Junie B Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fluency

Growing Independence and Fluency

Rationale: Reading fluency is the ability to recognize words quickly and automatically by creating many sight words. As young readers develop new sight words, they begin to read faster, more accurately, smoother, and with expression. Making sight words begins with decoding, but fluency can be developed through repeated and timed readings. Using these methods will help decrease the amount of time spent decoding. This lesson utilizes modeling and practice of these repeated readings so that students gain independence in reading strategies and become more fluent.

Materials:

Dry erase board and markers per student
dry erase board and markers for teacher
class set of Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake
stopwatch per pair of students
Fluency Checklist Sheet
Sheet with comprehension questions
coverup critter (popsicle stick and google eyes- optional) per student
pencil per student

Procedures:

Say: “Alright class! Our goal is to be the very best readers we can be, and in order to do that we must be able to read fluently. Reading fluently is when you can read smoothly and quickly so that you don’t have to sound out each word. We also want to create sight words. Sight words are words that we don't have to sound out or figure out because we recognize them right away. By becoming fluent readers, we are able to enjoy the book we’re reading much more because we can focus on the story and not get hung up on each word.”
Say (model): "I am going to let you listen to me read a short passage from our book two times. When I'm done, I'll take a vote on which time I sounded better. (Read choppily) “I jUUuuMMmmmpppPPed ooooouuuttt of bbbbbeeeeeeeeddd” (come back after to change, beed to bed, by cross-checking) bed.” (Read smoothly) Let me try this passage again. “I jumped out of beed, bed.” (Ask for a show of hands) “Who liked listening to my first reading? How about the second? Why did the second time sound better to you? Right! The second time sounded a lot better to listen to because I didn't have to stop to figure out any of the words, I just went back and fixed the one I didn’t know.”
Say: Did you notice that I crosschecked when I couldn't get a word? I finished the sentence with the word I couldn't figure out to see if I could figure out the tough. The first time I read them, I pronounced how they looked like they should sound, but they didn't sound like real words I've ever heard of. When I finished the sentence, I could tell that the word was bed instead of beed.
Say: “Let's try reading the two sentences that I have written on the board together. I see a couple of tough new words in the sentence. (Choral read): “Their names are Who Can Skip the Fastest. And Who Can Hop on One Foot the Longest.” “I heard some of you having trouble reading the words their and longest, but I did hear you all read on to the end of the sentence to figure out those words! The word longest makes an /o/ sound at the beginning of it and even though we spell it with an l it is going to sound like an O with the ng next to it. In the word their, we have /I/ in the middle of it followed by /r/. Let's all read these two sentences together again now, thinking about these special spellings as we read the words almost and ride.
Say: “Today we are going to read about a silly kindergartner named Junie B. Jones! One day she went to school and found out there was a carnival. At this carnival there were lots of different games and a cake walk! Let’s just say nothing worked out exactly how she planned.”
(Write the directions on the white board for students to look at. As you are writing it down, explain what you will have the children do.)Say: “Now, we are going to partner up with our reading buddies. While one buddy, comes up to the front to get 2 copies of the book, a reading response questions form, a fluency chart, and a stopwatch. The partner that is finding a place to read will be counting up the number of words on the 5 pages after we left off and will write that number at the top of your fluency charts. You and your partner will each read those 5 pages 3 times while the other times you’re reading with a stopwatch. If you are the partner that is not reading, you need to be playing close attention to the mistakes your reading partner makes. On the last reading I want you to make a little tally each time your partner makes a mistake. (Show tally method on the board)“ After you have read the second and third time you will fill out the fluency checklist to show what your partner improved on. Lastly you will take the total number of words from those pages and subtract the number of tallies for the last reading and plug that number into the formula on the sheet. Your answer will read ‘___ words in ___ minutes.’ You will then use this number to fill out the bottom of the fluency checklist. “When you finish the fluency checklist, discuss your answers to the reading response questions. Each of you will write your answers in complete sentences back at your desk and turn in those and your fluency charts to me.”

Fluency Checklist:

Title of Book: __________________________________

Student’s Name: ____________ Date___________

Partner's Name: ______________________________

After 2nd Reading After 3rd Reading
_________ _________ Remembered more words
_________ _________ Read faster
_________ _________ Read smoother
_________ _________ Read with expression

(Words x 60)/seconds= WPM

0 - - - 10 - - - 20 - - - 30 - - - 40 - - - 50 - - - 60 - - - 70 - - - 80 - - - 90 - - - 100

Correct Words Per Minute

Assessment:

Collect Partner Fluency Checklist to see student progress
Words Per Minute Formula: (words x 60) / (seconds)
Comprehension Questions:
1. Who came to babysit Junie B.?
2. What did Junie B. do to prepare for the carnival so she could win the games?
3. What cake did Junie B win at the cakewalk?

Resources:

Book: Park, B., Brunkus, D., & Quintal, L. (2020). Junie B. Jones and the yucky blucky fruitcake. Findaway World, LLC. https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/junie-b-jones-and-the-yucky-blucky-fruitcake-9780439135023.html

For a similar lesson visit: Growing independence and fluency. My Site. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://shelbyyyptak2000.wixsite.com/my-site/growing-independence-and-fluency.

Murray, Bruce. Reading Genie. http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/

Diane, & Diane. (2019, December 31). Comprehension questions - #5 Junie B. Jones and the yucky blucky fruitcake. RiseToReading. Retrieved October 25, 2021, from http://www.risetoreading.com/2019/05/02/comprehension-questions-junie-b-jones-and-the-yucky-blucky-fruitcake/.

Click here to return to the Awakenings Index

Junie B Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fluency

I'd Love To Know What You Think