Growing Independence and Fluency

Growing Independency and Fluency

Fancy Fluency with Fancy Nancy

Growing Independence and Fluency Design

By: Rachel Paradise

Rationale: This lesson plan is designed to improve fluency as well as growing independence in reading. Further, this lesson aims at the goal of having all of the words that the student is reading in their sight vocabulary. This can achieve faster reading and an even reading pace, including reading comprehension. To achieve fluency, the students must be able to decode words. In order to further their progression towards fluency, the students will read Fancy Nancy and reread the book as it becomes subconscious in their sight word vocabulary.

Materials:

Class set of Fancy Nancy
Class set of stopwatches
Class set cover-up critters
Fluency Checklists
Words per minute chart to record student progress
Whiteboard and dry-erase markers

Procedures:

Say: “Hello class! Today we are going to read a very fun book because today we are going to learn how to become fluent readers! Does anyone know what it means to be a fluent reader?” (wait for class to respond) “Fluency in reading means that we can develop lots of words in our sight vocabulary. This can help us read effortlessly! Does anyone know what your sight vocabulary is?” (wait for class to respond) Write “go” on the whiteboard. “Everyone tell me what this word says (point to “go” on whiteboard).” When the class says “go” say “that’s great, now the reason you could read that word so quickly was because it was in your sight vocabulary and you just remembered that those two letters next to each other mean go!” “Today we are going to use our sight vocabulary to learn how to become fluent readers!”
Say: “Now we remember using our cover-up critters to help us decode words that we might have trouble sounding out. Today we are going to use them to help us decode words from our book! So the title of our book is this: (write Fancy Nancy on the whiteboard). Let’s try to decode this word here (point to “fancy”) Let’s use our cover-up critter to hide the rest of the letters besides the letter F. /F/, /F/, /F/ okay now slide over and uncover the next one, a. /a/, /a/ /a/, so we have /F/ /a/...great now let's do n. /n/, /n/, /n/ so /F/ /a/ /n/… now c. Let's put /c/ and /y/ next to each other so we can understand that this c makes a /c/ sound when /y/ is next to it. /c/ /y/. So, let's put together the phonemes, /f/ /a/ /n/ /c/ /y/. Fancy. How can we use that word in a sentence?” (call on someone in the class to create a sentence using the word “fancy”).
Say: “Those are some great sentences. Now I am going to give you two examples, they are going to be the same sentence but one will be read like a fluent reader and the other will be read like a non-fluent reader.” Write out “Nancy is the most fancy” on the whiteboard. First read “Nancy is the mmm-aaa---oo-sst most fancy” and then “Nancy is the most fancy”. “Now can anyone tell me which way sounded more fluent? Right, the second one. Now let’s try again”. Read the same sentence once in a choppy, slow and monotone voice and second in an enthusiastic and smooth voice. Then ask the students which sounded more fluent. Explain to them here the aspects of fluent reading, this includes: smoothness, decoding only one to two words in the text and speed. Explain that reading the sentence for a second time helped me understand the words I was struggling with and made me sound more fluent.
Say: “Now we are all going to read Fancy Nancy at our seats in our head. After, we will get into pairs and read it again, because we know that reading the book twice can help our fluency! In pairs, we will take turns being the reader and being the timer. I will give each group individual timers and when it is your turn to time, you should press start when your partner starts reading and stop when they have finished. Then you will record the time on the chart and fill out the checklist. We will each read the book three times because this book is so good! Be encouraging to your partner, give them feedback when you think they are doing a good job. Don’t forget, you may want to use your cover up critter if you need to decode a word. Does anyone have any questions? Now raise your hand if you have ever read Fancy Nancy before. Well for those of you who have not, Fancy Nancy is a girl who loves everything fancy and glamorous! But, sometimes her family and friends do not always agree with her. Read to find out how Nancy navigates the dull world she lives in and how she adds just a little bit of sparkle to everything she does.

Reading Fluency Checklist

Student Name:

Book Title:

Timer’s Name:

Reading times in seconds: First Second Third Check next to each box if the following question is true. Write a description if needed.

Did your partner have to decode any words?
Did they read faster than last time?
Did they read with more expression?

Once the students have completed the readings three times each, their times have been recorded and their checklist questions have been filled out. The teacher will look over the checklists and check for fluency progression by noting on the checklists if the student reached 85 words per minute and if not, if they improved through the three readings. Next, examine whether the student has a good understanding of what reading fluency is and how to achieve it. If the student seems to be behind the rest of the class I will provide extra help after class.

Reading Tracker: Fancy Nancy will be holding an ice cream sundae (as she does in the book), each level will add sprinkles, whipped cream and other toppings to her dessert.

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

Finally, the students will complete a three question comprehension quiz for credit. The quizzes will be handed in a graded for accuracy and completion.

Comprehension Quiz:

Who is the main character in this book?
What helps Nancy play soccer better?
What was the name of Nancy’s doll?

References:

Fancy Nancy - O'Connor, Jane, and Robin Preiss-Glasser. Fancy Nancy. Harper, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015.

Funky Fluency (Meg Rivers) - https://mlr0058.wixsite.com/meganlessondesigns/growing-independence-fluency