​

Dancing with Fluency

Ellison Brewster

​

​

​

 

​

 

 

​

Rationale: This lesson’s goal is to help students develop fluency in longer and more advanced texts. Fluent reading is the ability to recognize sight words immediately and read quickly with understanding and expression. Readers should be encouraged and motivated to read and reread decodable words and texts. Throughout this lesson, students will be taught how to become fluent readers themselves and how to decode, crosscheck, reread, and understand. At the end of the lesson, you will have a better idea of the student’s ability to read texts fluently and independently.

 

Materials:

• Stopwatch (one for each pair of children)

• Pencils

• Fluency chart to record student’s words per minute (one for each child)

• Fluency checklist

• Sample sentences

• Reading tracker

• Reader Response Form for comprehension

• Class set of “Peeping Beauty” by Jane Auch

 

Procedures:

1. Explain. Say: “We are going to talk about fluent reading today. Whenever we read fluently, we fully understand what we read and what happened in the story. When we learn to read fluently all the time, we will become better readers and know all of the details of the story! Not only will we become better at understanding, but we will also be able to read with expression. This means that we can change our tone of voice to express different moods and emotions in the book. We can use a loud voice when a character is yelling (speak louder here), but we can also use a quiet voice when a character is whispering (whisper here). Today, we are going to practice being a fluent reader!

2. Say: “Before we start, I am going to show you all how to crosscheck when we see a word that we may not remember. (Model) and say: “Here we see a sentence (show Peeping Beauty sentence ‘Peeping Beauty wanted to be a star’). I may read this as ‘Peeping Beauty /w/a/n/t/e/d/’ and think hmm… that is not right! Let me read the last part of the sentence and see if I can figure it out. ‘to be a star.’ Oh! ‘Peeping Beauty wanted to be a star!” I said a long A, but it is a short a so we must say /a/. Let’s read the full sentence now- ‘Peeping Beauty wanted to be a star’!

3. Model: “Now let’s talk about how a fluent reader reads, but also how a non-fluent reader reads. Our second sentence is ‘The hens were too smart for the fox’. A non-fluent reader would read this as ‘The h-ens where, oh, we-e-re too sss-mmm-aaarrr-t for the fox.’ See how I stretched the words out slowly? I made a mistake and had to correct the word myself. This is what makes it difficult to understand what we are reading when we do not read each word correctly. Let’s try to read it again and see if I can read a little smoother and quicker. ‘The hens w-e-r-e too s-m-a-r-t for the fox’. That was better, but I am still not reading like a fluent reader. Let’s try to read this one more time, (read smoothly and add expression): ‘The hens were too smart for the fox.’ Perfect! That is how a fluent reader would read this sentence. Now let’s all read it together (have each child read with you): ‘The hens were too smart for the fox.’”

4. Say: “To become a fluent reader, we have to practice a lot. When I read our sentence the first time it was very difficult for me to read it quickly and smoothly. I had to take some time to decode the words that I was not familiar with. When I read the sentence the second time, it was a little bit smoother because I had read it one time before. The last time I read it, it was quick and smooth like a fluent reader because I knew each word and added expression when I read. Now that you saw me become a fluent reader, you can too!”

5. Book talk: Say, “This story is about a hen named Peeping Beauty. Her dream is to become a ballet star. Other hens had laughed at her and said that a chicken can never become famous. One day, a fox comes tells her that he will make her a star. The other hens warn Peeping Beauty that the fox is trying to make her a meal. Do you think that Peeping Beauty will fall for the fox’s tricks? Do you think Peeping Beauty will become a star? Let’s read and find out!”

6. Partner Practice: Say: “Now we are going to practice our fluency by working in pairs. Find a partner to read with and then come and get a Partner Progress Checklist, Reader Response Form, a stopwatch, and 2 Peeping Beauty books. I will give you the number of words in a book when you settle in a reading spot, and you can write that number at the top. Each partner is going to read the book aloud three times. When your partner is reading, you are going to time them with your stopwatch. Also mark how many mistakes your partner makes. If they make a mistake, mark it down on your sheet of paper. Always remember that mistakes are not bad! All of us are going to make mistakes when we are building fluency and that is the only way we will get better! When your partner is done reading, subtract the number of words missed from the total word count. Record that number and the amount of time that it took them to read from the stopwatch. After you and your partner have both read the book three times, I want you to talk about to book. Answer the questions on the Reader Response Form and write your answers down on separate sheets.”

7. Assess the students’ progress from evaluating answers on the Reader Response Form and determining each students’ words per minute using the (words x 60 / seconds) formula. Make each individual student’s progress with a sticker on the fluency chart. Update these charts so that the students can watch their progress and see a visual goal.

 

Partner Reading Progress Checklist:

Total # of words in chapter: ______ Reader: __________________

Partner: __________

1: ___ Words in ___ seconds

2: ___ Words in ___ seconds

3: ___ Words in ___ seconds

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) sounded the smoothest? _______

Which turn (1, 2, or 3) had the least number of errors? ______

 

Reader Response Form:

Name _________

Directions: On your own piece of paper, answer these questions with at least one complete sentence.

1. What did Peeping Beauty’s friends think about her dream to be a dancer?

2. What did the fox promise Peeping Beauty he would do for her?

3. Did the fox help Peeping Beauty become a star?

 

References

Auch, Mary Jane. Peeping Beauty. Live Oak Media. (1993) 

 

Cochran, Jesslyn. “Dancing into Fluency”. https://jesslynrachel96.wixsite.com/teachingreading/growing-independence-fluency

 

Holman, Taylor. “Dancing for Fluency”.

https://tnh0015.wixsite.com/mysite-3/growing-independence-fluency

​

Click here to return to the Vistas index.