Rationale: Fluency is a critical component of reading. Fluency allows readers to form automatic word recognition quickly and accurately. Fluency is important for readers because they can focus their attention on becoming quick readers, smooth, more expression and comprehending the content. This lesson is designed to help students develop fluency by increasing their reading speed. Students will acquire fluency in this lesson by learning self-help strategies, performing repeated readings of decodable books silently and with partners, and having a visual representation charting their progress.
Materials:
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The book Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Barbara Park (copy for each child and teacher)
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Stopwatch for each partner pair
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SmartBoard with example sentence for modeling: The monkey climbed up the tree.
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Partner Reading Progress checklist
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Reader Response questions
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Banana Tree Fluency Graph for each child (use this graph for tracking the student’s progress in words per minute. The monkey will move up the tree towards the bananas when the student’s words per minute increases. Graph should go to at least 85 WPM, but it should be adjustable based on student’s performance.)
Time Record Sheet
Name: ______________________________
Date: _______________
1st Reading: ________________
2nd Reading: ________________
3rd Reading: ________________
Fluency Checklist
I noticed my partner…
After 2nd Reading After 3rd Reading
_______ _______ Read more words
_______ _______ Read faster
_______ _______ Read smoother
_______ _______ Read with expression
Procedures:
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Say: We want to get great at reading. In order for us to be great at reading, we must be able to read fluently. That means that when we read, we know the words automatically when we see them, so we don’t have to sound out the word. Once we are fluent readers, we will love and enjoy reading books even more! This will become enjoyable to us when we do not have to stop and attempt to understand every word.
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Say: I am going to show you an example of what to do when your reading starts getting a little bumpy. Let’s look at a few sentences with some words we might not know yet. Display sentences on SmartBoard: “The monkey climbed up the tree.” I am going to pretend like I am reading this sentence for the very first time. (very slowly). The /m/-/o/-/n/-/k/-/e/-/y//c/-/l/-/i/-/m/-/b/-/e/-/d/ up the tree. Hmmm that I’ve never heard the word /c/-/l/-/i/-/m/-/b/-/e/-/d/ before. Let me try reading it again to see if I can figure it out. The monkey /c/-/l/-/i/-/m/-/b/-/e/-/d/ up the tree… Oh climbed!! That makes much more sense. I guess the i is a short vowel in this word. I’ll remember that next time! Now I’m going to read the whole sentence: (more quickly with expression) "The monkey climbed up the tree." Wow! I figured it out!! Notice how reading the sentence all the way to the end can sometimes give us clues that help us figure out what a new word might be. This is called crosschecking. You can do it, too! Reading the sentence a few times also helps us to remember the new word and start reading more smoothly, or fluently. Did you like the way the sentence sounded the first time I read it or the last time? (Wait for response) Exactly! The sentence sounded much better the last time because it was smoother, quicker, and I even added some excitement to my voice!
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Say: Now we are all going to practice some reading. It might take us a few tries, but that is how we become expert readers, gliding through our books with greater ease and speed. Today, we are going to read. Booktalk: Junie B.’s parents tell her they have a surprise for her, but she isn’t too happy that it isn’t a present for her, but a new baby brother. Grandma comes to visit and says that the baby is the cutest little monkey around. Junie B. actually thinks her brother is a monkey and tells her whole class her brother is a real, live monkey! Junie B.’s friends really want to see the “little monkey” so they bring her lots of gifts. One day, Junie B.’s parents visit the school and her classmates get to see her baby brother. Is Junie B.’s brother a real, live monkey? We’ll have to read to find out!
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Now, I would like you to get with your reading partner and go to your designated reading area of the classroom. While one partner walks to the reading area, the other partner will come to the front of the classroom to pick up two Partner Reading Progress checklists. Together, as partners, I would like you to count off how many words are on page one and two in . Each partner will take turns reading the book aloud to one another. I would like each person to read the two pages three times. While one partner is reading, the other partner will use the stopwatch and record the time.
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Once the students complete paired readings, they will draw the events of the story in four pictures and answer the assessment questions below. The teacher will call students one at a time to listen to them read and asses their reading using the equation (Words x 60)/seconds.
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Assessment Questions:
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What is the name of Junie B.’s classroom?
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What is Junie B.’s baby brother’s name?
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Does Junie B. like her baby brother at first?
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References:
Adapted from: “Flying Through Fluency with Junie B.” by Maddie Vavala http://mjv0004.wixsite.com/vavalalessons/flying-through-fluency-with-junie-b
Adapted from: “Soaring into Fluency” by Bridgette Johnson http://bridgettejohnson11.wixsite.com/ctrd-reading-website/growing-fluency
Park, Barbara. “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business”. New York: Random House for Young Readers, 1993.
Murray, Bruce. “Developing Reading Fluency”. The Reading Genie. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/fluency.html