top of page

Growing Independence & Fluency

Going Fishing For Fluency 

Rationale: 

This lesson is designed to help students read fluently, which is essential in comprehending the reading. Being able to read

fluently means that a student has the ability to read automatically and effortlessly while still comprehending what they are reading. Fluency makes reading more enjoyable for students because they are able to read through the story smoothly and use various expressions throughout their reading. In order to enjoy reading, they must be able to decode words in the text they are reading to read more fluently. Through cross-checking, mental marking, decoding, reading, and rereading, students will have all the tools to grow into fluent readers and confidently improve their reading rate. In this lesson, students will learn the strategies and skills that it takes to become more fluent in their reading. They will read the story The Rainbow Fish. If a student comes across a word that, they are unfamiliar with and unable to decode they can then try and figure it out the word by crosschecking.

​

Materials:

The Rainbow Fish picture book by Marcus Pfister (Pfister, Marcus, and J A. James. The Rainbow Fish. 1992. Print.), stopwatch/phone for keeping time, pencil, cover-up critter, fluency checklist (one for each student), chart to record each student’s words per minute, whiteboard, dry erase markers.

​

Procedures:

​

  1. The lesson starts with the teacher explaining fluency. Say, “Today we are going to be working on how to improve your fluency while reading a story. Can anyone tell me what it means to be a fluent reader? A fluent reader means to learn new words and adding them to the sight words we already know! As a fluent reader, you will be able to understand exactly what the story is about while you are reading it. Being a fluent reader means that you are able to read quickly without making too many errors or stopping. Who wouldn’t want to be a fluent reader?”

  2. Say: “Now we can use out cover-up critters to help us decode, which means to read an unfamiliar word. I will show you how to decode a word that I might not know. Let's try the word rainbow fish as an example. But first, let's spell fish! I am going to use my critter to figure out the word fish. First I am going to cover up all of the letters except the first one /f/. Next, I will uncover the i. Then I will uncover the sh and blend the letters together /f/../i/../sh/. Fish! Now let's use our cover-up critter to figure out the word rainbow, just like we did with the word fish! Let's begin!  /r/../ai/../n/../b/../o/../w/. Rainbow! This is the word rainbow! Now let's combine these two words to make a new word, Rainbowfish! Let's use it in a sentence, there are rainbow fish in the ocean.

  3. Demonstrate the difference between a fluent and non-fluent reader for the students. Write the sentence, “I have a pet fish” Read it slowly to show what a non-fluent reader sounds like and then read it a little faster to show how a fluent reader reads a sentence. Ask the students if they can hear the difference in how the two sentences are read. Ask the students to try and read at a faster pace and with more expression so that they can better understand and enjoy the stories that they are reading.

  4. Say, “I want you to read the book, The Rainbow Fish at your seat. The story is about a fish who has lots of beautiful scales! The rainbow fish thinks his scales are the most important thing until one day another fish in the ocean asks the rainbow fish to share his scales so that other fish could be beautiful too. Rainbowfish has to make a big decision to either share his scales or keep them all to himself. Now read the story silently to yourself in your head to find out what the Rainbow Fish decides!

  5. Students will read the whole book to themselves at their desks. Then each student should read the book aloud to a partner or seatmate. They are not allowed to help their partner read the book while they are listening to them try and read fluently.

  6. Pass out the recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say, “Now we are going to play the fluency game! Reader 1 is going to start the game and reader 2 will be in control of the stopwatch. Reader 2 is going to time how fast reader 1 reads the first two pages. Reader 2 will then write down how long it took reader 1 to read the first two pages on the sheet that I have given you. After recording, you will switch and reader 1 will do reader 2s job and record their time as well. I want you guys to do this three times and make sure to listen for how their reading changes each time they read the first two pages. Do they remember more words, do they read with more expression, meaning they move their face more and their voice changes? Make sure you write these changes down on to your paper.

  7. After the pairs have read through three times each, have the students come up one at a time to read the first two pages to you. Ask them to bring their sheet with them so you can attach it to the back of the assessment sheet. You will then time them on the paragraph read aloud and use the formula from the assessment sheet to record how many words per minute they read.

  8. Assessment: After students have all read the paragraph, each reader will individually answer 3-5 reading comprehension questions as an assessment. 

​

Fluency checklist will be filled out for each student:

     

     Title of Book:

     Student’s Name:

     Partner's Name:

​

Make a check if the following is true after the 2nd and 3rd Readings:

      1.  Read faster:

      2. Read smoother:

      3. Read with expressions:

​

Reading Tracker:

​

​

​

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

​

   [Words x 60 seconds= WPM] 

 

​

Comprehension Questions: 

    1. Which other fish in the ocean did the rainbow fish give one his scales too?

    2. Why do you think the rainbow fish gave his scales away?

    3. How many shiny scales does the rainbow fish have left at the end of the story?

​

Assessment:

​

Pfister, Marcus, and J A. James. The Rainbow Fish. , 1992. Print. 

Publisher : North-South Books; Later Printing edition (January 27, 1999)

https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Fish-Marcus-Pfister/dp/1558580093/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CLS02A2N2Z4F&dchild=1&keywords=rainbow+fish&qid=1618534580&s=books&sprefix=rainbow%2Cstripbooks%2C214&sr=1-1

 

​Resources:

​Feeding on Fluency. Lindsey Hogan 

https://lch0027.wixsite.com/readingiscool/growing-independence-and-fluency

 

Fishing for Fluency! Annah Logan Harrelson 

https://aharrers.wixsite.com/ctrd/fishing-for-fluency

bottom of page