top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

Learning How to Dance with Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency

Shayna Fetes

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Rationale: This lesson design is to help students become fluent readers. Knowing how to read fluently is the ability to comprehend the readings. Students must practice expression, pace, and comprehensions so they can acquire the skills that are needed to read automatically and effortlessly. Having automatic and effortless word recognition allows students to reflect and remember what they have read. This can all be accomplished through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and of course rereading, which in return, allows students to gain confidence and continue to improve their reading rates. Students will use the strategy of crosschecking after reading a decodable book and repeated readings to gain fluency and independence in reading.

​

Materials:

  • Sample sentences for the teacher to model (whiteboard)

  • Class set of Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreac and Guy Parker-Rees

  • Cover-up critters

  • Pencils

  • Timepiece

  • Peer fluency sheet (one for each student)

  • Paper, pencil, calculator (record WPM and miscues)

  • Reading rate forms (teacher only)

  • Comprehension questions

  • Large fluency charts

​

Procedures:

Say: Today we are going to reach our goals of becoming a fluent reader. Does anyone know what it means to be a fluent reader? [wait for responses] A fluent reader is a reader that can read quickly because they recognize and understand the words in the sentence. Knowing how to recognize the words helps us understand what we are reading because we immediately know what each word means. This makes reading lots of fun!

 

Say: Now that we know that fluency is being able to read smoothly and quickly without having to sound out words, we can start to learn. One way to become fluent is to practice reading many times. Giraffes cannot dance smoothly but they can learn. Today we are going to think us as ourselves as a giraffe who’s learning how to dance. Have you ever started to read and suddenly you get stuck on a word? When this happens what do you do? [wait for responses] Right, you stop and sound it out. What happens if you still can’t figure it out? [wait for responses] Right, you go ahead and finish the sentence then we go back and try to figure out the struggle word. After you figure out the word, reread the word several times, so then it gets easier to recognize the next time you read or see it. Today, we are going to be reading our story several times, so you can recognize all the words so it will become easier for us.

 

Now I will write an example sentence from our book, on the board. An example sentence could be, “But his knees were awfully crooked” Say Now, what do I do if I do not know a word again? [wait for responses] Today you should use your cover-up critter to help you decode. Let’s practice on the word “crooked”. Let’s all look at the word on the board. First, we need to find the vowel, and the rest of the word should be covered up. There is oo.  So, this letter must make the /U/ that we learned about. Now, I can look at the beginning of the word now, and I see the letter c /k/ and r /r/. I add it to my oo sound to get /k//r//U/, then blend /krU/ with k with the /k/ and then add the e with /e/ to get /krUke/. Then finally d with /d/. Then we get, “kkkkkkrrrrUUUUUkkkkkeeeedddd”, crooked. Now let’s see that we blended correctly. Let’s reread the sentence on the board to make sure crooked makes sense. “But his knees were awfully crooked”

 

Say: Now it’s your turn to read! I need everyone to go find their partner. You will be reading Giraffes Can’t Dance. [give every group a book] The groups will need two record sheets, two checklists, a stopwatch, and a pencil. Each time you read a passage you become familiar with it and become much better at reading at it. [pass out materials]

​

Say: For this activity, each of you will have to have the job of being the reader and the listener. You will be reading Giraffes Can’t Dance. This is about Gerald the giraffe, who cannot dance. Since he cannot dance, he was not allowed at the Jungle Ball. Will Gerald learn how to dance? Read more to find out. The first partner will read while the other will use the stopwatch to see how long it takes to finish the book. If you are the listener, press the start button on the stopwatch when your reader starts, and as soon as they finish press stop. You then will write down the time on checklist. They will then read the book two more times, and each time will be a little different as they get more comfortable with the book. As the listener, you will record the time the same way as the first time. After the reader has read the book three times, switch roles. If you read first, you are now the listener, if you listened first, you are now the reader. When both partners have read three times, discuss what happened and your favorite part! Then return to your seats and wait for further instructions

​

  1. Say: Now that everyone has read the story, I am going to call everyone up individually to read the story one final time. I will assess your fluency progress and comprehension

    1. Use the timepiece and formulate words per minute and note the miscues. Display the student’s Words per Minute on a large Fluency chart: the goal is for the giraffe to dance at the party, which is 100 WPM. Using the formula words correct x 60/seconds. Students will be able to visualize their progress. I will then ask them 3-5 comprehension questions. The other students will be doing quiet independent work.

 

 

Assessment:

  • Collect Partner Reading Checklist to see student progress

  • Words Per Minute Formula: (words x 60) / (seconds)

  • Comprehension Questions:

    • What happened to Gerald when he tried to run?

    • Why was Gerald sad?

    • What instrument did the cricket play?

 

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 Tracker: 

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

Correct Words Per Minute

 

 

Fluency Chart:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

​

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

 

​References:

bottom of page