Fluency, in short, is the ability to read a text correctly and quickly. It is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. "Fluency is also important for motivation; children who find reading laborious tend not to want read! As readers head into upper elementary grades, fluency becomes increasingly important. The volume of reading required in the upper elementary years escalates dramatically. Students whose reading is slow or labored will have trouble meeting the reading demands of their grade level (Reading Rockets, 2015)."
Dinosaur Land
Parts(2): MEAT EATER & PLANT EATER MEAT EATER: (LOOKING AT PLANT EATER) IS THAT ALL YOU EVER EAT? PLANT EATER: WHY NOT? I HAPPEN TO LIKE PLANTS. MEAT EATER: YOU'LL NEVER GROW UP TO BE BIG AND STRONG LIKE ME! PLANT EATER: AT LEAST I DON'T GO AROUND EATING POOR HELPLESS LITTLE ANIMALS. MEAT EATER: YOU WOULD, TOO, IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH A SISSY! PLANT EATER: A SISSY! WATCH IT, BUSTER, OR l'LL THROW THIS TREE AT YOU! MEAT EATER: YOU PLANT EATERS RUIN THE COUNTRYSIDE. PLANT EATER: AT LEAST PLANTS GROW BACK. ANIMALS NEVER DO! MEAT EATER: WELL I HAVE TO EAT, DON'T 1? PLANT EATER: I SUPPOSE. BUT SO DO I. SO STOP PESTERING ME. BESIDES, I'M ON A DIET THIS MONTH. MEAT EATER: YOU SHOULD BE! (LOOKING UPWARDS) LOOK HOW B1G YOU'VE G0TTEN. PLANT EATER: LOOK WHO'S TALKING. I MAY BE TALLER, BUT YOU'RE CERTAINLY B1GGER AROUND THE MIDDLE. MEAT EATER: LUCKY FOR YOU I DON'T LIKE PLANT EATING ANIMALS. PLANT EATER: OH, YEAH? AND LUCKY FOR YOU YOU'RE NOT A PLANT. MEAT EATER: OH, YEAH? (PUFFS OUT CHEST AND STRUTS) PLANT EATER: YEAH! (ALSO PUFFS OUT CHEST) MEAT EATER: ONE OF THESE DAYS . . . (RAISES FIST) PLANT EATER: ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU WON'T BE AROUND ANY MORE! MEAT EATER: WELL, IF I GO, YOU GO TOO! |
Reader's Theater, Oral Script:
For this lesson, students will be paired into partners and given this skit to read aloud and act out. Allow the students a few minutes to decide which character they will be and rehearse their lines. Then, have each group come up to the front of the classroom and present their skits. This is also a great way to incorporate other subject areas. For instance the passage on the right in a skit over dinosaurs being plant and meat eaters. This is a great way for teachers to add a fluency lesson to any topic they are covering. This type of oral reading is called reader's theater. Reader's theater is a strategy for developing reading fluency. It involves children reading through parts in a script. In using this strategy, students do not need to memorize their part; they need only to reread it several times, thus developing their fluency skills (Reading Rockets, 2015). Reader's theater is a practice to promote because it is integrating reading and the learning of words in an engaging manner, while also allowing time for independent reading. "According to research, reader's theater scripts are an excellent way to promote fluency. By using reader's theater scripts, you encourage students to read with expression and to practice important fluency attributes, such as pause, inflection, and intonation (Reading A-Z, 2016)." Reader's theater scripts also promote listening skills as students follow along silently and listen for spoken cues. The scripts provide a great opportunity for student cooperation, and they're a fun break from the usual reading routine. |
![Picture](/uploads/7/6/8/9/76898481/fluency-1.jpg?340)
Shared Reading, Guided Classroom Participation:
Introduce this lesson by discussing the title, cover, author/illustrator, and overall basis of the story to the class. This particular text is a big book with different poems about the weather. This could could be used in any season, and is great for interacting the class with the text. Ask the students to make predictions regarding what they think the story might be about. Then read the story aloud to the students using appropriate inflection and tone. Pause and ask the students to make predictions. Ask brief questions to determine students' comprehension level. Conclude the reading by reserving time for reactions and comments. Ask questions about the story and relate the story to the students' similar experiences. Ask the children to then retell the story in their own words. Lastly, re-read the story and have the class participate in the reading. Use the repetition and flow of the poems, in this story, to engage them and have them pick up the text easily. Time could also then be allowed for independent reading. This would be a great activity for students to form a self assessment and utilize this lesson by emerging with the class and learning from others around them areas they seem to be struggling with.
Shared reading is an interactive reading experience that occurs when students join in or share the reading of a book or other text while guided and supported by a teacher. The teacher explicitly models the skills of proficient readers, including reading with fluency and expression (Reading Rockets, 2015).
Introduce this lesson by discussing the title, cover, author/illustrator, and overall basis of the story to the class. This particular text is a big book with different poems about the weather. This could could be used in any season, and is great for interacting the class with the text. Ask the students to make predictions regarding what they think the story might be about. Then read the story aloud to the students using appropriate inflection and tone. Pause and ask the students to make predictions. Ask brief questions to determine students' comprehension level. Conclude the reading by reserving time for reactions and comments. Ask questions about the story and relate the story to the students' similar experiences. Ask the children to then retell the story in their own words. Lastly, re-read the story and have the class participate in the reading. Use the repetition and flow of the poems, in this story, to engage them and have them pick up the text easily. Time could also then be allowed for independent reading. This would be a great activity for students to form a self assessment and utilize this lesson by emerging with the class and learning from others around them areas they seem to be struggling with.
Shared reading is an interactive reading experience that occurs when students join in or share the reading of a book or other text while guided and supported by a teacher. The teacher explicitly models the skills of proficient readers, including reading with fluency and expression (Reading Rockets, 2015).
![Picture](/uploads/7/6/8/9/76898481/fluency-2_orig.jpg)
Shared reading is a practice to promote because it is incorporating a thoughtful selection of words that are important to teach and also aide the students into better comprehending their meaning. The repeated readings of the same story serve various purposes. "The first reading is for enjoyment; the second may focus on building and extending comprehension of the selection; a third might focus attention on the interesting language and vocabulary; a fourth might focus on decoding, using the words in the selection as a starting point for teaching word identification skills. Awareness of the functions of print, familiarity with language patterns, and word-recognition skills grow as children interact several times with the same selection (eduplace, 1997)."
Fluency | Reading Rockets. (2015). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/fluency
Reader's Theater. (2015). Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/readers_theater
Reader's Theater - Reading A-Z. (2016). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from https://www.readinga-z.com/guided/theater.html
Shared Reading. (2015). Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/shared_reading
Shared Reading: An Effective Instructional Model. (1997). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/literacy/em_lit4.html
Reader's Theater. (2015). Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/readers_theater
Reader's Theater - Reading A-Z. (2016). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from https://www.readinga-z.com/guided/theater.html
Shared Reading. (2015). Retrieved October 12, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/shared_reading
Shared Reading: An Effective Instructional Model. (1997). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/literacy/em_lit4.html