Design

for Learning

Instructor: Victoria Bye Lesson Title: Polar Express Fluency Curriculum Area: Language Arts

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: Date: 11/12/13 Estimated Time: 1 hour

Standards Connection: AL 3rd Language Arts (21) Read with sufficient clarity and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.3.4] Learning Objective(s): When given a readers theatre script, students will read with clarity and accuracy, appropriate rate, volume, and expression based on a rubric, averaging at least three out four on the fluency scale. Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language: Elves (students will be called elves every now and then during December), today we are going to work on reading fluently and use a really fun script from one of my favorite books, and then you will get to perform it in groups for the class. Evaluation of Learning Objective(s): The students will participate in a readers theatre and the teacher will access them using a fluency rubric based on clarity and accuracy, rate, volume, and expression. Engagement: Elf friends at table four, please come to to the reading carpet. Table two, please come quietly. Now, table one. And last, but definitely not least, table three. Ok, boys and girls, who can tell me what holiday we are going to be out of school for next week? Thats right! Christmas! I am so excited about Christmas, so I thought we could read my favorite Christmas book and do an activity with it today! I am going to give you some hints about my favorite Christmas book and I want you to see if you can guess what it is. When you have a guess, give me a thumbs up. This book was made into a movie. It is about a little boy who has a hole in his pocket. One night he visits somewhere very cold and is given a bell by a very special special person. The teacher will call on a student who has a thumbs up. If the class is not able to guess, the teacher will give the following clues. The little boy takes a train to the North Pole and Santa gives him a bell. Does anyone have a guess now? The instructor will call on a student. Yes, the Polar Express! I love the Polar Express and I am so excited to read it with you today! And tomorrow, after our Christmas party, we are going to watch it together! How fun is that? Lets get started! The instructor will read the The Polar Express.
Learning Design:

I. Teaching: Elves, today we are going to talk about reading fluently. Give me a thumb if you can tell me what it means to read fluently. Those are some great ideas! Reading fluently means that a person is reading with clarity and accuracy- so they are easy to understand and able

to correctly say all words in a passage; appropriate rate- so they are not reading too slow or too fast; appropriate volume- they are not speaking too softly to be heard; and expressiontheir reading is lively and enthusiastic instead of dull and boring. So friends, we are going to read a fluency rubric together and then explore what each level of a fluency rubric sounds like. I am giving each of you your own rubric to look at. Let s all read level one under clarity and accuracy together. The instructor will read aloud with the students. The instructor will reiterate the description before moving on to ratings two through five on the fluency scale, having the class read each aloud together. The instructor will then move on to rate, volume, and expression, having the students read each level under the selected topic and pausing after each to provide reinforcement. Ok friends, now I am going to model each level, and after I model it, we will discuss my clarity and accuracy, rate, volume, and expression for the level. I will be reading pages out of The Polar Express to model the levels, so put on you elf ears and lets get listening! Level one: The teacher will model a level one on the fluency scale. Now lets talk about my fluency. Give me a thumbs up if you thought I read this page with good fluency and a thumbs down if you did not think I modeled good fluency. Wow! I see lots off thumbs down. Can someone tell me why that was not an example of good fluency? The teacher will call on students to provide explanations of what was wrong with how the teacher read the passage. The instructor will continue calling on people until each section of the rubric has been discussed- clarity and accuracy, rate, volume, and expression. If students do not automatically bring up each aspect, she will prompt with questions such as how was my clarity; did I read the words with ease; did I read choppy or smooth; did I read where I could be easily understood or was it to fast or too slow; was my volume too loud, too soft, or just right; and was my reading dull and boring or enthusiastic and interesting? After each section of the rubric has been addressed based on the teachers modeling, she will say very good! Now lets move on to see how a level two on the fluency scale sounds. The teacher will repeat the procedure of modeling and questioning for levels two, three, and four. So friends, now that we have covered each level of the fluency scale, can you tell me which level you think Santa wants all of his little elves to shoot for when reading? A four! Of course he does! Because Santa wants his elves to be the best they can be? Isnt that right Freddy? (Teacher turns to the classroom elf.) Santa also knows that in order for elves to do their best, they need to practice. So, lets take some time to practice reading fluently. II. Opportunity for Practice: In a moment, you are going to return to your desk for fluency practice with your partner. I am going to give each group a Christmas book and two fluency rubrics. I want you to take turns practicing fluent reading. While one partner is reading, the other partner should be using our rubric to evaluate the readers fluency so be sure to listen close. The first partner should read the first half of the book, and the second partner will read the last half. As you read, be sure to remember that we want to read with clarity and accuracy, appropriate rate, appropriate volume, and expression. After each person reads, you should discuss parts of the rubric they did really well on and parts they need to improve on. If you are an elf from table one or table two, please return to your table. Now table three and table four. Begin practicing. I will be walking around to listen for lots of fluent readers! The teacher will walk around the room to monitor progress and offer suggestions throughout the practice time.

