Rationale: In this lesson, full alphabetic (grade 2) readers will gain fluency and independent reading skills through a series of individual and group activities. Fluency is reading where nearly all words are sight vocabulary and has results in speed and expression. Students will practice continued automatic word recognition, through a repeated reading activity. These literary goals are important because fluency allows faster, smoother, more expressive, and silent reading, and which encourages voluntary, avid reading.
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(in no particular order):
· Fry Phrases Slides (use through projector or smartboard)
· Stickers for motivation
· “I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words” by Michael Frith (however many copies= ½ of class attendance)
· Repeated reading peer worksheet (printed off)
· I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words GAME
o Printed and laminated slides/flashcards
o Vessel to hold the cards
o Bone trinkets (can buy at a craft or Halloween store)
o Additional option, have a stuffed puppy dog toy
o Primary paper and pencils
· Classroom library of unpredictable decodable readers for SSR
Procedure:
1. To begin the lesson, give an intro on fluency: 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.”Next, review with students on how to model decoding, crosschecking, and rereading. 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 fluency by writing a sentence, I took my dog on a walk in the park., and say, “Now I am going to read a sentence on the board, and I want you all to listen to how I am reading. I /t//oo//k/ took my /d/ /o/ /g/ dog on a /w/ /a/ /k/wak in the /p/ /a/ /r/ /k/. I took my dog on a wak in the park? OH! I took my dog on a walk in the park! 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, walk, I was able to figure out that 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.” Give them a worksheet with 2-3 more sample sentences and have them practice their fluency reading it to themselves at their desk. Walk around and monitor their progress and reward good reading with sticker reward system. Sample sentence examples: “This dog is too fluffy to give a short bath.” “My dog runs around the park with a ball.”
a. Implementing nametag sticker reward system (original idea- no reference needed): on every desk, students have a nametag taped down. Throughout every class, stickers are granted to students who excel in class activities, generate acts of kindness, etc. The stickers are collected atop their nametags. At the end of each week or month, students with highest amounts of stickers receive opportunity to choose from a prize box.
2. Next, gather children for a read-aloud of Michael Frith’s “I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words.” Leave the last half of the book unread and prior to beginning, offer a book-talk: “This book is going to teach us so many fun and different words! In this story a man who owns a dog begins to train and teach him commands. Who hear has a puppy dog? Do you ever tell it to sit, speak, or roll over? What other commands do pet owners ask of their dogs? To fetch- that’s a great answer! Well in this story, Mr. Smith teaches his dog all sorts of crazy commands that we don’t normally teach lots of dogs.” Begin reading the book to give the students a glimpse of the proper cadence.
3. Divide students into pairs to read the book. They will practice reading a book three times noting how many words they can read each time. The students will take turns being the reader and the listeners and as the teacher you will explain what the listeners should be actively listening for. Pass out the peer reading worksheets to the students and let them begin.
4. Once the pairs have all gone through their reading at least twice each, introduce the book-related game. The “I’ll teach my dog 100 words” game will help the students to receive an even stronger grasp on fluency of the words they just read in the story. Print off the slides and flashcards and place the word printed cards into a box/bin/cup. “Ok everyone, I have a surprise! I want to introduce you all to our new class puppy!! (The stuffed animal) To play with the puppy, everyone needs to sit in a circle together. I have a cup here full of a bunch of dog commands from the story that I am confident that you all know very well now. I want to see who can command our class puppy (the stuffed animal) well by reading the word/command off the card to him! What should we name our puppy? Spot, it is! Okay- when you pull a card out of the cup you need to try to read the command that’s written on it to Spot, if you’re having trouble reading it you’ll pass the card to the person next to you, and we’ll keep passing it until Spot learns his command! When you read a command correctly, you get to keep that card in your very own special pile. Now, hidden in this cup I have some dog bones. If someone pulls out a bone, we all are going to take a Bone Break! You’ll pick out a card from your own pile to practice writing over and over until our bone break is done! Who’s ready to train Spot to be a good boy? Let’s start.”
5. 1. For an assessment, after collecting the fluency checklists, assess each student’s fluency by having them read the story. Use this formula to assess their words per minute: (number of words X 60) / seconds. Send each student back to their desk to complete comprehension questions:
a. What was Mr. Smith’s goal with his new puppy?
b. How did Mr. Smith keep track of the number of commands the dog learned?
c. Name 3 of the commands the dog learned.
d. What happened after the dog learned all of the commands?
2. With time remaining in the day, allow for SSR (sustained silent reading), encourage children to read and reread for greater comprehension and fluency. leaving time for casual discussion about the reading that took place.
References:
Fry phrases lesson introduction: Fry Phrases: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fry-Sight-Word-Phrases-1st-100-Google-Slides-5527360?st=aa7efb924d7ea757bc3c9ba448b63645
Peer worksheet: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/lessons/fluency/
Sight words slides and game: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Words-Ill-Teach-My-Dog-100-Words-3267377?st=c952b73310616583922eade4e5980f2c
Lesson Design source: