Gliding like a Dragon Towards Fluency

Rationale: Once students have learned phonics, the decoding instruction essential for reading, students must learn to read for comprehension. The essential tool for reading comprehension is fluency. When children can read fluently, it means that they are reading effortlessly and automatically. Once a young reader has developed fluency, they are able to expand their reading capabilities and read more intricate and dazzling tales. The best way to build fluency in reading is through rereading, decoding, crosschecking, and mental marking. This lesson is designed such that students utilize each of these skills with the main emphasis on rereading texts. After this lesson, students should be comprehending more of the text, reading more smoothly and swiftly, and reading with more expression. In this lesson, students will read and reread a text with their peers, as well as their teacher to gain fluency, comprehension, and independence in reading.

Materials:

Pencils, for students without one
Dry erase markers, whiteboard with sample sentence for modeling purposes, “My family went on a trip to the beach.”
Stopwatch, one for each pair of peer readers
Fluency graph for tracking student’s words per minute, one for each child
Fluency checklist with portion for peer to fill out and portion for teacher to fill out, one for each child
Reading comprehension questions for silent reading and reflection
Class set of Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott

Procedures:

Explain: Say: Now that we have learned the code for reading words, we need to become more fluent readers. Does anyone know what fluent reading means? [take responses] Right, fluent reading means reading effortlessly and automatically; the words on the page are words that I know as soon as I read them, and I can read them with ease. In order to become more fluent readers, we need to read, and reread, and reread again, so that the words become words that we have ownership of and can read easily. Once we become fluent readers, we can build up personal libraries that are more and more difficult, until there aren’t books that are too hard and we can read anything.
Review: Say: So, when we read in class and on our own, what are some ways that we know that can help ourselves to read better? [Wait for responses, correct answers: decode, crosscheck, mental mark, and reread to remember the story.] That’s right, whenever we are reading and we start to struggle with a word, we want to decode the word as accurately as possible, then we want to crosscheck the word and make sure it fits, mental mark it to remember later, and, lastly, we want to reread the sentence to keep it fresh in our memory and study that word one more time before we move on.
Model: Say: Now I am going to read a sentence on the board, and I want you all to listen to how I am reading. [Write sample sentence, “My family went on a trip to the beach,” on the board.] My /fam/-/ily/ family went on a /tr/-/I/-/I/-/p/ tripe to the /b/-/e/-/e/-/ch/ bech. My family went on a tripe to the bech? My family went on a tripe to the /b/-/ea/-/ch/. Oh! My family went on a trip to the beach! When I read the sentence testing out each of the words, did that sound like fluent reading? No! I was decoding some of those words sound by sound and it took me a really long time. Then, when I read it a second time, did that sound like fluent reading? No, but this time I had decoded the words to the best of my ability and was rereading to crosscheck the words against each other to see if the made sense. Once I got, beach, I was able to figure out that tripe was really trip. With each reread, I crosschecked my decoding and mental marked for more accurate words. After I had reread the sentence several times, I became more fluent. This is why it is so important that we reread over and over again. The more times we reread the more those words become automatic and effortless. Next time I read that sentence, I won’t have to guess at the words, and I will know exactly what it says.
Engaging Booktalk with Connected Text: Since we have been exploring books of non-fiction, I wanted us to read a really wonderful work of fiction. This book is called Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott. We are going to be practicing our fluency by rereading Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. These two chapters open us up to the world of Jaxon. He is a little boy who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He has a mom who works hard to take care of Jaxon, but they are experiencing some trouble with their apartment. Jaxon’s mom has to go to court in order to keep their apartment, so, she has to leave Jaxon with a woman named Ma. Ma is a mysterious old woman who receives an even more mysterious package. Will Jaxon learn what’s in the box? What will he learn about Ma? Let’s read and find out.
Review of New Vocabulary and Self-Help Strategies: Before we begin reading Dragons in a Bag, we need to go over some new vocabulary that is pretty tricky to read. [Write: Madagascar and Mozambique on the board, read the countries to the students.] These two names are of countries in Africa. I wanted to highlight them for you all because we may have never seen them before, and I wanted you all to know a little bit more about them. While you are reading and rereading, make sure that you crosscheck, mental mark, and reread sentences or paragraphs that are tricky. I want this to help you all gain new words and become more fluent readers.
Practice Peer Reading with Connected Text: Say: Okay, now that we are really excited to read the new book and find out all the mysteries, let’s go over how the paired reading will work. [Go over instructions as you are handing out the timer for each pair and checklist for each student.] I want each partner to read the first two chapters of Dragons in a Bag three times. On the first reading of the two chapters, I do not want their partner to time them. Then on the second and third readings, I would like for the partner to time the one who is reading. The person timing should forget the timer while their partner is reading and instead listen to if their partner is remembering more words from the first reading like an elephant, if their partner is reading faster like the cheetah, if their partner is reading more smoothly like the swan, and if their partner is reading more expressively like the monkey. After your partner is finished reading, stop the timer and write down their time for the two chapters; remember, this is only for the second and third reading. Once you have both been the reader and the person timing, I want you to complement each other about how the other did while reading. I will absolutely not tolerate anything that is not uplifting to your partner. We are friends and helpers to one another, so that we can all become better readers. If you need help, raise your hand and I will come around to help. At the end of helping each other read and reread, raise your fluency checklists in the air, and I will come by to collect them. I will call each of you to the round table to show me how well you are reading and chart your progress, so bring your word graph with you. While you are not reading to me, I want you to pull out your reading journal, and answer the following questions: What do you think is in the box from Madagascar? Who is Ma to Jaxon? Do you think Jaxon likes Ma, will their relationship change? Is Jaxon’s mom going to be okay at the court hearing, what do you think will happen? [Write these questions on the board to review from their journal at a later date]
Assessment: After collecting the fluency checklists, assess each student’s fluency by reading all of Chapter 1 at the round table. Use this formula to assess their words per minute: (number of words X 60) / seconds. After you have their words per minute, use their graph to chart their growth. Send each student back to their desk to continue reading Dragons in a Bag; encourage children to read each chapter at least two times for greater comprehension and fluency.

References:

Elliott, Zetta, Dragons in a Bag, New York, Yearling, 2018, pp. 150

Gabrielle Endacott, Flying into Fluency,

https://gabrielleendacott.wixsite.com/readinglessons/growing-independence-and-fluency

Sarah Query, Marching for Fluency

https://sarahquery.wixsite.com/lessondesign/growing-independence-and-fluency

Tiffany Taylor, Growing Towards Fluency

https://taylortiffany97.wixsite.com/tiffanytaylor/gf-design