Procedure:

1. First, the teacher will explain the concept of fluency to the class. Say: “We have been working so hard on our reading, and today we are going to work hard on becoming fantastic, fluent readers. Does anyone know what it means to be a fluent reader? Raise your hand if you think you can tell me. (Allow students to respond) “A fluent reader is someone who can look at words and know what they are automatically, they do not even have stop and decode words in order to figure them out. Everybody wants to become a fluent reader because fluent readers understand stories much better and are able to make them more exciting for people who listen to them read. Reading becomes more fun!”

 

2. Now, the teacher will review skills for decoding and crosschecking. (Write sentence on board) Say: “Before we try and become fluent readers, we need to review our reading skills of decoding and crosschecking. When we come across a word, we don’t know, we have to decode it. Now let’s look at a sentence written on the board. (Sentence: We ate cookies together!) I need everyone to put their listening ears on, okay? When we are reading this sentence and we come across a word we don’t know, we can use our coverup critter to help us to decode the word. Let’s try it: If we are reading the word together, we can use our coverup critter and cover up all of the letters except for t. /t/…/t/…/t/. Now we can uncover o. /o/…/o/…/o/. So, we have /t//o/. We can get decoding: /t//o//g//e//th//er/. “We ate cookies /t//o//g//e//th//er/?” Oh! “We ate cookies together!” So, when we crosscheck, we can use the sentence and the sounds to identify a word. Fluent readers use these skills to better learn words so that they can read more words automatically.”

 

3. Now, the teacher will model fluent and non-fluent reading. Say: “Next, we are going to look at the difference between fluent and non-fluent reading. (Have sentence example on the board) If I was reading this this sentence “May I please have a glass of milk?” A non-fluent reader would read it something like this: (read sentence very slowly, without expression, sluggishly decoding words and adding in an error or two in your decoding. Use crosschecking to solve problems). Readers that are not yet fluent might have to decode and crosscheck a few words that they don’t know yet like I demonstrated.  They would also read in a very normal, monotone voice without any expression. When you are reading this way, it is harder to understand the message of the story. Sometimes you have to practice several times before you are fluent. I might read the sentence again and improve, but it still might not be fluent reading: (read the sentence again, still slow and without expression, but this time get all of the words right). I got all of the words right without decoding, but I am still not reading with expression and I am a bit slow. Let’s try again one more time and see if I can read this sentence fluently: (read sentence fluently at a normal speed, getting all words correct, and adding expression). Wow! Now that is fluent reading. It is much easier to understand someone’s reading when they are reading fluently, isn’t it? I’m going to read the sentence fluently one more time, and I want you to tell me why my reading is better than the first two times that I read the sentence. (call on students and discuss fluent reading one more time).”

 

4. Now, the teacher will give a book talk and instruct the class to read silently. Say: “Now, we are going to practice being fluent readers by reading the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. This is one of my favorite stories about a cute, little, hungry mouse who is given a cookie. When he gets his cookie, he keeps asking for more things he wants to go with his cookie. Surely this tiny creature will not ask for too much, right? Well, we will have to read the story to find out!”

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5. After the students read silently, the teacher will then pair them up with partners. Say: “You and your partner will now get a stopwatch, a copy of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, a reading rate chart, a fluency checklist, and a pencil. You and your partner are each going to read the story three times. You will take turns being the reader and being the timer. The timer will time the reading, mark any words that they reader doesn’t know, and record the times on their reading chart. The reader will reread the story, trying to become a more fluent reader each time. When it is your job to be the timer, be sure that you hit start as soon as your partner starts to read and hit stop as soon as they are done reading. After your partner has finished reading each time, you should fill out the fluency reading checklist. Filling these charts out will help your partner determine what aspects of their fluency are improving and help them to think about what they need to work on. After each reading, I want you to give your reading partner a special compliment about how their reading improved. You can complement your partner on their speed, expression, smoothness, or their ability to remember the hard words from before, so pay attention to their reading. Before we begin, I will go through how to fill out the chart and show you how the stop watch works. (Model the use of the chart and stopwatch). If you have any questions while you are working, just raise your hand. I will be walking around to provide help when needed.”

 

6. Everyone should then return to their seats and make sure their fluency charts are complete. The teacher should lead the class in computing their words per minute rate with the formula [words correct x 60/seconds total]. They should jot these rates on their reading tracker chart. When everyone is finished the teacher will collect all of the fluency checklists and use them to assess where students stand on fluency. Each student can keep their reading tracker chart so that they can continue to work towards their goal. 

 

7. Finally, the students will answer some reading comprehension response questions about the book to measure their comprehension of the reading.

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READING COMPREHENSION RESPONSE QUESTIONS:

 

1. Why do you think the mouse asked for so many things after getting a cookie?

2. What made the mouse want a straw?

3. What do you think the mouse will ask for next?

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References:

Reading Genie: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

Chambliss, Miranda. Making Friends with Fluency. Growing Independence and Fluency Design. https://mkc0040.wixsite.com/mirandachambliss/growing-fluency-design

Lee, Hannah. Nothing Fishy about Fluency. Growing Independence and Fluency Design. https://hml0015.wixsite.com/mysite-2/growing-independence-and-fluency

Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. 1997.

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Click here for a link to the Reading Genie's Communication Index.

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