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THE FLUENT FISH

Growing Fluency Lesson Design by Nancy Kate Walker

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The Fluent Fish

 

Rationale: In order to become a fluent fish this lesson will help students develop automatic word recognition in longer and more advanced texts. Effortless word recognition allows students to focus on what they are reading. Readers should be encouraged and excited to read and reread decodable words and texts. This lesson will involve practice with decoding, crosschecking, rereading, and understanding.

 

Materials: 

  • Timer/stopwatch for each pair 

  • Sample sentences on whiteboard for teacher to model

  • Peer fluency sheet for each student 

  • Reading rate forms for teacher

  • Teacher Fluency Checklist (for each student) with attached comprehension questions 

  • Pencil for each student 

  • Class set of The Fish and the Pig by Pamela Brookes

 

Procedures:

  1. Say: “We are going to work towards becoming fluent readers. Once we become fluent readers, we will be able to easily understand words without having to stop and take time to figure out what words actually are. Being a fluent reader makes reading more fun and enjoyable. Let’s get started!”

  2. Say: “Now, let’s take a look at the sentence on the board: I want to go swim. Okay, I want you to listen very closely and see if I sound like a fluent reader. I /w/ /w/ /w/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/, want...to...get.../s/ /s/ /s/ /w/ /w/ /i/ /m/ /m/ /m/, swim. I want to get swim? Hmm, that doesn't make sense. It must be go. I want to go swim. Did you see that I went back to reread the sentence when I finished the first time because it didn't make sense? That is called crosschecking, and it is very important to use when we are becoming fluent readers!”

  3. Say: “Class, can you raise your hand if you think I read the sentence like a fluent reader. (Wait) If you didn’t raise your hand, you are right! Some of my words were choppy and slow. The sentence didn't make any sense the first time I read it because I didn't decode correctly. However, when I went back to crosscheck and read the sentence a second time it was smooth and made sense.”

  4. Say: “Now that you know what a fluent and non-fluent reader sounds like, you get to practice your fluency. We are going to practice by reading a book called, The Fish and the Big by Pamela Brookes. A fish named Val and pig named Pam are best friends! However, they have a problem; Pam the pig does not like getting wet. Will Pam and Val be able to stay friends? Will Pam end up getting in the water with Val? Let read and find out!  

  5. Pass out the books to students. Students will read the whole book to themselves, silently. Then, students will read the book to an assigned partner.

  6. Pass out the recording sheets and timers/stopwatches to each pair. Say: “We are going to play a game to test our fluency. Put your listening ears on so you fully understand what we are doing. Reader 1 is going to start the game. Reader 2 will be in charge of the stopwatch. Reader 2 is going to time while Reader 1 reads the first two pages. Reader 2 will record the time on the sheet I just handed out. You and your partner will switch places after Reader 1 is done. You will each do this three times. As you are listening to your partner read, I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words the second or third time? Mark these changes on your paper.”

  7. When each partner is finished, one student at a time will come to the teacher’s table to read the first two passages. They will bring their record sheet, and the teacher will attach it to their assessment sheet. The teacher will time students as they read each paragraph aloud and record how many words per minute they read. When students are not at the teacher's desk, they will complete the reading comprehension questions. 

 

Reading Comprehension Questions

  1. Why do the fish and pig struggle to be friends?

  2. How do the fish and pig resolve this problem?

  3. What do the fish and pig like to do? 

 

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

(Words x 60)/seconds= WPM

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

Correct Words Per Minute

 

Resources: 

Book

Brookes, P. (n.d.). The Fish and the Pig. Retrieved from

https://www.amazon.com/Fish-Pig-systematic-decodable-Developing/dp/1648310559?

Madison Wilhite, Baking for Fluency

https://sites.google.com/view/maddiewilhitectrd3000/growing-independence-and-fluency

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