Growing Independence and Fluency

Becoming Fluent With Amelia Bedelia on Her First Day of School

Growing Fluency

Rationale:

In order to increase fluency, student should focus on reading faster and effortlessly. Reading fluency is the ability to read with automatic word recognition. As fluency increases, their comprehension grows. In return, they will learn to enjoy reading even more. The more time the student practices, the faster they will be able to read and the best way to do this is by repeated reading. Additionally, the students’ comprehension will increase as well. This lesson will allow the students to use crosschecking during repeated readings of decodable text in order to gain fluency and independence in repeated and timed reading.

Materials:

· Pencils

· Timer/stopwatch for each pair

· Class set of Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School by Herman Parrish

· Sample sentences on white board for teacher to model

· Peer Fluency Sheet (one for each student)

· Reading Rate forms for teacher

· Teacher rubric

Procedures:

1. Introduction: “Today we are going to become more fluent readers! What does it mean to be a fluent reader? A fluent reader is someone who is able to read very quickly and smoothly because they recognize the words. When we read smoother, we are able to understand the book more and we will also have more fun reading!”

2. Say: “Now lets look at a sentence written on the board: Tim made a lot of popcorn. Everyone put your listening ears on. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence aloud to you. T-t-t, /i/-/i/-/i/, m-m-m, Tim made a lot of p-/o/-p-c-/o/-n, Tim made a lot of popcon. Oh, that doesn't make sense. I think it may be popcorn instead. Tim made a lot of popcorn. In order to figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word popcorn said, popcon. I realized that it did not make sense, right? So, I went back to reread so I could figure out what the correct word is. This is called crosschecking!

I wasn’t reading like a fluent reader because I had to decode the words in the sentence. Here's how a fluent reader would read that sentence: Tim made a lot of popcorn. I read the sentence quick and easy. It was much easier to understand!

Now grab a partner. With your partner practice reading the second sentence on the board. I could see the fish below the water! Read it aloud to one another until you read fluently.

3. Say: Now that I have read the sentence Tim ate the last cupcake! What did I get stuck on? In order to figure out how to read the hard word, I had to reread the sentence, and focus on my pronunciation. I knew at did not sound correct. I took a moment and remembered that a_e says /A/. Then after I corrected my mistakes, I went back and re-read the sentence. I realized that it actually made sense when I said ate. Remember, this strategy I used is called crosschecking.

4. Say: Today, we are going to read Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School in order to practice our fluency. In this story, Amelia Bedelia is so excited for her first day of school and knows that she will love everything about it! She cannot think of anything better. Do you think Amelia Bedelia will love school as much as she hopes? Let’s read to find out if she loves school at the end of the day!

5. ***Write the directions on the white board

Say:

- Now, I want you to face your reading partner. Then you need to go to you designated spots out around the room. While one buddy goes and picks out a place to sit in the room, the other buddy will come up here and get two Partner Reading Progress check-list. Once the other buddy has claimed a reading area, count all the words in the first chapter of Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School.

- Each partner is going to take turns reading parts of chapter 1 aloud to one another three times each. While one partner reads, the other will uses a stopwatch to time them. Make sure that each partner notes all of the mistakes your partner makes when they are reading aloud by marking a tally.

reader's response questions.

· How did Amelia Bedelia hop onto the bus?

· What game did Amelia Bedelia think she was playing with her name “tag”?

· What happened with Amelia Bedelia’s desk?

Say: When you are finished, turn in checklist and return to you desk. Answer these three questions and turn them in.

6.Assessment: I will review each students’ checklist and answers to the questions. Each student will have submitted these questions, after they finish. I will then complete tI will use the following rubric to grade their assignments.

Assessment Rubric:

Student Name:

Date:

Answers accurate/ appropriate ___/2

Responded to comprehension questions ___/3

Improved fluency ___/2

Improved accuracy ___/2

Completed Partner Progress form ___/1

Total ___/10

Resources:

Parrish, Herman. Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School. 2011. Greenwillow Books

Jessica Sullivan, First Day of School With Amelia Bedelia and Fluency http://jps0033.wixsite.com/jpsullivanportfolio/growing-independence-and-fluency

Return to Cultivations: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/cultivations.html

Ms. Shepherd