Reading Lesson #1 Fluency with Reader's Theatre

Reading Lesson Plan # 1: Fluency (Reader’s Theatre) Rationale: Upon observing my three focus students, I have noticed that they are struggling with certain elements of reading that are delaying them from reading with fluency. All three of the students have trouble quickly identifying high frequency words. They also have trouble quickly decoding more challenging words and using strategies that we’ve discussed in class (sounding out, chunking, etc.). Because of this, my students are unable to read many appropriate texts smoothly and with inflection/expression. I feel that by giving my students more practice with reader’s theatre they will have a chance to practice and review different words and strategies while becoming more confident in their abilities as fluent readers. Objective for this lesson: Students will improve their reading fluency by participating in a reader’s theatre play and focusing on decoding words quickly, identifying high frequency words, and reading with ease and expression. Materials & supplies needed: Reader’s theatre play, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” by Laura Numeroff

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event  • Introduction to the lesson  (5 minutes) ·       “Today we are going to be reading and acting out a scene from a play called If you give a pig a pancake.” ·       “The goals for this lesson are that we will 1. Practice sounding out words we don’t know 2. Practice saying words we do know and 3. Practice reading smoothly and with expression, like actors do when they are putting on a play. If we do all of these things we will be working towards making us all better readers.” ·       “Have you ever wanted to read a book but when you went to try you thought it was too hard for you?” ·       “Doing activities like this will help you build up the amount of words you know so that one day you will be able to read any book that you want to, but reading takes practice.” ·       “This is a pretty silly scene. Once we practice reading we can also act it out like we would if we were putting on a play for an audience!” • OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (15-20 minutes) ·       “Take a look at the different words in this scene. What are some words that you recognize? Why do you think you recognize those words?” ·       “Now look for some words that you aren’t sure of. Maybe you don’t know how to say them out loud, or you don’t know what they mean. What words did you find?” ·       “What would be your strategy deciding how to say this word?” ·       “If you don’t know a word while reading, there are a few things we can do 1. We can try to sound out the word based on the letters. 2. We can break up the word into chunks and say each part separately. You can use these ideas for any word that you don’t know. Once you figure the word out, practice saying it so that next time you read it will sound smooth and you won’t have to stop.” ·       The teacher will assign each student a part. “We are now going to take turns reading. What are some things we should remember to do while our classmates are reading?” ·       The teacher will help students with difficult words by modeling the strategies. The teacher will have the students try a different part so that they can practice saying different lines. The teacher will have the students act out the scene once they have rehearsed the scene a number of times. • Closing summary for the lesson (5 minutes) ·       “Excellent job! Did you notice anything different from the first time you read the scene compared to the last time you read it? What do you think was different? Why?” ·       “It’s important to use certain strategies every time you read. Make sure you confidently read words that you do know because they will come up a lot in all sorts of books.” ·       “What are some ways to figure out words that you don’t know?” ·       “Remember this can be done with any book, play, or piece of writing!” Ongoing-Assessment: I will observe whether or not the students are consistently recognizing high frequency words. I will note how each student deals with difficult words and what strategies they use. I will listen to their performances and look for increasing smoothness, expression, and accuracy over time.

Adaptations: Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson? ·       Some students may have know more high frequency words than others ·       Each student may have a different set of words that they find difficult ·       Each student may be best at a certain aspect of fluency ·       Because of these three possibilities, I will allow the students to explore their own learning. They will be taught a strategy and then use that strategy on any word that they have trouble with. I will also rotate the students through each character so that they are exposed to different lines. Finally, I will I give students individualized attention, each student will have an opportunity to be a character and read out loud by themselves to practice on their own.