Rationale: The key to becoming a skilled reader is reading fluency or, reading with automatic word recognition.  Reading fluency is established through reading, decoding, cross checking, mental marking, and rereading. Through these processes, students gain automatic word recognition and begin to read more naturally and smoothly. Reading fluency improves student’s understanding of the text, therefore, improving reading comprehension. 

 

Materials:

• Stopwatch (one per partner pair) 

• Pencils

• Fluency checklist 

• Peer fluency sheet (for each student) 

• Class set of the book: Saturday by Oge Mora 

• Comprehensive worksheet (for each student) 

 

Procedures:

1. Say: “Today we are going to learn how to become a fluent reader. What does it mean to you to become a fluent reader? Turn to your partner and discuss. [encourage student discussion] Can someone tell me what it means to your partner to be a fluent reader? [call on students to answer]. When we are fluent readers we can read stories quickly and smoothly because we are recognizing the words automatically! When we can do this, we understand and comprehend the story better, which makes reading more fun!” 

2. Say: “Let’s practice fluency with a repeated reading by reading the sentence on the board. The board says- “What will we do on Saturday?” I am going to read the sentence aloud to you, but just listen this first time. I want you to think about if my reading is fluent or not. [slowly] “Wwww-hat wwww-iiii-ll w-eeee dddd-ooo ooooo-n Saaaa-ttt-ur-ddd-aaa-yyy?” Was that fluent? Did I read it smoothly and with expression? No! That sentence did not make sense because I was not reading it fluently. Let’s try again, listen again as I reread the same sentence. [reread better] “Wwww-hat w-illll w-eee do on Saaat-ur-d-aaay?” That was a little better, but it still was not very smooth or fluent. When I notice that my sentence does not make sense, I can reread the sentence to figure out what it is trying to say. What is it called when I reread the sentence in an attempt to figure out what it says? [call on student]. This method is called cross checking. I want you to all do this when you see that what you read does not make much sense. I am going to read the sentence one final time. [perfectly] “What will we do on Saturday?” I read the sentence effortlessly this time because I can read fluently. By rereading the sentence and using my other reading strategies, I was able to read to word smoothly and fluently with expression.”

3. Say: “It takes practice to become a fluent reader. When I first read the sentence, I struggled because it was something I had never read before. However, when I read it again it became easier because I had decoded the words already. The third time I read the sentence, I was able to fluently read it. Now that we know the difference between a fluent and a non-fluent reader, we are going to practice our fluency. We will do this by reading the book “Saturday.” In this book, Ava and her mother love nothing more than Saturdays because they have the chance to spend the whole day together. They like to go to the library, get their hair done, and go to the park. This Saturday, they are even going to a puppet show at the theater! But what happens when all of their plans get messed up? Let’s read this story to find out what Ava does to cheer up her mother.” 

4. Say: “We are going to work with a partner and focus on our fluency. I am going to assign you each with a partner [assign everyone to a partner and give each student a peer fluency sheet and a timer]. Whoever is not reading fist will keep track of the time with the timer [demonstrate how to work the timer]. When it is your turn to read, you will read the book 3 times. The first time, you will not be timed. Your partner will just sit quietly and listen. The second and third time you read the book, your partner will time you. The partner in charge of keeping time will write the time down and determine if the partner is reading fluently. This partner should also write down any differences between the second and third reading. After you have both read the story three times, I want you to talk through what you observed. After you finish reading and recording, discuss the book. Did you like it? What would you have done if your plans got messed up? Do you think Ava and her mother did the right thing? When you are finished, go back to your seat and work on the reading comprehension worksheet and turn it into me when you complete it.” 

5. Assessment. Collect materials. Say: “I am so impressed by your hard work reading fluently today! To wrap up, I want you to each answer a few questions on a sheet of paper to see what we remember about the book, “Saturday.” While y’all are writing, I am going to call you to my desk one by one so that I can hear you read fluently too!” [ask students comprehension questions while they read one on one]. 

 

Fluency Checklist: 

Title of Book: _____________________________________

Student’s Name: ______________________ Date: ________

Partner’s Name: ______________________

 

After 2nd Reading                    After 3rd Reading 

______________                    ______________        Remembered more words 

______________                    ______________        Read faster 

______________                    ______________        Read smoother 

______________                    ______________        Read with expression 

 

(Words x 60)/seconds = WPM 

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

Correct Words Per Minute: 

 

Reading Comprehension Worksheet: 

1. What was the first thing Ava and her mother did on Saturday? 

2. Why could Ava and her mother not go to the puppet show? 

3. What did Ava and her mother do instead of going to the puppet show? 

 

References:

Book: Mora, Oge “Saturday” 

 

Murray, G. (2004) Reading Genie: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/geniebooks/

1. “When You Give a Mouse Fluency” by Megan Schrock 

https://meganschrock.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independecy-and-fluency

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