Talkin’ Tacos and Fluency

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Sadie Shell

Growing Independence and Fluency

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Rationale: A student must be able read fluently in order to become a skilled reader. Becoming a fluent reader is not an easy task but is a huge milestone. Once a student is a fluent reader, they can focus on reading comprehension and enjoy reading. Fluency also indicates that nearly all of the words are in the reader’s sight vocabulary. As a fluent reader, students can read more quickly, with expression, and with ease. When students become fluent readers, books become much more interesting, and they can read a wide variety of texts. In this lesson, students will learn strategies and skills through modeling and practice to help them become fluent readers. 

 

Materials: Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, stopwatch, cover-up critters, checklist for partner readings, comprehension worksheet (link attached)

 

Procedures:

 

1. Say: Today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers. Reading fluently means you are able to read smoothly, effortlessly, and expressively. When you read fluently, reading becomes more fun and more interesting so it is important that we become fluent readers!

 

2. Say: Reading fluently is a process that takes time and work. Sometimes you will see an unfamiliar word, but don’t be discouraged. If you come to an unfamiliar word, remember you can use your cover-up critter to help determine the word. Let’s take the word, “dragon.” Take the cover-up critter and uncover the first letter, ‘d’. We know d=/d/. Now move the cover-up critter to uncover the second letter, ‘r’. We know r=/r/. Let’s move it to show the next letter, ‘a’.  In this word,  a=/a/. Next we see the letter ‘g’. We know that sometime g=/j/ or g=/g/. Let’s look at the rest of the word and see if we can figure out what sound our ‘g’ is going to make. After the ‘g’ we have an ‘o’. In this word, o=/o/, we know this because there aren’t any other vowels aroung to make this ‘o’ say it’s name. Finally, we uncover the n, and  we know that n=/n/. Let’s come back to the ‘g’. We’ll try g=/j/ first, /d/ /r/ /a/ /j/ /o/ /n/. Drraaaajonn. Does that sound right? How about we try the other way and compare it? /d/ /r/ /a/ /g/ /o/ /n/. So now we can blend the sounds together. Drraaagonn. Oh, Dragon! That’s right!

 

3. Say: Today, we are going to read the book called Dragons Love Tacos. Did you know what dragons absolutely love the most out of anything in the entire world? That’s right, tacos! Why do they love tacos? For the same exact reason that you and I love them, they are delicious. But there’s one thing that they cannot handle on their tacos. Do you know what it is? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

 

4. Say: Before you read Dragons Love Tacos, I am going to show you what reading fluently sounds like. First, I am going to read withoutfluency to show you the difference. 

“Hh-eyyy k-k-iiiid. Oh! Hey kid! D-d-iiii-d y-ooo k-n-ow, I mean know, that dr-aaa-g-oo-n-s, dragons love t-ahh-c-o-s?” 

In this example, I read without fluency because I read slowly and struggled with some words. Here’s what it would sound like if I read the sentence with fluency. (Read the sentence smoothly and with expression). 

“Hey kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos?” 

Did you hear the difference? In this example, I was able to read effortless and automatically, and I even added expression.

 

5. Divide the students into pairs. Now the teacher will divide the students into reading partners (preferably one struggling reader paired with a successful reader). The teacher should assign each pair a different spot in the classroom so as to eliminate any distractions. Each group will receive a copy of Dragons Love Tacos, a timer, a fluency checklist, a pencil, and a reading time sheet. Explain to the students that they will time their partner as they read. Be sure that they know they’re not in a racing competition with each other. 

 

6. In order to be successful readers, students not only have to read fluently, but they also must have reading comprehension. Have the students complete a worksheet focused on comprehension questions to assess their reading comprehension. Students will complete the “After you read” section of the worksheet.

 

7. Finally, after students turn in their comprehension worksheet, calculate each students’ reading per minute (words x 60/seconds).  This will give you an accurate measure of the student’s reading speed and comprehension.  It will also allow you to track their fluency progress.

 

 

Resources: 

Worksheet

http://www.bookitprogram.com/redzone/readanddo/dragon/Dragons%20Love%20Tacos.pdf

 

Rachel Heavlin “Fluency is ‘Beary’ Awesome”

http://rah0032.wixsite.com/ctrd/growing-independence-and-fluency

 

Book

Rubin, A., & Salmieri, D. (2014). Dragons love tacos. Boston, MA: National Braille Press.

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