“Hats off” to Good Reading

Growing Independence and Fluency

Ashlyn Pouncey

Rationale: To become fluent readers children must build their sight vocabulary. The best way to do this is to transition from decoding to automatic word recognition. This lesson focuses on student’s developing the ability to read quickly, smoothly, and expressively. Therefore, if a student accomplishes these tasks, they have gained fluency. Fluency is gained through repeated reading and timed reading.


Multiple copies of the book, Did it Fit?; stopwatch for each pair of students, pencil for each student; reading progress chart; stickers for each student


1. Introduce the lesson by telling the students the importance of fluency and what it means to be a fluent reader.  Today we are going to practice becoming fluent readers.  To become a fluent reader, we must be able to read words without stopping, pausing, or slowing down to sound out words.  In other words, fluent readers can read words automatically, which can help you better understand the story.  We are going to practice becoming fluent readers today by reading and rereading Did it Fit?  By reading this book a number of times, you will be able to become fluent readers by recognizing the familiar words.

2. Now I am going to read a few sentences to you and I want you to tell me whether or not I am reading them fluently.  Wwwwweeeee pppllllaaaayyyyeeeddd ooutttssiidee aaattt thhhee pppaarrkk. (Not fluent)  We gave the dog a bath. {Pausing between words}. (Not fluent)  The dog chased the cat. (Fluent)  Great Job! Now lets see if we can practice reading some other sentences fluently just how I did the last sentence, smoothly and accurately.

3. Now we are going to read Did it Fit? with partners to practice reading fluently.  “Dog, Pig, and Tim try on funny things to use as hats. Pig tries to use a pot top for a hat and Dog tries to use a tin pot! Do you think these pots will work for hats? Tim tries to find the perfect hat for him!” It is important to remind the students to cross check when they are reading the story. If they do not recognize a word then they should cover up part of the word and sound it out in pieces. It is also important that they also make sure that the word makes sense in the sentence. If they can’t figure out the word, then they should have their partner help them and if both of the children can’t figure out the word, then they should ask me and I will assist them.

4. Now the students will divide into groups of two each with a copy of Did it Fit? One student will be the reader while the other is following along.  Tell the students that they should read a chapter, and then put a sticker after the last word read. Inform the students that they will take turns partner reading while adding up the number of words they have read each time. Then students will mark the number of words on their progress sheets.  While the students are partner reading, I will be walking around the room listening to them read and monitoring their progress.


Assessment: I will have the students come show me, individually, their progress sheets.  Then we will engage in reading part of the book, Did it Fit? I will be checking for things such as:  skipping words, inserting words, saying words incorrectly, and not reading smoothly. I will then assess the student’s comprehension of the story by asking them specific questions about what happened in the story. Example comprehension questions:

What kind of hats were the animals trying to fit on their heads? Did they work?

What happened with Tim’s hat?

Do you think Tim and Pig should wear the same hip hat?




The Reading Genie, http://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=16



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