Many years ago, I started my teaching career at a "rough" neighborhood school. Students were somewhat unruly and I was having a difficult time trying to teach anything beyond behavior! Well, I reached out the school site reading coach and asked for help. She came to present what she called a fluency tea. As she described the procedures, I internally thought "Yea right, she doesn't know my kids. It won't work." However, to my surprise they loved it! It made such an impression on me that I have always sprinkled it throughout the year to engage my students in reading fluency. Recently, I presented it for a Spotlight visiting teacher and this prompted me to share it with you!
1. Start with a brief discussion describing the elements of a tea party. People mingle, get to know each other, and display manners. I enjoy to talk with the class about the aspects of British customs and why they love tea so much. I usually show a picture on the document camera to give students some context.2. Manners are important! I like to discuss that sometimes, when you are invited to a party, you have to introduce yourself to strangers. I instruct students that they must pretend that they don't know each other. Ask for a volunteer and teach formal ways to meet someone: shake their hand, ask for their name, and greet them in a pleasant manner. They will giggle and think it is silly but most of they time they will buy into it. I was also thinking that this part of the fluency tea is a great way to embed your PBIS characteristics such as kindness and respect. These are two of our four student characteristics and I often emphasize how important it is to always be kind to each other.
3. So what do they read? This is a great opportunity to merge science or social studies text into your language arts block. Two for one!! I love to use our science leveled readers. Since there are four Lexile levels offered on the same title, I can differentiate text complexity if I know my student's current Lexile level based on Reading Inventory results. Since I did not have enough copies for each student, I begged my grade level partner to let me borrow her set as well for this activity and returned the books to her as soon as we were done for the day. One of my students is beyond any lexile level that is offered by these readers so I used www.readworks.org to print him a 1200 lexile passage related to volcanoes. The important part is to find text that each student can successfully read fluently and feel positive about their reading!
4. Set a time limit. I usually give the students 10 to 15 minutes to mingle and search for "strangers" to introduce themselves to and share reading. You may also want to teach them how to give specific praises for fluency. I have an anchor poster with the acronym APE - Accuracy Pace Expression. Listeners can give positive feedback on reading fluency. During this part of the activity, it is so much fun watching your students display kindness, manners, and develop social skills that they will need as adults.
The best part about this routine is that you can take it outside if you wish. Kids need movement all the time and sometimes an opportunity to get some fresh air! So take it outside! So....ready for a fluency tea party? Don't forget to bring your manners!
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| Happy Writing (and reading)! Gus Macuil |
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