Learning Fluency with Gerald and Piggie
Rationale: The goal of this lesson is for students to understand and read words and a faster pace. Before this happens, the student must learn how to decode words. We will provide students practice with pseudo words, reading, and re-reading books. If students read at a smooth pace, compared to a choppy pace with long pauses, they begin to understand words fully and learn the English language more efficiently. Fluent readers are known to read with expression along with their smooth pace.
Materials
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A Big Guy Took My Ball!(An Elephant & Piggie Book)by Mo Willems
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Group copies and teacher copy
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A ball
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I-Pad, SmartBoard, or white board
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Paper
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Pencils
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Clipboards (if group is sitting outside or on the floor)
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Word counter
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Elephant and Piggie Paper Bag Puppets (http://pigeonpresents.com/content/uploads/2017/08/EP_Teachers-Kit_FINAL_2.pdf)
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Pink crayons
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Blue crayons
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Paper bags
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Scissors
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Glue
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Procedures
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Introduce the lesson to the students by explaining what it means to be a fluent reader and the steps they will take while working in the group so that they will become fluent readers. Tell the students, “The word fluency means that you can read words super-fast and without having to look at it for a long time”, “It is a good idea to go back and re-read what you have read until it sounds like a sentence you would say out loud to your parents or a friend”, “Fluent readers use something called cross-checking to make sense of the sentences that they read so they become successful readers,” “ Do one of y’all think you could tell me what cross-checking is,” (If correct) “Yes!,” (If incorrect ask one more person or two and if still wrong…) “Good try friends but, it means that you go back and re-read a sentence if it doesn’t make sense to you. You find which words you had a problem or two with and you practice them again.”
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Now the teacher should explain that each student should read as fast as they possibly can without skipping any of the words or reading them incorrectly. Remind the students that it is important that they read the words as clearly and accurately as possible while keeping their speed fast but still understandable. Give them a example of choppy reading like, “P-p-p-iggie said, ‘Qu-u-uick G-g-gera-a-ald! Cat-tch my ball!’,” (Write this on the your I-Pad, SmartBoard, or whiteboard). Say: “Now I will reread the sentence faster and more fluently,” “Piggie said, ‘Quick Gerald! Catch my ball!’.” Say: “This is what y’all will be working towards today. We want to try and read as many words as we possibly can but also say them correctly and at a good pace. This will help you enjoy what you are reading more because you will better be able to understand it. A good example of cross-checking would be, ‘Gerald masked the dall when Piggie tossed it.’ Does that sound right? Yep, I didn’t think so. Let’s re-read the sentence together to see what I missed.”
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Write several simple sentences about Gerald and Piggie related to the book, A Big Guy Took My Ball!, on the board or I-Pad and have the students sit in a circle close enough to where they can see the board. Take out the ball you brought (something soft like a beach ball) and ask the first student you toss the ball to which sentence he/she would like to read/cross-check then repeat with the other students until all students have practiced and all sentences have been read/cross-checked. Make sure students are encouraging to their classmates while this activity occurs.
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Once finished with the cross-checking activity, pass out the student copies of A Big Guy Took My Ball!. Split the students off into threes. Let each group find their own space in the classroom so that they will not be interrupted by other students reading but close enough to where you can hear all the students read. Give each group a stop watch and make sure they have something to write on like a clipboard and their word counter to record how many words their partner reads in a certain amount of time. (Have listed on the board the different levels of achieved reading by how many words a minute they can read). Example: 60 words a minute= super, 70 words a minute= excellent, etc. Tell each group that they should time each other and should start out by reading one page at a time. Let students take on different roles as they are reading or timing. Make sure one at least one student is recording how many errors are made when an student reads, one student is using the stop watch to time the 1-minute read, and one person is counting the number of words they can read in a minute.
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Depending on the students reading level you might want to challenge all groups or certain groups to practice reading more than one page. If you see that a group is successfully completing the 1-minute read or 1-page read this is the time that you challenge them to reading 2 pages, then 3 pages, etc.
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After all students have got a chance to practice and challenge themselves have each group discuss with each other what the book was about to make sure that they are comprehending what they read, since timed reading can make the book seem like just a bunch of separate words. Let the groups know that they will be discussing with the class some of the interesting things they found in their book. Hopefully this will have the students more prepared and interested in what they are reading.
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Now it’s your turn to read A Big Guy Took My Ball! to them so they can hear what they were practicing and so that they can hear the end result.
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Ask each group questions like, did you like the book? What did you learn? Did you learn anything new from this book? (Make sure that all students infer with the class at least one answer to the questions above to make sure they are comprehending what they learn and not simply relying on their peers.) Each student should at least have their own opinion on if they liked the book, why did they like the book, and did you learn anything new from this book?
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Pass out an Elephant & Piggie Paper Bag Puppets activity
Works Cited
Meghan. “Growing Independence and Fluency.” Miss Meghan's Lesson Designs, Mar. 2016, mem0089.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/growing-independency-and-fluency.
Willems, Mo. “The World of Elephant & Piggie (A Teaching Guide for Mo Willem's Elephant & Piggie Books).” Hyperion Books for Children.
“Summer Reading 2017.” MCDS LRC, mcdslrc.weebly.com/summer-reading-2017.html.
Clark, Kimberly. “Subtract Fives and Tens from a Two-Digit Number within 100 by Using a Number Line Model.” LearnZillion, 17 Aug. 2017, learnzillion.com/lesson_plans/856-subtract-fives-and-tens-from-a-two-digit-number-within-100-by-using-a-number-line-model/?card=19093.
Yellow Ball w/ Red Polka Dots, propworkshop.nyc/sports/yellow-ball-w-red-polka-dots/.
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