Rationale

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In order to have an interesting and meaningful learning experience, students must be able to read fluently. When students are able to read fluently they are able to understand the meaning of the text and therefore build reading comprehension. Fluent readers have a large sight word vocabulary so they recognize most words automatically and effortlessly. This lesson will help students become fluent readers and make nearly all words sight word vocabulary by using strategies such as decoding, cross-checking, mental marking, and re-reading. This in turn will allow students to read text quickly, effortlessly, and with animation so the text can come to life. 

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Materials

Book: Days with Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

Stopwatch for each pair of students and teacher

Peer checklist for each student

Time sheet for each student

Fluency chart to track words per minute (for teacher but have enough to complete for each student)

Reading Comprehension Worksheet

White board and expo markers

Pencil and paper

Cover up critter

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Procedure

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Say: “Today we are going to work on reading fluently! Can anyone tell me what it means to read fluently?” Wait for student responses. “Fluent readers can recognize words automatically so they can read smoothly, quickly, and with expression. Being a fluent reader makes reading so fun because it allows us to understand what we are reading.”

 

Say: “Alright everyone, I want us all to look at the sentence on the board.” Toad ran across the meadow. (Read by separating each sound) “I am going to read this sentence and I want you all to listen very closely. TTTTooaadd (toad) rrrraann (ran) aaccrroosss (across) the (the) mmmeaaddooww (meadow). Now, was it easy or difficult for you to understand that sentence?” Wait for student responses “Correct, it was not easy to understand.” 

 

Say: “When I get stuck on a word, I will try my best to finish the sentence. If I am still stuck on that word, I will use my cover up critter by covering the word and slowly uncovering each letter so I can sound it out. If we think back to the sentence I read I got stuck on the word meadow. (Model with meadow) Oh, that word is meadow, that makes sense! (Read the following sentence with more fluency) “Toad ran across the meadow! I figured this out by cross checking and rereading. Now that I know the correct way to read the word I am going to put it in a special place in my brain so I can remember it next time.” Re-read the sentence but with more animation this time. “Now I can read the sentence fluently and even have fun doing it!”

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[Give an engaging book talk about Frog and Toad- The Kite] Say: “In this story we are going to follow Frog and Toad on an adventure! Frog and Toad decide to go to a meadow and try to fly a kite, but the kite does not want to fly! We will have to read to find out if they can get the kite to fly. I am going to read the story out loud to you all, and I want you to follow along with me. I am going to read as fluently and expressively as I can.”

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Assign a partner to each student, preferably a shoulder partner.  Give each pair the text, a timer, two reading time sheets, and two fluency checklists. “Now that we all have partners, we are going to do repeated readings to improve our fluency. So I want you both to use the timers I passed out, a copy of Frog and Toad- The Kite, a reading rate chart, and a fluency rate checklist so you can practice repeated reading to build your fluency. In your pairs, one of you will read while the other uses the timer. Only begin reading when your partner tells you to and read the entire story. Once you have finished reading, the person that was using the timer will need to make sure to record their partner's time on the time sheet, complete the fluency checklist, and how many words their partner missed. You will each read three times and record three times. You will only read the first three pages for this activity. Remember this is not a race, this is to help you improve and it will test to see if your fluency has improved through the readings.

 

Say: “Now that everyone has finished our fluency activity you are going to answer the questions on the worksheet. While you do this, I will call you up one at a time to read to me.”

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Assessment: Students assess each other by filling out the fluency checklist and the time sheet. The teacher then further assesses each student by having them come to her desk to read the first three pages of the story and will use the fluency formula to determine words per minute: (wordsx60)/ seconds. 

• Reading Comprehension Worksheet

  • Name:

    • Where were Frog and Toad?

    • Who told Toad to give up?

    • Did the kite fly on the first try?

• Time Sheet:

  • Name:

    • 1st Reading:

    • 2nd Reading:

    • 3rd Reading:

• Fluency Checklist:

  • My name:

  • Partner’s name:

  • I noticed that my partner….

  • After second reading…. 

    • Read faster: yes or no   Read smoother: yes or no   Read with more expression:  yes or no

  • After third reading….

    • Read faster: yes or no   Read smoother: yes or no   Read with more expression:  yes or no

• Fluency Chart for teacher:  wordsx60/seconds=words per minute

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

 

References 

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Lobel, A. (2008). Days with Frog and Toad. Harper Collins. 

Webb, E. (n.d.). Ms. Frizzle and Fluency. Mysite. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://emmawebbbaton.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-and-fluency-de

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