Growing Independence & Fluency

Tackling Fluency with Tacky in his Haunted Igloo!

Rationale: To become a fluent reader, one must recognize sight words effortlessly and automatically. When words become sight words, the student will have a better understanding of what they are reading. The purpose of this lesson is to model and teach reading fluency by having students reread a passage while being times by a fellow student to check their fluency. When students practice reading, decoding, and cross checking, they are on their way to becoming fluent readers!

Materials:

Book: Tacky and the Haunted Igloo by Helen Lester (Class set)
Timers for each pair
White board and markers (each student)
Pencils and paper
Fluency checklist (each student)
Teacher reading rate form
Reading record timesheet (each student)
Comprehension Worksheet (each student)
Cover-up critter for every student
Time Sheet (each student)

Procedures:

Say: Good morning students! Today we are going to build up our reading fluency! To be the best readers we can be, we must work on being fluent. Fluency in reading is being able to read words automatically, quickly, and with expression. As fluent readers we will be able to understand what happens in a story better. A good way to become fluent is to read the same thing over and over. By reading a story more than once, you can become familiar with words that you did not get the first time. So, today we are going to practice with repeated readings so we can tackle fluency!
Say: First, I’m going to show you how a reader who does not have fluency can become a fluent reader. If I come across this sentence [write sentence on board]: “Tacky the Penguin lives in a haunted igloo” and I am not a fluent reader, I would probably have to decode a word or a few words. The first time I see this word [point to haunted] I might try to put together each phoneme /h/ /a/ /u/ /n/ /t/ /e/ /d/…/ha/ /un/ /t/ /e/ /d/, “Tacky the penguin lives in a /haunted/…” making it sound like the word, ‘hunted.’ That would be incorrect, it would be “Tacky the Penguin lives in a /h/ /au/ /n/ /t/ /e/ /d/ igloo.” I put more emphasis on the ‘a’ then I do the ‘u’. So, the correspondence ‘au’ in ‘haunted’ says /aw/. Did you notice I said /ha/ /un/ /t/ /e/ /d/ instead of hawnted (haunted)? Now I am going to read the sentence again. [Read the sentence slowly and without expression, but no difficulty]. That was a little bit better, but I know I can read more smoothly when I add expression the third time that I read it. [Read sentence a third time, adding emphasis]. That’s it! I knew the words well enough the third time to add more expression because I understood what was going on in the sentence. This is cross checking! We crosscheck when there are words that keep us from being fluent readers.
[Review using cover-ups]. Say: “What else do we use when we do not know a word? Yes, our cover-up critters! I am going to show you guys how we use cover-ups to remind you. Let’s look at the word “because” together on the board. If I have trouble reading this word, I can use my cover-up critter to help me sound it out. Let’s cover up the first sounds, /b/ /e/ (/be/). What sound does /c/ /aus/ e make? Yes! It sounds like /cause/. Now if I uncover /b/ /e/, can you tell me what sound that makes? Correct! It sounds like /be/. Now, we are going to combine the two sounds: /be/ - /caus/ e, because. See, we can use our critters to help us figure out new words. Remember, just cover up the letters before the vowel to figure out the vowel sound, and then add back the consonants before the vowel and after it.
[Give a book talk for Tacky and the Haunted Igloo]: Halloween has arrived in Nice Icy Land and all the penguins are getting ready for the holiday fun! Our penguin friends, Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, Perfect, and Tacky are working hard to create the best haunted igloo in Nice Icy Land. They began to think of scary costume ideas to scare all the trick or treaters and everyone has picked out there Halloween costume. Everyone except Tacky! Tacky begins to think and think but he just does not know what scary costume he should come up with. Tacky leaves his friends to go think of a good scary costume to wear. Do you think he is going to be able to come up with a scary costume in time for Halloween?! Well, let’s read and find out!
Say: If you did not know some of the words in the first reading, that is okay. We are going to read it a couple of more times so we can become fluent readers! I am going to pass around for each student a copy of the book. Read silently first. [Students read silently for a few minutes, then help students with difficult or irregular words; I will be walking around to check and observe].
Say: Now, I want everyone to partner up with the person next to you. [Once students are partnered up, give each group a timer, two feedback sheets, and two timesheets]. Each of you has a feedback sheet, time sheet, and stopwatch. First, I want you to count how many words are in the first two pages of the book, then write that number at the top of your time sheet. You will take turns reading the first two pages out loud to your partner; and they will time you to see how long it takes you to read these few passages. Write the number of seconds it took your partner to read the first two pages on the timesheet, then use your feedback sheet to track your partner’s progress. If they read faster, more smoothly, or with more expression, then mark that box on the feedback sheet. After your partner has read the pages three times and you have recorded that information on both the time sheet and the feedback sheet, switch who is reading. Now the other person will mark on the other time sheet and feedback sheet I passed out.
After you have both finished, bring your timesheet and feedback sheets up to my desk and I will calculate your WPM. As they read, you should have timed them on the paragraph read aloud and used the formula given to record how many words per minute your partner read.
Students will assess each other with the reading timesheet and the fluency checklist. Calculate how many words are on the first four pages and use their time to get their words per minute rate. WPM=total words x 60 / recorded times in seconds. After reading the passage, have the students answer reading comprehension questions.

Reading Comprehension Worksheet:

1. Did Tacky find a scary costume in time for Halloween?

2. Which penguin was scared of the dark?

3. What happened to Tacky when he waddled off to think about his Halloween costume?

4. Why do you think Tacky had such a hard time figuring out what Halloween costume he wanted to wear?

5. How did Tacky scare off the mean hunters?

Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: ______________________________

Student’s Name: ________________

Date: ______

Partner’s Name: _________________

After 2nd Reading: After 3rd: 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

References:

Graphic - https://co.pinterest.com/pin/248190629450766516/

Book: Lester, Helen. (2015). Tacky and the Haunted Igloo - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UEYQNW6?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_9&storeType=ebooks&asin=0544339940&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

Tousley, Patrick. “Friendships, Fish, and Fluency.” https://tousleypatrick.wixsite.com/mysite/admissions

Smith, Reagan. “Junie B’s Big, Fat Fluency Facts.” https://reagane722.wixsite.com/readingisfun/growing-independence-and-fluency

Murray, Bruce. (2012). Making Sight Words.

Murray, Geri. https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1359716/pages/powerpoints