Growing Independence and Fluency

Hop Aboard the Fluency Bus!

Growing Independence and Fluency Design

Rationale:

In order to be excellent readers, students must be fluent readers! When students are fluent readers, they are able to recognize words automatically and effortlessly! When students reach this point in their reading, they will be able to understand the meaning behind a text, which will lead them into reading comprehension. This lesson is designed to teach fluency by having students do repeated readings and timed readings. After this lesson, students should be able to read texts quickly, effortlessly and with expression!

Materials:

“Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” By Mo Willems (Class Set)
White Board and Markers (One for each student.)
Fluency Chart
Stopwatch (One per pair of students.)
Reader Response Form

Procedures:

Say: “Good morning class! In order to become excellent readers, we must be able to read fluently! Reading fluently allows us to read smoothly and quickly. This means we won’t have to sound out each word! When we become fluent readers, we can enjoy the books we are reading much more because we can focus on the story and not the individual words!”
Say (Model): “I am going to read a short passage two times. When I am done, we will take a vote on which one sounded better!” Read Choppily: “Aaa-fff-ttt-eeerrr, aaff-ttteeer, after the ppp-aaa-rrr-ttt-yyy, ppp-aarr-ttyy, party I www-eee-nnn-ttt, wweenn-ttt, went hhh-ooo-mmm-eee, hoo-mm, hom.” (Come back after to change hom to home, known by crosschecking.) Read smoothly: “Let me try and read this passage again. After the party, I went home.” (Ask for a show of hands) “Who liked listening to the first reading? What about the second? Why did the second one sound better to you?” (Wait for student response.) “Right! The second time sounded better because I didn’t have to stop to sound our words!”
Say: “Did you notice that I crosschecked when I couldn’t get a word? I went ahead and finished the sentence to see if I could figure out the word with silent e. The first time I read the word, I pronounced it how it looked like it should’ve sounded, but it didn't sound like a real word. When I finished the sentence, I could tell what the word was. It was home instead of hom.”
Say: “Let's try reading the two sentences that I have written on the board together. I see a couple of tough new words in the sentence. (Choral read): “My mother made some yummy cookies. We ate them in the garden.” “I heard some of you having trouble reading the words cookies and ate, but I did hear you all read on to the end of the sentence to figure out those words! The word cookies has oo in the middle of it and we know oo together sounds like oooo like a ghost! In the word ate, we have a_e in it and we know a_e makes the long /A/ sound. Let's all read these two sentences together again now, thinking about these special spellings as we read.”
Say: “Today we are going to read about a silly pigeon who wants to drive the bus. The bus driver has to leave for a second and he tells us not to the let the pigeon drive the bus! Let’s read the first two pages and see what the pigeon does!”
(Write directions on white board for students to look at. As you write it out, explain directions to students.) Say: “Now we are going to get in pairs! Partner up with a reading buddy! One buddy come up to the front and get two copies of the book, a reading response questions form, a fluency chart, and a stopwatch. The other buddy needs to find a place to read and count up all the words after the two pages that we read and will wrote the total numbers of words at the top of their fluency chart. You and your partner will each read the book 3 times. One partner will read, and the other partner will be timing the reading with the stopwatch. If you are the partner that is not reading, you need to paying close attention to the mistakes your buddy makes. For every mistake, make a tally. (Show tally method on the board.) After you have read each time, you will do a subtraction problem to calculate fluency. Take the total number of words and subtract the number of tallies for each reading. Your answer will read ‘___ words in ____ minutes.’ When you finish timing, each other discuss your answers to the reading response questions. Each of you will write your answers in complete sentences back at your desk and turn those and your fluency charts into me.”

Reader Response Form:

What did the bus driver tell us not to do?
Who did the pigeon say he knows that drives a bus all the time?
What was the pigeon’s attitude towards driving the bus?
Who is the pigeon talking to throughout the book?

Fluency Checklist:

Title of the Book: _______________________________

Students Name: _______________ Date: ____________

Partner’s Name: _________________________________

After 2nd Reading: After 3rd Reading:

______________ _______________ Remembered more words.

______________ _______________ Read faster.

______________ _______________ Read Smoother

______________ _______________ Read with expression.

(Words x 60)/seconds= WPM

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

Resources:

Adapted from: https://lolomakayla99.wixsite.com/mysite/fluency-with-junie-b

Book: Dont Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus

Willems, Mo author. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. New York :Hyperion Books for Children, 2003.

Return to Insights Index

KM