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Leaping into fluency

Kelly Jones

Growing independence and fluency

*Rationale: This lesson aims to help students develop fluency in longer, more developed texts. Fluent readers can read quickly, correctly use blending, and read effortlessly. We want readers to be motivated to read and reread decodable words in connected text. Throughout this lesson students will practice their fluency and gain experience with reading text silently as well as reading to a partner. They will read for fluency with the teacher, graphing progress and going over unfamiliar words between readings. At the end of the lesson, you will have a better idea of the student’s ability to read texts fluently and independently.

*Materials:

  • Stopwatches (enough for each pair of students)

  • Fluency Graphs for each child

  • Sticker

  • Class set of Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

  • Partner Reading Progress checklists

  • Reader Response form

  • Grading rubrics

  • White board and markers

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

Correct Words Per Minute

Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: __________________________________

Date___________ Student’s Name: ____________ Partner's Name: _______________

After 2nd Reading       After 3rd Reading

_________                    _________                   Remembered more words

_________                    _________                   Read faster

_________                    _________                   Read smoother

_________                    _________                   Read with expression

*Procedure:

  1. Explain the Activity: Say, “Today we are going to talk about fluent reading. When we read fluently we can understand what we are reading and what is happening in the story. The more fluently we can read, the more we will be able to understand what we are reading. Along with being able to understand what we are reading; fluent readers can read with expression. We can change our voices to match certain text, like getting louder if a character screams or using a quiet voice if a character whispers. To become a fluent reader, we need to practice our skills so that’s what we will do today, practice.”

  2. Model: Say, “I am going to read a sentence on the whiteboard two times. I want you to listen to how I read it and tell me which time sounds more fluent, or which one sounds better.” “F-r-ooo-g, frog ran up the path, to T-ow-d’s, Toad’s? h-ou-se and /k/nocked, knocked on the d-oo-rrr.” “Frog ran up the path to Toad’s house and knocked on the door.” “Which sounds better? [Let students answer] That’s correct! The second option sounds much better. But why does it sound better? [Allow students to answer] Yes, it sounds better because I read the words effortlessly because they were in my sight vocabulary and I also read with expression. I was also able to understand what the sentence was saying when I read it the second time. Unlike the first time I read the sentence I was so focused on decoding it, that I couldn’t understand it! A huge part of fluent reading is having a large sight vocabulary because the larger the sight vocabulary the easier it is to see words and automatically recognize them and understand what they mean. Fluent reading is important, because it’s how you know what’s going on in the story.

  3. Review Strategy: Say, “There are some skills that we have already learned that will help us on our journey to become fluent readers. The first one is decoding. Remember we use this when we get stuck on a word that is a little tricky to read. And to help us decode we will use our cover-up critter.  We use the critter to break the word that we are having trouble with down into smaller pieces. Breaking it down makes it easier to recognize and read the word. Another strategy that we can use when decoding doesn’t work is, crosschecking. Did you notice that the first time I read the sentence I read Toad as Towd? But then I went back and realized that the correct word was Toad because Towd did not make sense and isn’t even a word. This is called crosschecking. You use crosschecking when you come to a word in the sentence you don’t know. To crosscheck remember that we look at the rest of the sentence, before and after the word, and try to use the information to determine what the word might be. Then we must mentally mark the word to remember that toad is not towd it is t/oa/d.  After we are done decoding and crosschecking we always reread the sentence to make sure we understand the text.”

  4.  Practice Together: Say, “Let’s read this next line together, “Toad shouted ‘Frog, wake up! It’s spring!’” I heard some of you struggling with the word “shouted” here. If you were reading this by yourself and you didn’t know the word you could use your cover up critter to look at these beginning sounds, /sh/ /o/ and if decoding the rest of the word doesn’t work. Then you can look at the rest of the sentence and crosscheck to figure out that it says “shouted”.

  5. Book talk: Say, “Frog just woke up for spring after a winter nap! He is excited for spring. He wants to share his excitement with his friend Toad. However, Toad is not excited for spring. Frog tries to wake Toad up, but he refuses. Do you think Frog will be able to get Toad up? We will have to read to find out!”

  6. Partner Practice: Say, “Now we’re going to do some practice building our fluency with partners. Pair up with a reading partner and come get a Partner Progress Checklist, Reader Response Form, a stopwatch, and 2 copies of Frog and Toad are Friends.  I will tell you the number of words in the book when you get back to your reading spots, so you can write that at the top of the page. You’re each going to read the book aloud three times. For the one who isn’t reading, while your partner is reading you are going to use the stopwatch to time them. You are going to pay close attention to how many mistakes your partner makes, make a checkmark on your sheet of paper when you hear a mistake. Remember that it isn’t a bad thing to make mistakes while we’re building fluency, you’re going to make mistakes the first couple times you read it. The mistakes will only help you get better. Once your partner is done reading you’re going to subtract the number of words missed from the total number of words, you’re also going to record the time it took for them to read it and record it on your sheet. You’re also going to record which time was the smoothest and which time had least number of errors. After you and your partner have each read 3 times, I want you to discuss the answers to the questions on the Reader Response Form and write your answers down individually. When you have finished all this come see me and I will give you fluency graphs and show you how to put your frog sticker in the right spot on your fluency graphs, so you can monitor your progress.”

    Assess student progress by evaluating answers on the Reading Response Form and determining each student’s WPM using the formula (words x 60 / seconds) and mark their progress with a frog sticker on their fluency chart. Make sure to update each student’s fluency charts to set goals for each student.

     

    Partner Reading Progress Checklist

    Total # of words in chapter: ______

    Reader: ___________________________

    Checker: __________________________

    1: ___ Words in ___ seconds

    2: ___ Words in ___ seconds

    3: ___ Words in ___ seconds

    Which turn sounded the smoothest? _______

    Which turn had the least number of errors? ______

    Reader Response Form

    Name ________________________________

    Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, answer each question with at least one complete sentence.

    1. Why does Frog want Toad to wake up?

    2. How does Frog try to wake up Toad?

    3. Why does Toad not want to get out of bed?

    4. If you had to get toad up, what would you do to try and get him out of bed?

References:

Book:

  • Lobel, Arnold. (1970). Frog and Toad Are Friends. New York: Harper Collins.

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