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Shush, Hush, Don’t Disturb Us!

Growing Independence & Fluency Lesson Design

Anna Laws

 

Rationale: Fluent readers recognize words automatically when they read. Fluent readers read quickly, expressively, silently, and voluntarily. To be considered a fluent reader, a student needs to know how to read out loud and silently. However, while reading silently, the student must still comprehend the reading.  Practicing reading will improve his/her ability which will increase the child’s interest in reading; he/she will have motivation because they will know how to read on their own.  In this lesson students will learn to read silently by observing modeling and reading and rereading the text, “The Red Cap.”

 

Materials:

1. Class set of “The Red Cap” by Matt Sims

2. Sentence strips with “Max did not get fed by Jim or Ted. Max got mad,” written on it

3. Silent Reading Check List copies (enough for the class):

Check List:

____ Reads aloud

____ Reads in a whisper

____ Reads while moving lips

____ Reads silently

 

Procedure:

1. “We have learned to decode words that we didn’t know before. We also have learned letters and sounds that go with them. Each of you can read faster and smoother and are on the right track to becoming a fluent reader. When you go to the library and you see expert readers, most likely they are reading silently to themselves. If their neighbor distracts them, they might even tell them to ‘Shhh!” so they can focus. Today we’re going to do the very same thing! Something that fluent readers do really well is read silently. You can read faster when you read silently. We have become really skilled at reading aloud, but practicing reading silently is also very important.”

2. “When you read silently, you say the words in your head. Everyone be really quiet for a moment and without using your mouth, I want you to use that little voice in your head to say the phrase, “Shush! Hush! Don’t disturb us!” but don’t actually make any sound. 1, 2, 3, go! See what I mean? Silent reading is just like normal reading, but we don’t make a sound. An important thing about silent reading is that we need to make sure we are understanding the story as we read. If we come to any words we don’t know, we can use cover-ups, cross-checking, or re-reading. Remember, we use cover-ups to help us split the word up into easier sounds and consonant clusters. Cross checking is when we check the word to see if it makes sense within the context of the sentence.”

3. “Now I’m going to show you steps that will make practicing silent reading easier. First I’m going to read the sentences out loud: “Max did not get fed by Jim or Ted. Max got mad.” Now I am going to read in a whisper. (Reads sentence.) Now I am going to read the next sentence by just moving my lips. (Reads sentence). Now I am going to read the sentence after that to myself silently. (Reads sentence). See! Now I know what Max was upset and why he took the cap."

4. “Now we are going to read a story called, “The Red Cap.” Ted has a dog named Max and they are really good buddies. Ted always wears a red hat. During this story, many things happen to the red cap and Max and Ted have to work together to get it back. We need to read to find out what happens!” Give a copy of the book to each student and have them only read the first two pages for each of the following steps. “We’re going to do the first step in learning how to read silently. Who remembers when that is? Right, we’re going to read out loud and this time we’re going to all read out loud together.” (Read the first two pages).

5. “Who remembers what we do after we read out loud? Right! We whisper read. Now let’s try that all together for the first two pages. (Whisper read). After whisper reading, let’s just move our lips to read. (Lip-read). Now let’s all read the same two pages silently to ourselves.”

6. “Now I want each of you to get with a partner and read the whole story. Your partner is going to watch you as you read and check off each of the four steps as you go. This means you will read the story four through which will improve your fluency.” Make sure your students each have a partner and give each a silent reading check list. Walk around the room to ensure students are on task and understand what to do.

7. After students have completed the silent reading check list, have the students answer these questions in writing to check for their comprehension: “What did Max do to the cap? Why did Max tear up the cap? Who was trying to steal the cap? How did Max save the day?” Then bring the students back together to discuss the story. 

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Assessment: Later that day or the next day, have each student come up to your desk so you can assess their ability to read silently. Use the same checklist to check off how the student read.

 

Book: Sims, Matt. The Red Cap. Novato, CA: High Noon, 1999. Print.

Related Lesson: “Shh…We’re Reading” by Erin Taylor: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/taylorgf.html

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