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The Bad Seed’s Transformation to Fluency
Emily Forest
Rationale: In order to comprehend reading, students need to be a fluent reader. Being a fluent reader means that a student can read automatically and effortlessly, while also being able to retain the message of the text. Fluency makes reading more enjoyable for students because they can use expression and read smoothly through the story. Through reading, decoding, crosschecking, mental marking, and rereading, students can grow into fluent readers. In this lesson, students will gain fluency and independence in reading by crosschecking after reading texts and repeated readings.
Materials:
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Class set of The Bad Seed by Jory John and Pete Oswald
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Pencils
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Stopwatch for each pair of students
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Coverup critter for each student
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Peer checklist (one per student)
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White or smart board
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Potato displayed on board
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"The dog barked and growled aggressively" displayed on board
Procedures:
1. Say: “Today we are going to be working on improving our fluency while reading. Does anyone know what fluency means? (allow students to answer and respond accordingly). A fluent reader can read smoothly and effortlessly while also understanding what they are reading. The more fluent we are, the easier reading becomes! First, we need to add more sight words to our vocabulary. We are going to work on this with a couple of strategies.”
2. Say “I have a word written on the board, let’s take a look at it: seed. Using my coverup critter to help me, I am going to try and figure out this word. Watch me as I show you how to read this unfamiliar word. (Use the coverup critter to slowly unveil the letters as you are sounding them out) Ssss-eeeeee-dddd. /s/ /ee/ /d/. Hmm, I am not sure if that made sense, let’s try to blend it together: sseeeddd. Oh seed! In this word, our double e is making their long E sound! Our coverup critters and decoding skills are really helpful when identifying hard words that we have never seen before.”
3. “Crosschecking is our next skill that helps us figure out unfamiliar words. To cross-check we need to read the rest of the sentence and see what makes sense in the sentence. Let’s look at the sentence I have written on the board: The dog barked and growled aggressively. I am going to pretend that I am reading this sentence in a book. Tell me if I sound like a fluent reader. The dog (pause and wait a few seconds) bbb-aa-rrrrrrr-kk-ee-dd huh? Let’s finish the sentence: and panted aggressively. Oh, barked because dog’s bark! By finishing the rest of the sentence, I used the context to understand the hard word. Did I sound fluent when I read that sentence (let students answer)? I did not sound fluent because I read the sentence slower and had to sound out a word. Could someone read the sentence to the class fluently? (Call a student’s name) (student’s name) read this sentence with fluency because they read it automatically and effortlessly. They took the tough word and mental marked it, so that when they reread the sentence, they knew exactly what the word was!”
4. “Now we are going to read the book The Bad Seed by Jory John and Pete Oswald. This story is about a bad seed that lies about anything and everything all day long. He cuts in line and other bad stuff too. Suddenly he has a bad feeling when doing the bad stuff. What will he do? Will he change his behavior? I want you to read the book silently to yourself and find out what happens in the book! Please use your coverup critters if you come across a tough word.” (pass out class set along with coverup critter and allow students time to read).
5. When everyone is finished say, “Now we are going to pair up and read the book a few more times with a partner. The first time through, do not help your partner if they cannot figure out a word. I want you to just listen to them read.”
6. Now pass out recording sheets and stopwatches to each group (see below). “Now we are going to be playing a fluency game. One person will be reader 1 and your partner will be reader 2. Reader 1 is going to read the book while Reader 2 times them on the stopwatch. Reader 2 will record this time on the sheet I just gave you. Then the readers will switch positions. There are three spots on the sheet so I want you to repeat until the sheet is full. Be thinking about if the reader you timing are remembers more words, is reading smoother, faster, and are using expression each time through. Write the answers to these questions on your sheet.” (give enough time for students to read through the book 3 times).
7. After students have read the book 3 times, call each student up individually to your desk. When they come, have them bring their fluency checklist and their book to you. Have them read the book to you and time and record how many words per minute they read.
8. After all students have read the book to you, have them quietly and independently answer the three comprehension questions to assess.
Fluency Checklist for each student:
Title of Book:
Student’s Name:
Partner’s Name:
Make a checkmark if the following things improve after 2nd and 3rd tries:
Reads more words by sight: __ __
Read faster: __ __
Read smoother: __ __
Read with expression: __ __
Reading Tracker:
0-----10-----20-----30-----40-----50-----60-----70-----80-----90-----100
(Words x 60) / seconds= WPM
Comprehension Questions:
1. In the beginning, what did the bad seed love to do most?
2. What made the bad seed want to change his ways?
3. How did the bad seed act after changing his ways?
References:
Cate Behl, “The Couch Potato’s Leap to Fluency”
https://ceb0131.wixsite.com/my-site/growing-independence-and-fluency
Book: John, Jory & Oswald, Pete. The Bad Seed, 2019. Print.
https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Seed-Jory-John/dp/006246776X
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