Shhh! I’m Reading!!

 Growing Independence and Fluency

 Carley Leavitt


Rationale: Silent reading is an important component of fluency. Once the student has mastered decoding skills, then the next step to becoming fluent readers is silent reading. Silent reading helps create children who love reading, by giving them the opportunity to learn how to read by themselves.  Reading silently will increase the automaticity, pace, and ease that the child reads as well as a love for voluntary reading. The students will learn to become silent readers by first whispering the text, then reading while only moving lips, and then reading silently in their heads. They will be assessed with a reading checklist.



Class set of Iggy Pig’s Silly Day! By Vivian French, sentence strip with “Iggy Pig was skipping” written on it, and silent reading check list

Check List:

___ Reads Aloud

___ Reads in a whisper

___ Reads while moving lips

                 ___ Reads silently



1. Say: “Today, class we are going to learn how to read silently. All of you are really great at reading out loud so now we are going to try something new! You are all going to learn how to read silently! Silent reading is fun and it will allow you to read in public places and not bother anyone! It will also help you become better and faster readers!”

2. Review previous learning. Say: “Today we’re going to read silently. While reading, remember to crosscheck, finish reading the sentence when you are stuck to see if a puzzling word makes sense. Then go back and reread the sentence after you correct yourself so that you get the word instantly the next time you see it.”

3.  Explain how to read silently in kid language.  Say: "It's just like reading out loud except you think the words instead of saying them.  First read in a whisper, and then just move your lips, then stop moving your lips but keep reading."

4. Explain why they need the strategy (Repeated reading): “Repeated reading is how the experts get good at reading aloud.  When you read something a few times, you know the word when you see it again and it’s easier to understand ideas. It also helps you get ready to read out loud so others can understand what you're reading."

5. Model. Say: “Now I am going to model how to read silently. First, we are going to read the sentence on the sentence strip. It says Iggy Pig was skipping. I am going to read the sentence in a whisper: Iggy Pig was skipping (read sentence). Next I will only move my lips when I read (whisper read sentence). Finally, I will stop moving my lips and read it in my head (read sentence in your head).

6. Say: Now we are going to do it together (pass out copies of the book). We are going to read the first page of Iggy Pig’s Silly Day! in a whisper. Ok everybody lets read it in a whisper all together. ‘Iggy Pig was skipping. ‘Watch me skip, Mother Pig! Watch me skip!’(read sentence). Next we only move our lips when we read (Read sentence all together). Finally, we will stop moving our lips and read it in our head (Make sure students are reading in their head).

7. Booktalk: Iggy the pig loves to skip and skips all over town. A big grey hungry animal asks to join Iggy and skip with him. Is the grey animal going to eat Iggy? We are going to have to read to find out!

8. Say: “Now it’s your turn! I want you all to practice reading Iggy Pig’s Silly Day! silently.” Give the children 10 minutes to practice reading silently



As the children are reading, I will call them each up to my desk. I will pick a page in the book and have them first read aloud, then whisper read, then silently read while moving lips, and then read silently. I will use the check list for each child.

___ Reads Aloud

___ Reads in a whisper

___ Reads while moving lips

                 ___ Reads silently


After the assessment is completed we will talk about what we have just read. (Ask comprehension questions to make sure they understand what is going on in the book). Comprehension questions: What was the big grey animal? Why did the big grey animal run away at the end of the story?




Montiel, Frazier. Don't Say A Word


French, Vivian, and David Melling. Iggy Pig's Silly Day. New York: Scholastic, 2002. Print


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