Mrs. Thomas' 4th Grade
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Fluency Practice for Daedalus and Icarus      posted 10-24-2008
Fluency Practice for Daedalus and Icarus

By dipping first on wing, then the other, Icarus found that he could turn to the left and the right. The wind tugged at his hair. His legs trailed out behind him. He saw the fields and streams as he had never seen them before!
Then they were out over the sea. The sea gulls pecked at him angrily, so Icarus flew higher, where they could not reach him.
He copied their shrill cry and taunted them: “You can’t catch me!”
“Now remember, don’t fly too high!” called Daedalus, but his words were drowned by the screaming of the gulls.
I’m the first boy ever to fly! I’m making history! I shall be famous! thought Icarus, as he flew up and up, higher and higher.
At last Icarus was looking the sun itself in the face. “Think you’re the highest thing in the sky, do you?” he jeered. “I can fly just as high as you! Higher even!” He did not notice the drops of sweat on his forehead: He was so determined to outfly the sun.




Two Tickets to Freedom Fluency Practice 10/17      posted 10-17-2008
Fluency Practice for Two Tickets to Freedom


Mr. Johnson thanked him and stepped out, crossing the platform as quickly as possible, with his slave close behind. William escorted his master into one of the best carriages of the train and reached his own just as the train pulled out.
It was eight o’clock on Christmas Eve, just eight days after William had first thought of their plan. In the four days before they left Macon, he and Ellen had both been working; they had seen each other only at night, when they talked over each detail of their plan. They had had hardly any sleep for the four days of planning and the four days of the journey. Now that the last hurdle was passed, William realized how terribly tired he was. Knowing that they would be in Philadelphia in the morning, and that there were no important stations between Baltimore and Philadelphia, William relaxed his guard, and fell asleep. It proved to be the wrong time for sleeping.




Fluency for Mae Jemison      posted 10-09-2008
Fluency Practice for Mae Jemison: Space Scientist

Mae Jemison had made her childhood dream come true. She was ready for new challenges. A few months after her space flight, Mae took a leave of absence from NASA to teach and to do research at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Then, on March 8, 1993, she permanently resigned from the astronaut corps.
Mae formed her own company called The Jemison Group, Inc. The Jemison Group’s goal is to develop ways of using science and technology to improve the quality of life. Mae’s company makes a special effort to improve conditions in poor and developing countries.
The company’s first project used satellite communications to provide better health care for people in West Africa. Mae also established an international summer science camp for young people.
Besides her work with The Jemison Group, Mae spends much of her time traveling around the country, giving speeches, and encouraging young people to follow their dreams. Mae Jemison believes in the motto:

“Don’t be limited by others’ limited imaginations.”



Escape...fluency      posted 10-02-2008
“…Root up everything! Eat grass! Look for corn! Look for oats! Run all over! Skip and dance, jump and prance! Go down through the orchard and stroll in the woods! The world is a wonderful place when you’re young.”
“I can see that,” replied Wilbur. He gave a jump in the air, twirled, ran a few steps, stopped, looked all around, sniffed the smells of afternoon, and then set off walking down through the orchard. Pausing in the shade of an apple tree, he put his strong snout into the ground and began pushing, digging and rooting. He felt very happy. He had plowed up quite a piece of ground before anyone noticed him. Mrs. Zuckerman was the first to see him. She saw him from the kitchen window, and she immediately shouted for the men.



Sarah Plain and Tall Fluency Practice      posted 09-23-2008
Sarah, Plain and Tall – Fluency


My father did not see her look, but I did. And I knew that Caleb had seen it too. Sarah was not smiling. Sarah was already lonely. In a month’s time the preacher might come to marry Sarah and Papa. And a month was a long time. Time enough for her to change her mind and leave us.
Papa took Sarah’s bags inside, where her room was ready with a quilt on the bed and blue flax dried in a vase on the night table.
Seal stretched and made a small cat sound. I watched her circle the dogs and sniff the air. Caleb came out and stood beside me.
“When will we sing?” he whispered.
I shook my head, turning the white stone over and over in my hand. I wished everything was as perfect as the stone. I wished that Papa and Caleb and I were perfect for Sarah. I wished we had a sea of our own.



Fluency Practice for Toto      posted 09-19-2008
Fluency Practice for Toto




But Suku could not go back to sleep. When the first sunshine crept through the chinks under the door, he got up and slipped into his clothes. He had promised his mother he would cut some papyrus reeds at the river today so that she could mend their torn sleeping mats. Now that he was awake h e would do it before the day grew hot.
Quietly, so as not to waken the rest of his family, Suku tiptoed out of the hut. Outside, no one stirred. Even the cattle were still asleep.
Clutching his sharp reed knife, Suku followed the winding path down the hill to the riverbank, searching for a good stand of feathery papyrus.
Suddenly the silence at the river was broken by a loud rustling sound. The sound came again—not just a rustling this time, but a snapping of twigs and a swishing of the tall grasses. Carefully, and a little fearfully, Suku moved around the next curve in the path. And then he stopped again.






     posted 09-11-2008
Parents,
I'm going to try to publish fluency practice every week. Print it out on one page. I used 18 font and double space. They should be able to read the piece in 1 minute.


     posted 09-11-2008
Mrs. Frisby did what she was told, first grasping the precious packages of medicine tightly between her teeth.
“Are you on?”
“Yes.”
She gripped the feathers on his back, felt the beat of his powerful black wings, felt a dizzying upward surge, and shut her eyes tight.
“Just in time,” said the crow, and she heard the angry scream of the cat as he leaped at where they had just been. “It’s lucky you’re so light. I can scarcely tell you’re there.” Lucky indeed, thought Mrs. Frisby; if it had not been for your foolishness, I’d never have gotten into such a scrape. However, she thought it wise not to say so, under the circumstances.
“Where do you live?” asked the crow.
“In the garden patch. Near the big stone.”