III. Assessment: Listen up elves! I heard a lot of fluent readers and I am so excited to hear each of you read fluently for the class. Now, I am going to give each of you a readers theatre script from the Polar Express, our book of the day. I am going to split the class into two groups and assign each member a number. You are going to practice reading through the script two times. After you have read through the script a couple of times, you will perform it for the rest of the class. I will be listening for fluent readers so be sure that you are reading with clarity and accuracy, appropriate rate, appropriate volume, and expression! Tables one and two will be practicing on the North Pole side of the room and groups three and four will be practicing on Santas workshop side. Please go to your side of the room and I will bring you scripts and assign you your parts. The instructor will take scripts to each group and assign them reader numbers. After each group has had time to practice twice, I need all my elves in tables three and four to return to the reading carpet. Now all my elves from tables one and two, please stand in front of the class. You are going to read through your script demonstrating fluent reading. I will be videoing with the iPad so that we can watch these later. Groups one and two, you may begin performing your readers theatre! The instructor will video the groups in order to go back later and assess them using the fluency rubric. Tables three and four will perform after one and two. IV. Closure: Wow, I bet Santa is so proud of all my fluent elves! You all did a great job on our Polar Express readers theatre! Can someone remind me what we learned about fluent reading today? What are the four characteristics? The instructor will allow time for students to answer with: clarity and accuracy, appropriate rate and volume, and expression. Thats exactly right! I want you to practice reading fluently through paying attention to those four areas every time you read! Materials and Resources: The Polar Express Fluency Rubrics Readers Theatre Script iPad Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners): Low- Students struggling with fluency will be paired with a peer tutor to practice fluent reading. They will listen to the peer tutor read and read for the peer tutor to access them with a rubric and offer help and suggestions. High- Students will practice reading fluently on cold reads and serve as peer tutors. Data Analysis:

Reflection:

Fluency Clarity & Accuracy

1 Mumbles and makes frequent errors when reading the text.

2 Voice is sometimes difcult to understand and student makes occasional errors.

3 Voice is consistent throughout and student sometimes makes occasional errors, but errors do not affect content. Reads fast and slow throughout. Maintains one volume throughout the entire reading.

4 Voice is very clear throughout entire passage. Student does makes none or very few errors when reading and selfcorrects when necessary. Reads at an appropriate conversational style pace. Varies volume to appropriately match the context of the passage. Reads with expression and enthusiasm throughout entire passage.

Rate

Reads slow and laboriously.

Reads moderately slow or too fast. Reads in a quiet voice or a very loud voice without being guided to do so through context of passage. The reader has a little bit of expression. Voice sounds the same through a lot of the text.

Volume

Reads in a quiet voice as if struggling to get words out.

Expression

The reading does not sound natural. The reading is monotone and boring.

The reader uses expression, but sometimes slips into slightly monotone reading.

