Rationale: Reading fluency is the ability to recognize words automatically with speed and accuracy. Part of being a fluent reader involves reading with expression. Once we fluent readers, we can practice reading with expression. We can practice reading with expression because we are able to read words smoothly, with speed, and accuracy. When a child can read with expression, the story becomes more exciting while also allowing them to better understand the storyline. In this lesson, students will read and reread sections of Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy by Barbara Park. Students will also participate in an expression mirroring game.

 

Materials:

• Class set of Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy by Barbara Park

• Pictures of expressions (attached below)

• Expression checklists (attached below)

• Class set of Coverup Critters

• Pencils

 

Procedures:

1. Say: Who likes  to read? [wait for student responses] Who reads with someone like their mom or dad? [wait for student response] Awesome! When you read with someone do you like it when they use different voices and make funny faces? [wait for student response] Reading with silly faces or voices makes the book more fun to read. Using silly voices/faces is called expression. Does anybody know what expression is? [students may respond] An expression is when you change your voice to make it loud [speak loudly] or soft [whisper]. You may not know it, but along with your voice changing, your face and body moves when things happen in the story too. Using expression in stories is important because it keeps us interested in the story and helps our reading comprehension.                                    

2.  After teaching the students what expression means and why it is important, the teacher will then read a couple sentences from Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy

   • Say: “Ok so now we are going to read Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy. I want you all to sit up straight and turn your listening ears on” [put your hands on your ears like you are turning them on]

     • Book talk: Has anybody ever done show-in-tell at school? Well, in Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy, it is bring your pet to school day. The only rule is no dogs allowed. Junie B. Jones only has a dog, so she tries to convince her mom to get a new pet. She has all kinds of ideas of what pet to get. To find out what pet she brings, we will have to read Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy.  [Read the first few pages of the book in a monotone voice making sure not to include emotion or expression]                                                                                            

3. Say: “What did everyone think of the first few pages of the book? Was it fun to listen to or a little boring? Let’s try it again.” [Read the same few pages again but with expression and emotion to make the book more entertaining].                                                                                                                                  

4. Say: “Ok. So what did everyone think of the reading this time? Did you enjoy the story more the first time or the second? Why do you think you liked it better the second time I read it?” You liked it better the second time because I had more expression making the story more fun to read.                                 

5.  Say: “Let’s review what expression is. Can anybody tell me what they remember?” [wait for responses] Expression is using your voice, face, or body movement to show emotion. We are able to now read with expression because we can read text with with smoothness, accuracy, and automaticity. Provide examples to the class that when someone is sad they may frown or have a sad face, like this picture (make your own sad face and show a picture of a sad face). When someone is sad, they may also talk slow or in a deep soft voice. But, when someone is really happy or excited they might smile, laugh, or maybe even jump up and down (make your own happy face and show a picture of someone excited). When someone is happy, their voice may get higher and maybe even yell! Now, we are going to practice guessing what each expression is. I am going to show some pictures and I want you to shout out what emotion the picture shows. Teacher shows a face of someone with a scowling and explains that this could be shown when the reader is upset or mad about something. Next teacher shows picture of someone frowning. She will explain how we may make this face when we are sad. Now that we have the hang of it, we are going to practice by choosing which face matches the example sentences. “I am going to read 6 sentences and I want you to choose which face goes with each sentence.” Sad face sentences: I dropped my ice cream on the sidewalk! My dog is sick! Smiling face sentences: I got a new pet! I don’t have school today! Mad face sentences: Anna Grace took my candy! I lost the basketball game. [try to mix up the sentences to see if students truly understand expressions]                                                                                                                                                               

6. Say: “Now, I want you to pick a partner at your table and we are going to play a mirroring game. I want one of you to be person A and one to be person B. Person A, your job is to pick any kind of facial expression/voice you want and person B has to copy what you do exactly. Then we will switch! I will show an example. [pick one student to demonstrate to come to the front and help demonstrate] Ok, [student name] I want you to pick any expression or voice you like one that shows you are happy, sad, or anything you want and then I am going to copy what you do. [student picks expression and teacher copies expression]                                                                                                                                      

7. Pass out the class set of Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy to each student. Say: “Ok so now that everyone has their own book, we are going to practice reading. I want you to read chapter 4 two times. The first time, I want you to read to yourself. Then the second time I want you to pick one partner at your table and take turns reading the chapter to each other.” As students read with their partner, have the student not currently reading fill out an expression checklist. The checklist will have a couple sentences from the chapter that express emotion. When the student reading gets to one of the sentences in the story, their partner will check whether or not the student read it with the proper expression.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

8. Say: Remember that if you find a word you don’t know, try to decode and cross check with the rest of the sentence to see if it makes sense. To decode, you have to sound out the word and it doesn’t make sense with the rest of the sentence, try it again. You can even use a cover up critter if it helps! To use coverups, you take your coverup critter and cover up the unknown text word so that only one letter or sight chunk is shown at a time instead of the entire word. Once you cover part of the word, sound out the letters/word chunks. Once you can read the first part of the text word, move the cover up critter to see the next section of the word. Try to blend the two parts together. Continue using the coverup critter until you are able to read the entire word. Once you are able to read the word, reread the sentence practicing the newly learned word.                                                                                                

9. After the students have had time to read the chapter individually and with a partner, the teacher will go over the chapter and discuss the different expressions they should use. The teacher can also ask reading comprehension questions to make sure the students know what was going on in the story.          

• Comprehension Questions: 

  • What did Grandma put in Junie B Jones' hands? 

    • a worm

  • What pet does Grandma have and what is his name?

    • Twitter-pet fish

  • What does Junie B Jones think of the worm?

    • she is disgusted 

  • What does Mother put in the jar to make it more of a home for the worm? 

    • dirt, rocks, sticks, and a dandelion                                                                                    

   10. To make sure each individual student understands how to use expression in reading, collect the

         expression checklists. The checklists will allow the teacher to see which students and understanding

         the topic and which students may need some extra help. For those students who may need some

         extra help, set a few minutes aside to call them up to read with them one-on-one. The teacher

         should also ask comprehension questions to make sure the student understands the story line as

         well.

 

Resources:

• Barker, Meredith. Growing Fluency: Express Yourself

• Book: Park, Barbara, and Denise Brunkus. Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy. Random House, 1998.

• Expression Chart: Emoji Chart

• Expression Checklist

• Other lesson designs/materials for reading: Reading Genie

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