesson.

Comprehension Quiz:

1. What is Stanley not so good at?

a- skating                                b- snow angels

c- cooking                               d-drawing

2. What is Stanley really good at?

a-catching snowflakes               b- skating

c- snow angels                        d- both a & b

3. Who is Arthur?

a-Stanley’s dog                     b-Stanley’s cat

c-Stanley’s friend                   d-Stanley’s dad

4. How did Stanley become flat?

a-he was born like that            b-a bulletin board fell on him

c-he got rolled over 

5. Where did Stanley and Arthur decide to go?

a-home                                  b-to the park

c-to the lake                            d-to Arthur’s house

 

 

Flat Stanley cut-out: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fluency Chart: 

 

0 - - - - 10 - - - - 20 - - - - 30 - - - - 40 - - - - 50 - - - - 60 - - - - 70 - - - - 80 - - - - 90 - - - - 100

 

 

 

References:

Claire Payne: Fishing for Fluency!:

https://claire3129.wixsite.com/mysite-1/growing-independence-and-fluency

Book: Brown, Jeff, Flat Stanley on Ice, HarperCollins, New York, 2

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