Beatrice Smith

Rationale: For reading to be meaningful to students they must be about to read fluently. To read fluently means to be able to read words swiftly and effortlessly while also comprehending the words. This lesson is designed to help students work on fluency by having them read as many words correctly as they can in a set amount of time. Students will be working on decoding and crosscheck during this lesson as well. 

 

Materials: 

White board

Dry Erase Markers

“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” book by Laura Numeroff

Pencils

Paper

Time sheets

Stopwatches/timers

Cover-up critters

Fluency checklist

Sentence Example

 

Procedures:

1. Say: Today we’re going to start our journey to becoming fluent readers. Can anyone tell me what fluency means? [ Wait for response ] A fluent reader can read quickly and smoothly because they recognize the words on the page automatically. When we read fluently we can understand a story easily because we know what the words are.

2. Say: [ Write “The mouse likes cookies” on the whiteboard ] Let’s practice reading fluency using this sentence (The mouse likes cookies). Listen to me read this sentence and think about if I am reading fluently or not. The m-m-m-o-o-o-u-u-u-s-s-s-e-e-e l-l-l-i-i-i-k-k-k-e-e-e-s-s-s c-c-c-o-o-o-o-k-k-k-i-i-i-e-e-e-s-s-s. I’m going to read that again because I am not sure what some of those words are. The m-m-o-o-u-u-s-s-e-e l-l-i-i-k-k-e-e-s-s c-c-o-o-o-o-k-k-i-i-e-e-s-s. Oh! The mouse likes cookies! Did you guys see how I had to reread the sentence to understand what it said? When we reread a sentence to figure out a word that is called crosschecking. The last time I read the sentence I sounded like a fluent reader.

3. [ Have everyone pull out their cover-up critters ] Say: This is a cover-up critter. It helped us read hard words. Let me show you how to use the cover-up critter to figure out this word. [ Write ‘run’ on the white board ] Watch and listen. [ Uncover letters as you read ] First, I’ll start with the vowel and cover up every other letter. The vowel here is u and I know that u = /u/. Now I’ll uncover the letter before the vowel, for this word it’s the letter r. We know that r = /r/ so now we have /r//u/. Now let’s look at the letter after the vowel, which is n and we know that n = /n/. Now let’s put it all together, /r/-/u/-/n/…’run’.

4. [ Get out “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and give a book talk ] Say: We are going to read about a funny, little mouse. A nice boy gives the mouse a cookie, but then the mouse starts thinking he might need some milk to eat with his cookie. Then he starts thinking he might need something else because he got the milk! Let’s keep reading to see what mouse thinks he needs! 

5. Say: I want everyone to pick a partner to read with today! [ Wait for students to partner up ] I’m going to read the first few pages and I want you to follow along with me. I will read fluently and expressively so pay close attention to the way I read. [ Read pages 1-3 aloud ].

6. Say: Now you and your partner are going to take turns reading to work on reading. While one of your is reading, your partner will record the time. This is not a race, so don’t try to beat your partner’s time. This is meant to help you improve your fluency. When you are finished reading the book, your partner will fill out the fluency checklist and record your time. After you have read three times and your partner has recorded your time for each time you read, it will be your turn to be the recorder and your partner will read to you. Make sure, when you’re the recorder, that you tell your partner when to start reading. When you say “start” you will start the timer and when your partner has finished the book, stop the timer. [ Pass out pencils, fluency charts, and stopwatches ].

7. [ Assessment: Collect materials. Students assess each other by filling out the fluency checklist and the time sheet. The teacher assesses each student by using the fluency formula to determine words per minute: (words x 60)/ seconds. ] Say: Your reading sounds so fluent! Now I want you all to answer a few questions on a sheet of paper to see what we remember about the story we just read. While you guys are writing I am going to call you to my desk one by one so that I can hear you read fluently too. [ ask student comprehension questions when they read with you one on one ] 

 

Comprehension Worksheet:

1. What did the mouse draw? 

2. Why do think he wanted to draw that?

3. Why did the mouse want to take a nap? 

4. How did the mouse’s day end?

 

Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: __________________________________

Student’s Name: ____________   Date___________

Partner's Name: ______________________________

After 2nd Reading       After 3rd Reading

_________                    _________                   Remembered more words

_________                    _________                   Read faster

_________                    _________                   Read smoother

_________                    _________                   Read with expression

 

Reading Record Time Sheet:

Name: ____________

Date: ____________

 1st reading: _________

2nd Reading: ___________

3rd Reading: ____________

 

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

Correct Words Per Minute

 

References: 

Clemons, Michaela “If You Teach a Mouse Fluency” 

https://michaelaerinc.wixsite.com/mysite-3/growing-independence-and-fluency

 

Bolton, Olivia “If You Give a Mouse Fluency”

https://ojb0003.wixsite.com/mysite-2/growing-indepence-and-fluency

 

Book: Numeroff, Laura and Bond, Felicia. If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. New York, New York. Harper & Row Publishers, 1985. Print.

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Image: file:///Users/beatricesmith/Desktop/If%20You%20Give%20A%20Mouse%20A%20Cookie.jpg

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