When you give a mouse fluency

Rationale: Reading fluency is an important skill that needs to be learned, in order to become an expert at reading and reading comprehension. Fluency keeps readers from having to decode each word, and helps them read books/passages more quickly and efficiently. This process can be acquired by reading, decoding, cross checking, mental marking, and rereading. These processes will help students acquire automatic word recognition, and more confidence in their reading. If students can become fluent, they will be able to easily understand the message of a story and their reading skills will improve drastically. 

 

Materials:

• Timer/stopwatch for each pair of students

• Class copies of, “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.”

• Peer fluency sheet (one for each student)

• White board

• Teacher fluency testing paper/reading rate form

• Pencil and Paper

• Cover up Critters

• Fluency Checklist

• Timer Sheet

 

Procedure: 

1. I will start by saying, “Okay class, today we are going to be covering the topic of fluency! Does anyone know what fluency is? (wait for response) If we can detect our fluency, it will help us to recognize  words automatically without having to stop and decode each word! Fluency will make us read more smoothly. This will help us understand the meaning of the words we are reading. It makes reading so much fun!”

2. Next say, “Now, to start learning about fluency, let's practice by looking  at this example sentence that I wrote on the white board: “I like cookies.” Listen to the way I read it to you, I-I-I-I-L-L-Li-i-i-i-k-k-k-k-k-e-e-c-c-c-c-o-o-o-k-k-k-i-i-i-i-e-e-ss. That was hard to understand! Now let me try it again, but with a bit more fluency, this means I will read it a little faster (read sentence). Reply, “that seemed a bit easier to read, but I still did not get the full message of the sentence. Let me try and read it to you all one more time and this time I will read it quickly, smoothly, and with much fluency. I like cookies! That makes way more sense! See how I had to reread a few times to fully comprehend what the sentence was saying?” Ask the students these two questions: “Which reading was the easiest for you to follow along and comprehend.” (wait for response).  “Which was the hardest to follow along with and comprehend?” (wait for response). “When I read the first sentence, I read it without fluency. It made it hard for me to understand the meaning because I was reading so slow. However, each time I reread the sentence, I started to comprehend it more and more. The last time that I read it, I used fluency. Fluency helped me to understand the emotion that the sentence was giving the readers and I was able to read it the right way. This helped me understand that I like cookies! After practicing, you're all one step closer to becoming fluent readers!! Let's get started!”

3. Now say, “Lets go over some helpful techniques we’ve learned in the past! If I get stuck on a word in the sentence, I reread the sentence to see if I can figure out the word that makes the most sense. We also have our cover up critters, which can be used to help us with words that we are struggling on.  If you do not understand how to use your cover up critter, I can show the class an example!” Proceed to write the word cat on the board. “I am going to pretend I do not know how to say this word and I am going to use my coverup critters to help me. First, you start with the vowel and cover up other letters in the word. The vowel is A! I know that a=/a/.  Then I will uncover the letter before the vowel. In this word, the letter is C. I will include this with my second letter and have /c//a/. Now I will recover the remaining letter T and I know what sound it makes. When I put all my sounds together I get the word cat. Wasn’t that easy? The cover up critter can help with bigger words too! If you have a problem getting your cover up critter to work, try the cross checking method of rereading!”

4. The next step is to place the students in pairs. Following, pass out the class copies of, “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”. I will then give a book talk, in order for the children to become more interested/invested in what will happen in the book. I will say, “In this book, A little boy decides to give a mouse a cookie! When he gives him this cookie, the mouse asks for a glass of milk. After he asks for milk, he asks for a straw. After he asks for a straw, he asks for a mirror! Everytime the mouse asks for one thing, he quickly asks for another! How many things can the mouse ask for? I guess you will have to read and find out!” 

5. Next, I will conduct the children to move with their partner, and participate in repeated reading. I will also be giving them a timer, a fluency checklist, a pencil, and a reading time sheet. “The more we read, the closer we become to being expert and fluent readers. This is why we participate in repeated reading. I am going to read the beginning of the book out loud to you. While I am reading, I am going to use as much fluency as possible. I would like you to follow along word for word and pay careful attention.” Read the first few pages with much expression. This will help students better understand the meaning for when they are reading. 

6. Wait for the students to get to their assigned spot in the classroom with their partner. Once they are situated explain the activity by saying, “In this activity one of you will be reading, and the other one will be recording. Whoever has the closet birthday will be reading first. The reader will begin when the recorder tells them to do so. The reader will read the book all the way through, while the recorder is timing them. This is not a race! Take your time! Remember, we are working on fluency.  After the first reader is finished, the reader and recorder will switch and complete the same task again. When you are recording your partner tell him/her when to start reading. Start the timer right when they start and don’t end it until they are done with the whole book! (allow the students time to practice using the timer) You will need to write your partners name, and record their time on the time sheet given to you. Then, fill out the fluency checklist based on how they read that section. When you have done this, you will complete this activity 2 more times. This means reading the book again, marking your partner's time, and filling out the fluency checklist again.”

7. Have a volunteer from the class help you conduct a practice lesson before starting. This will help familiarize the students with what needs to be completed. 

8. Teachers should be available for assistance at all times during this activity. They should help answer any questions the student might have. 

9. Assessment: When students complete the activity, they will make sure their fluency checklist and timing sheet is completed. The students will then one by one have the teacher check his/her fluency by using the formula words by 60/seconds. This will take place while the student reads the first few pages to the teacher, and she records. The students will also be asked to write a brief summary of what they have learned from the book. This can be completed while other students are visiting the teacher separately for the fluency test. This helps the teacher decipher whether or not the students have comprehended what they have read. 

Teacher will ask these questions:

• What is the first thing the mouse asks for?

• What does the mouse do after he asks for milk?

• What is the last thing the mouse does?

 

Growing Independence and Fluency Rubric: (teacher use only)

 

Student Name: __________   Date: ___________

 

Check 1/1 if students has completed:

 

Read book 3 times:

___ / 1

Completed Reading Comprehension Questions:

___ / 1

Fluency Sheet is filled out: 

___ / 1

Student improved Fluency:

___ / 1

Student improved Accuracy:

___ / 1