The Polar Express

Chris Van Allsburg Narrator 1: On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound-a sound a friend had told me Id never hearringing bells of Santas sleigh. Narrator 2 Theres no Santa Narrator 3: my friend insisted, but I knew he was wrong. Late that night I did hear the sounds, though not of ringing bells. Narrator 4: From outside came the sounds of hissing steam and squeaking metal. I looked through my window and saw a train standing perfectly still in from of my house. Narrator 5: It was wrapped in an apron of steam. Snowflakes fell lightly around it. A conductor stood at the open door of one of the cars. Narrator 6: He took large pocket watch from his vest, then looked up at my window. I put on my slippers and robe. I tiptoed downstairs and out the door. Narrator 7: All aboard Narrator 8: the conductor cried out. I ran up to him. Narrator 1: Well, are you coming? Narrator 2: Where? Narrator 3: Why to the North Pole of course. This is the Polar Express. Narrator 4: I took his outstretched hand and he pulled me aboard. Narrator 5: The train was filled with other children, all in their pajamas and nightgowns. We sang Christmas carols and ate candies with nougat centers as white as snow. Narrator 6: We drank hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars. Outside the lights of towns and villages flickered in the distance as the Polar Express raced northward. Narrator 7: Soon there were no more lights to be seen. We traveled through cold, dark forests where lean wolves roamed and white tailed rabbits hid from our train as it thundered through the quiet wilderness. Narrator 8: We climbed mountains so high it seemed as if we could scrape the moon. But the Polar Express never slowed down. Faster and faster we ran along, rolling over peaks and through valleys like a car on a roller coaster. Narrator 1: The mountains turned into hills, the hills to snow covered plains. We crossed a barren desert of ice- the Great Polar Ice Cap. Narrator 2: Lights appeared in the distance. They looked like the lights of a strange ocean line sailing on a frozen sea. Narrator 3: There is the North Pole, said the conductor. Narrator 4: The North Pole. It was a huge city standing alone at the top of the world, filled with factories where every Christmas toy was made. At first we saw no elves. Narrator 5: They are gathering at the center of the city, the conductor told us. That is where Santa will five the first gift of Christmas Narrator 6: Who receives the first gift? we all asked. Narrator 7: He will choose one of you. Narrator 8: Look, shouted one of the children. The elves. Narrator 1: Outside we saw hundred of elves. As our train drew closed to the center of the North Pole we slowed to a crawl, so crowded were the streets with Santas helpers. Narrator 2: When the Polar Express could go no farther, we stopped and the conductor led us outside. Narrator 3: We pressed through the crowd to the edge of a large, open circle. In front of us stood Santas sleigh. The reindeer were excited. They pranced and paced, ringing the silver bells that hung from their harnesses. Narrator 4: It was a magical sound, like nothing Id ever heard. Across the circle, the elves moved apart and Santa appeared. The elves cheered wildly. He marched over to us and, pointing to me, said Narrator 5: Lets have this fellow here.

Narrator 6: He jumped into his sleigh. The conductor handed me up. I sat on Santas knee and he asked, Narrator 7: Now, what would you like for Christmas? Narrator 8: I knew that I could have any gift I could imagine. But the thing I wanted most for Christmas was not inside Santas giant bag. What I wanted more than anything was one silver bell from Santas sleigh. Narrator 1: When I asked, Santa smiled. The he gave me a hug and told an elf to cut a bell from a reindeers harness. The elf tossed it up to Santa. He stood, holding the bell high above him and called out Narrator 2: the first gift of Christmas! Narrator 3: As soon as we were back inside the Polar Express, the other children asked to see the bell. I reached into my pocket, but the only thing I felt was a hole. I had lost the silver bell from Santa Clauss sleigh. Narrator 4: Lets hurry outside and look for it. Narrator 5: one of the children said. But the train gave a sudden lurch and started moving. We were on our way home. It broke my heart to lose the bell. Narrator 6: When the train reached my house, I sadly left the other children. I stood at my doorway and waved good-bye. The conductor yelled something from the moving train but I couldnt hear him. Narrator 7: What? I yelled at him. Narrator 8: He cupped his hands around his mouth. MERRY CHRISTMAS Narrator 1: The Polar Express let out a loud blast from its whistle and sped away. Narrator 2: On Christmas morning my little sister Sarah and I opened our presents. When it looked as if everything had been unwrapped, Sarah found one last small box behind the tree. Narrator 3: It had my name on it. Inside was the silver bell! There was a note Narrator 4: Found this on the seat of my sleigh. Fix that hole in your pocket. Mrs. C. Narrator 5: I shook the bell. It made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard. But my mother said, Narrator 6: Oh, thats too bad. Narrator 7: Yes, its broken, said my father. Narrator 8: When Id shaken the bell, my parents had not heard a sound. Narrator 1: At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years, passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Through Ive grown old, the bell still rings for me as if does for all who truly believe .