Samantha Boyd

September 24, 2014

Fluency Minilesson
To be taught on October 1, 2014
The following lesson should take approximately 15 minutes for each student.
What is the objective?
The objective of this minilesson is to increase reading speed through repeated
readings.
How many students will you have?
I will do this minilesson many times throughout the day with 4 different students
total.
I will have two students during first block and two during second block.
How will you introduce the lesson to make the objectives plain?
I will tell the students that they will be filling in a Mad Lib and will be timed to see if
they can read faster each time. I will let them know that they will be reading the
same Mad Lib three times in order to see if they could improve each time.
List the procedures:
-Fill in the blanks of the Mad Lib. Students may need help with the parts of speech.
-Time the student while he/she reads the Mad Lib fluently for the first time.
-Record the time it took for the student to read through the Mad Lib.
-Repeat these steps 3 times in order to have 3 timed readings.
-The goal is to get faster with each repeated read.
-Show the students their times and talk to them about how reading something many
times makes you a better, faster reader.
How will you incorporate rereading of material? Modeling?
The students will be rereading their Mad Libs three times each, thus requiring
rereading. I will read each of the students Mad Libs after they have completed their
timings. This will enable me to model fluent reading through proper speed and
expression.
Materials needed:
-Mad Libs at an independent level for each student
-A cell phone timer
-Pencils

Fluency Minilesson Response Paper

When we were presented with the idea of MadLibs in class I knew thats
what I wanted to do for my fluency minilesson. I always loved MadLibs growing up,
so I figured it would be a fun thing to do with my students. The literacy teacher let
me know that she would prefer that I do this activity one-on-one with just a few
students, so I chose some low level students and some higher level students to
complete this assignment with. The most difficult part of this minilesson was trying
to figure out what level the MadLibs were on and to make sure they were at the
students independent reading levels. There is no reading level for MadLibs, so I had
to guess by reading the text. I think I did pretty well based on how well they read
the text. I also had the literacy teacher read over them to see what she thought.
The students responded very well to the activity. Most of them had never
seen MadLibs before, so that was surprising, but they enjoyd it once they got
started. Three of the four students I worked with were cracking up the first time
they read through them. The other student didnt seem to understand that it was
supposed to be goofy because she kept saying, This doesnt make sense. They
were also impressed with how quickly they were able to read the text after the third
time. I showed them how much they improved by and they were in awe. One
students said, But how did I do that? I took that opportunity to explain to him that
when you read something over and over you get faster because you are more
familiar with the words.
There are a few things I would do differently if I were to incorporate this
lesson in my future classroom. First, I would group students together rather than

doing it one-on-one with each student. I think they would have more fun with it if
they had a partner and were able to compete against each other. Second, I would
make sure to give a minilesson on parts of speech prior to doing this activity.
Because I wasnt sure how much the students I was working with knew about parts
of speech, I created a list of choices for nouns, verbs, and adjectives. This helped
them tremendously. I would certainly keep this as an option for students to use, but
make sure they knew they could choose their own as well.
In my future classroom, I will incorporate fluency instruction in a variety of
ways. I think variety is key to student achievement and motivation. If they do the
same thing over and over again they are not going to enjoy themselves and thus will
not do well. It is important to make sure fluency instruction is about 20% of their
literacy instruction, so I will keep that into consideration when planning out my
week and lessons. I will need a variety of books and passages at all reading levels
from PreK to High School. You never know what level your students will be on, so it
is vital to be prepared. It is also important to have the materials for any games and
the scripts for readers theatres for students to use. Having plenty of materials and
choices are important for students to have to be able to succeed and grow in their
fluency levels.
One great assessment tool I plan to use is the IRI. It includes WRI, WRC,
comprehension, and rates. I will specifically look at WRC and rates to determine
their fluency levels, but look at their scores overall to determine which books to use
on their independent reading level for further assessments. Another tool I plan to
use are timed repeated readings. I will have the students read a passage or book at

their independent reading level while I time them and count their errors. This can
be done through MadLibs or another passage of text. After completing the
assessments, I will group students based on their IRI scores. This will allow
students with similar reading levels to be together and work together.

Parts of Speech Examples

Nouns:
House
Dog
Cow
Flower
Paper
Drink
School
Family
Parents
Vacation
Park
Car
Mustard
Sun
Kid
Sky
Truck
Bread
Pen
Glue
Teacher
Bill
James
Party
Eraser
Florida
Disney World
Friend
Sticky Note
Line
Book
Folder
Sentence

Verbs:
Run
Jump
Rain
Play
Crash
Live
Love
Eat
Sleep
Drive
Wash
Sit
Hunt
Make
Pay
Earn
Give
Save
March
Write
Read
Cram
Walk
Hurt
Go
Think
Dream
Find
Watch
Call
Throw
Draw
Smile

Adjectives:
Fuzzy
Sticky
Silly
Green
Orange
Purple
Poison
Crazy
Pink
Goofy
Sad
Big
Small
Happy
Awesome
Cool
Rainy
Slow
Fast
Old
Colorful
Spotted
Feathered
Striped
Blue
Ugly
Wild
Sore
Evil
Near
Clean
Wide
Comfortable

Student
A

Time 1

Time 2

Time 3

Response to
Activity