Reading Strategies
Check the picture. Use the first letter. Look at all the parts of the word. Find a word within a word. Try it 2 ways. Skip it and come back to it. Cover and Slide Check it! Do a double-check! Ask yourself, does it make sense? |
When we don't know a word, we aren't helpless.
We have strategies to help us work on the word independently. First, we.. Check the picture - look to see if the picture tells you what the unknown word could be. In early reading books, the picture is usually the best clue. If that information isn't enough, we... Use the first letter - then we look at the first letter to see if together the picture and the sound of the first letter match. But that isn't enough! I need more. Next we... Look at ALL the parts of the word - breaking up the word into smaller, readable parts will help in the process of sounding out the word. Consonant clusters (ex's: sh, tr, pl) stay together. And then we should... Find a word in a word - usually when we are breaking up the word into parts, we come across a smaller "sight word" (Memorized words on our word wall) that we already know. We then can use this word to help us make sense of the rest of the word. But there are other parts of the word I just don't get! So then we should... Try it 2 ways - this is talking about the vowel. Vowels have two sounds, the long vowel sound (where the letter says its name - u, unicorn) and the short vowel sound (o - octopus). When we try the vowel both ways, we can hear which sound makes sense. It helps to try it both ways because one way usually sounds incredibly silly, and we realize which one makes sense. Sometimes these strategies just aren't helping us with the unknown word. So now we need to just... Skip it and come back - skip the unknown word and read the rest of the sentence. This way we can use the rest of the sentence to help us figure out what is missing to make it all make sense. *I took out Make a Running Start* The next step is thinking about the parts of the word, but literally... Cover and slide - moving a hand, finger, or piece of paper over the word slowly so only a few letters show is helpful in reading just a few parts of a word at a time. When we read the sounds slowly together, then come back and read it smoothly, we may have to say the word over a few times to make it sound right. And then! Most importantly... Check it! Do a double check! - When we think we have figured out what the word is, we need to check and make sure it sounds right. WITH EVERY STRATEGY... we have to think, "DOES IT MAKE SENSE?" We need to use our brains and think about whether or not it sounds right, makes sense in the story, and makes sense in the sentence we are reading! |