Fluency with a Mouse
Rationale: In order to have a meaningful reading experience through understanding literature, students must be fluent readers. Fluent reading is reading to the point of recognizing words automatically and effortlessly. When students reach this point, they will be able to understand the meaning behind a text, which will help lead them to reading comprehension. This particular lesson is designed to teach fluency by having students repeat reading and reading within a time limit. After this lesson, students should be able to read texts quickly, effortlessly, and with expression that brings the texts to life, which will ultimately improve fluency.
Materials: Sentence Strip , “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” by Laura Numeroff, Pencils, Paper, Timesheets, Stopwatches, Coverup Critters, Fluency Checklist
Procedures:
1. Begin the lesson by saying, “Alright class, today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers. We know that our goal is to become fluent readers, but what does that mean? What do you think of when I say a fluent reader?” Wait for student’s responses. “Fluent readers are able to read quickly, smoothly, and with expression because they recognize words automatically. This also helps us to understand what we are reading because we don’t have to stop and make sense of each word. This makes reading so much more fun!”
2. Display the sentence strip reading, “My pet mouse loves cookies” on the board for the students to see. Say: “Alright, everyone! Listen to how I read this sentence you see on the board. (Read by separating each sound). “My p-e-e-t m-ou-ou-ou-s-s-e-e l-o-o-o-o-v-v-v-e-e-s-s-s c-o-o-o-k-k-ie-ie-ie-s-s-s. Was that easy or difficult to understand? *Wait for the student’s responses.* That’s right, it was not easy to understand what I was saying. Let me try reading this sentence again. Read the sentence slightly faster and slightly more fluent. This was a little better, right? I still did not get the full message from the sentence. Let me try once more! *Now read the sentence quickly, smoothly, fluently, and expressively.* My pet mouse loved cookies. It makes a lot more sense now, right? Does everyone see how I reread the sentence a few times before I could understand what it meant? Which reading did all of you follow and understand the easiest? *Wait for the student’s responses.* That is exactly why it is so important that we learn to become fluent readers. Today our goal is to learn how to do just that!”
3. Model: Say: “Sometimes we come across words that are a little hard for us to read. If I am reading and I come across the word ‘leap’ *write word on the board* and I don’t know it, I would take out my cover-up critter to help me figure it out by uncovering the word sound by sound. We start with the vowel and use our cover-up critter to cover all of the other letters *cover all letters except ea*. I see the two vowels e and a and I know together ea = /E/. Now I am going to look at the letters before the vowel and that’s the letter l = /l/. Then I put the l and the ea together to get /l/ /E/. Next, I uncover the letter that is left over: p. I know p = /p/. Now I blend all of it together to get /l/ /E/ /p/… ‘leap’! So, when you get stuck on a word, remember to use your cover-up critter to sound out the word. Not too hard, right?”
4. Give an engaging book talk about “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”. Say: “There is a mouse in this book who absolutely loves cookies. The mouse eats a yummy cookie, and while the eating cookie he thinks of things that he wants more of. Lets read the book to figure out what all the mouse wants!”
5. Say: “You will now be doing repeated reading with an assigned partner. We do repeated readings because they will help us become more fluent readers. The more we read a story, the better we will be able to read that story. I will read the beginning out loud, and make sure you are following along with me. I will read fluently and expressively, so pay close attention to the way I read the story, so you can try and do the same.” *Read the first 3 pages aloud*
6. Divide the class into reading pairs. Give each pair a copy of the book, a timer, a fluency checklist, a pencil, and a reading time sheet.
7. Once students are ready to go, give instructions. Say: “With your partner, one of you will read first, and the other will record. You all may decide who goes first. When it is your turn to read, you will begin when your partner tells you to. Read the entire book and your partner will time you. This is not a race, so do not try to go faster than your classmates so you “win.” This exercise is meant to help each of you improve your fluency so that you can read faster and more smoothly, not so that you can read faster than your partner. After you have read, and your partner has recorded your time, you will become the recorder and your partner will read. When you are the recorder, tell your partner when to begin reading. When you say “begin,” you will start the timer. When your partner has finished the book, stop the stopwatch. Record their time on the time sheet. Fill out the fluency checklist based on how your partner did. Once you have filled out both forms, switch forms again. Do this process three time each, so you each read the book three times through and you each record the other three times. This will test to see if your fluency has improved through each of the readings.”
8. While students are doing their reading, walk around to monitor progress. You can offer some help if needed but avoid giving too much help the students should learn to do it on their own.
Assessment: Students assess each other by filling out the fluency checklist and the time sheet. The teacher assess each student by using the fluency formula to determine words per minute: (wordsx60)/ seconds. Also, ask comprehension questions while walking around the classroom. “why do you think the mouse wants so many things? What made the mouse want ______? What do you think the mouse will ask for next?” Assign each student to write one complete paragraph describing the story in their own words. This helps to assess the level at which each student is comprehending the lesson.
Fluency Checklist:
I noticed that my partner….
After 2ndReading…
After 3rdReading…
My partner remembered more words - yes or no
My partner read faster - yes or no
My partner read smoother - yes or no
My partner read with expression - yes or no
Reading Record Time Sheet:
Name: __________________
Date: ___________________
1stReading: _______________
2ndReading: _______________
3rdReading: _______________
Reference: https://moultonkaylae.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-and-fluency-de- Kayla Moulton, If You Give A Pig Fluency
Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.
