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The Fight - Oral Fluency Practice

Main Core Tie

English Language Arts Grade 2
Reading: Foundational Skills Standard 4

Time Frame

1 class periods of 30 minutes each

Group Size

Large Groups

Authors

Karma Bonner
Karen Lowry
Grace Wayman

Summary

To help improve the students oral reading fleuncy, this activity can be applied to any grade appropriate reading material.


Materials

Attachments


Background for Teachers

The Fight
by, Helen H. Moore

I have a friend.
We had a fight!
I cried myself
to sleep last night.

And when I see
my friend today,
I'll say, "I'm sorry.
Want to play?"

I hope she'll say
she's sorry, too -
I'm sure she will -
that's what friends do.


Student Prior Knowledge

The student will need an understanding of what statement, question, and exclamatory sentences are.


Intended Learning Outcomes

  1. Share ideas using communication skills.
  2. Apply prior knowledge and processes to construct new knowledge.


Instructional Procedures

  1. Select a passage to read to the students and read it aloud without any pauses, phrasing, intonation, or differences between statement, exclamation, and questions.
  2. Ask the students, "Is this passage easy to understand? Is this enjoyable to listen to?"
  3. Read the passage again with pauses, phrasing, expression, or differences between statement, exclamation, and questions.
  4. Now ask the students, "Is this passage easier to understand? Is this more enjoyable to listen to? What made the difference?"
  5. Explain that fluent readers read passages with pauses, phrasing, expression, or differences between statement, exclamation, and questions.
  6. Hand out a copy of the poem, "The Fight" (pdf).
  7. Have the students read through the poem on their own and then read the poem together as a class.
  8. Now, have the students look at the poem and identify the different kind of sentences in this poem.
    • Can they find the statement sentences (periods)? (ex. I have a friend.)
    • Can they find the question sentences (question marks)? (ex. Want to play?)
    • Can they find the exclamation sentences (exclamation points)? (ex. We had a fight!)
  9. Talk about how each of those kinds of sentences would be read and practice reading each kind of sentence.
  10. Next, have the students find any sentences containing commas (pauses). (Ex. I hope she'll say she's sorry, too--)
  11. Ask, "How do we read when we come to a comma?"
  12. Now, have the students practice reading the passage using the pauses, on their own and with a partner.
  13. Ask, "Does it make the passage more meaningful when you read aloud this way?"
  14. Now have the student practice this poem alone or with a partner.


Assessment Plan

Assess each student by having them read the poem to their partner to see if they are reading the poem with intonation and phrasing with a difference between statement, question, and exclamation sentences. Teacher listens in and breeches as needed.


Bibliography

Lesson adapted from, Building Fluency: Lessons and Strategies for Reading Success (An excellent teacher resource book for teaching fluency.)


Created: 08/02/2005
Updated: 02/05/2018
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