Say: “Okay class who is ready to work on achieving a new goal? Today we are going to achieve one of our goals in becoming a fluent reader! Does anyone know what a fluent reader is? (Call on a student to answer if they think they know what a fluent reader is). A fluent reader is someone who is able to read very quickly and smoothly because they are able to recognize words. If we can recognize the word, then we can better understand what we are reading because we can instantly know each word’s meaning. This will make reading so much more fun and exciting!” 

Say: “Let’s look at this sentence written on the board: Jessie had some tough homework. Everyone put their listening ears on. I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence to you. J-eehh-ssss-eee (Jessie) had s-uuu-mm(some) t-uuuuhhhh-g (tough) h-oh-m-w-or-k, oh homework. Jessie had some tug homework, it must be tough instead of tug. Jessie had some tough homework. Did you notice how I got stuck on a word when I read the sentence? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning to figure out which word made the most sense. This strategy of rereading a sentence is called crosschecking. Crosschecking is super important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers!” 

Say: “Now we are going to read a book called Marley The Messy Dog. First, I want you to read the book silently to yourselves. Marley starts in the garage so that the Mommy can paint without him getting into trouble. Marley knew how to open the door though. When the mommy was not looking, Marley went into the room she was painting. What do you think he will do there? Do you think he will get in the paint? Do you think he will get in trouble if he makes a mess?” Pass out the book to each child. 

Students will read the whole book to themselves silently. Then, they will read the book to a partner without helping them or getting frustrated. 

After the students read to themselves, partner them up and say: “You and your partner will now get a stopwatch, a copy of Marley, a reading rate chart, and a fluency checklist. You and your partner are going to read Marley The Messy Dog, 3 times each to build on your fluency. You will take turns with one person being the reader and one person being the timer. Whoever is the timer will time the reader to see how long it takes them to read the book. Be sure that you hit start as soon as they start reading, and stop as soon as they finish reading. While you listen to your partner reading out loud, I want you to listen to how their reading changes each time. Do they remember more words each time? Do they read with more emotion? Do they make facial expressions, and change their tone of voice? If you notice any changes, I want you to write them down on your paper.” 

When they are finished with their partner work, call each student to your desk one at a time to reread the book to you. Have them bring their record sheet, so that you can attach it to the back of their assessment sheet. As they read, you will time them again on their read aloud and use the formula given to record how many words per minute they read.