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Growing Independence and Flunecy Lesson Design

Reaching for the Moon with Flunecy

By: Fannon Curtis

 

Rationale: To have a student that can read fluently means that they are able to recognize words quickly, accurately and automatically. They are no longer relying on decoding, but instead they are using their sight words. Fluency is crucial for readers because it enables them to read faster, smoother, with more expression and they are able to comprehend the reading, making it more enjoyable. By practicing in repeated readings, student’s fluency and speed will improve. Fluency enables the students to enjoy reading, since they will become less frustrated. During this lesson the students will crosscheck throughout their repeated reading of Magic Tree House: Midnight on the Mood. This lesson strives to improve the student’s fluency and independence through repeated and timed reading.

 

Materials: The book Magic Tree House: Midnight on the Moon (a copy for each child), dry erase board, dry erase marker, stopwatch for each partner, Partner Reading Progress checklist (see below), Reader Response questions (see below).

 

Procedure:

  • Say: We want to become fantastic readers. In order to do that, we need to read fluently. This takes a lot of practice, but once we become fluent readers we will love to read even more! When we are fluent we wont have to stop and try to read every word. If someone is a fluent reader they can read at steady and smooth rate, and it does not sound choppy. We will be able to learn this together!

  • Say: Now I want you guys to tell me if I am reading this sentence fluent or not. “Tttttttthhhheeee ppppiiillll, wait I meant pile, wwwwaaassss as tttaallll as the skkiii. The pile was as tall as the sky.” Now I will reread the sentence so I can make sure that I comprehended all the words. “The pile was as tall as the sky!” Did you hear how I did not sound out any of the words? I said the sentence smoothly and it was easy to understand.

  • Say: Since I read the sentence, “The pile was as tall as the sky”, can someone tell me what I struggled with? In order to figure out the hard words I had to reread the sentence, and not the correspondence and pronunciation. I heard that pill and ski were not correct. I soon realized that i_e says /I/ in pile and y at the end of words say /I/. Once I fixed my mistakes, I reread the sentence and it made more sense with pile and sky. This is called crosschecking. The words pile and sky became sight words for me, since I had to correct myself when I read it the first time. It is important to make sight words, because they enable us to read more fluently.

  • Say: Today we are going to read a part of Magic Tree House: Midnight on the Mood. We are going to read it so that we work on our fluency. Book talk: Jack and Annie go on an adventure to the moon! They are in the future, and have to find the last “M” thing before their oxygen runs out! Will they be able to do it before they are trapped in space with no oxygen? You will have to read to find out. Write the directions on the board, so that all of your students could see it. When you write it, explain what they will be doing.

  • Say: It is time to get with your reading partner, and go to your designated reading area in the classroom. I want one partner to walk to the reading area, and the other partner to come to the front and pick up two Partner Reading Progress checklists. Together, I would like for you to count off how many words are on first two pages of chapter one in Magic Tree House: Midnight on the Mood. We are not reading the prologue so don’t count those words. Each partner will take turns reading the book aloud to one another. Each person should read the two pages three times. When one partner is reading, the other will use a stopwatch to record the time. Make sure to make a tally for each mistake that your partner makes when they are reading aloud, (method will be explained on the white board). Once you finish reading we are going to do a math problem. We are going to use subtraction. We will take the total number of words minus the number of tally mistakes. Remember we will have to do this three times. Now we will see the progress of each student. We will do so by answering the questions on the progress form. This will show which reading was the fastest and had the least amount of errors.

  • Say: “After reading you are allowed to answer the reader’s response questions: Why didn’t Jack want to go to the tree house? What did Annie say would help them see in the dark? What are the three special things they’ve found so far?” The students will go back to their desks and write the answers to these questions on a piece of paper. Once they are done with that, they will turn it in. When the answers and checklists are both turned in, I will hand out a fluency graph. This graph will have a Jack and Annie rising up to get to the moon. I will put Jack and Annie on the corresponding number of words the students read per minute. I will encourage students to continue practicing their reading by moving their individual Jack and Annie’s up the scale, in order for them to make it to the moon. Each time they read, the students should increase their words per minute.

 

Assessment: I will review each student’s responses to the reading response questions. Once they are done, each student will turn these questions in. I will fill out the rubric that is attached, while evaluating their work.

 

Partner Reading Progress Checklist

 

Name: ______________ Evaluator: ________________ Date: ____________

 

I noticed that my partner: (put an X in the blank)                                                 

                                                                        After 2nd    After 3rd

Read Faster                                                     ______      ______

Read Smoother                                                ______      ______

Read with Expression                                     ______      ______

Remembered more words                              ______      ______

 

Reader Response Questions

  • Why didn’t Jack want to go to the tree house?

  • What did Annie say would help them see in the dark?

  • What are the three special things they have found so far?

 

References:

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