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Growing Independence and Fluency 

Pete Finds Fluency in His White Shoes

Rationale: This lesson is aimed to help students read more fluently by being able to recognize nearly all words by sight fast. This way, students will focus on understanding and comprehension of what they are reading. This lesson will guide students through reading, decoding, cross-checking, mental marking, and rereading, to become fluent readers. As a result, students will develop more confidence in their reading abilities and their reading proficiency will improve.

 

Materials: 

 

  • Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes (enough for half of the class)

  • White board/markers (each student gets one of each)

  • Fluency Checklist

  • Stopwatch/phone for timer (one per pair of students)

  • Reader response form


 

Procedures : 

1). Say: Hey class! We are going to learn something new today. In order to become great readers, we have to first become fluent readers.  Can anybody raise their hand and tell me what fluency means? (listen to student responses). Awesome! Fluency means that we can read accurately and smoothly. When we become fluent readers, we will be able to read faster, more accurately and while showing expression! This also means that we don’t have to sound out each word when we come to it. As fluent readers we will enjoy reading so much more because it will be easier for us and we don’t have to focus as much on each individual word.

 

2). “Let’s try this sentence written on the board: (The band sings a good song). Everyone listen closely. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence. TH-uuuu(the) bbb-aaa-nnn-ddd(band) sss-ing-s(sings) a ggg-ooo-ddd (good) sss-a-nnn-gg(song). Oh the band sings a good song not a good sang!Did you notice how I got stuck on a word when I read the sentence? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning to figure out which word made the most sense. When you reread the sentence to double check it is called cross checking. This is a crucial step for reading fluently! 

 

3).  Say: “Raise your hand if you think I read the sentence just like a fluent reader would” (wait) “If you kept your hands down, you are correct! 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: “Ok so now that you know what a fluent and non-fluent reader sounds like, let's practice your fluency! We are going to practice by reading a book called, “Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes” by Eric Litwin. It is about a cat named Pete and his new shoes. He loves his shoes but he runs into a problem. What do you think the problem is and how will he solve it? Read to find out! 

 

5). Once you are done reading, I want you all to find a partner. Everyone needs their copy of Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes, a timer, a pencil, reading checklist, and the fluency chart. You will take turns with each other reading and timing. I want each of you to read the story three times. While one person is reading, their partner will be timing so that person should start the timer right when your partner starts reading and press stop when your partner stops reading. I want the partner timing to make note of the expressions of the partner who is reading. 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 After each reading, the partner who timed will fill out the reading checklist about the reading partner. (I will give children examples of how to fill out checklist and monitor as we go)

 

6). 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. What was the first thing that Pete the Cat stepped in?

  2. What did Pete the Cat step in to turn his shoes blue?

  3. How did Pete the Cat feel at the end of the book?


 

 

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

​


 

References : 

 

Litwin, Eric, and James Dean. Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes. HarperCollins, 2014.

“Welcome to the Reading Genie.” Bruce Murray College of Education, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/.

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