| Reading Strategies for Parents These are some of the reading strategies I use in our classroom. These are important strategies to make your child an independent reader. I never tell a child what a word is without using the following strategies first. 1. Use picture clues to figure out a word. This means that your child should look at the pictures in the story to help him/her figure out the word. 2. What if my child makes an incorrect guess? Here are some things that you can ask your child: �Does it make sense?� (in the context of the sentence) If the answer is �no�, tell your child to look at the first letter in the word. Let�s say the unknown word is �pig� and your child says, �dig�. Ask your child, �What letter does �dig� start with?� If your child says �d�, ask your child, �How could that word be �dig� if it does not start with that letter?� Then ask your child what letter does the word start with and what sound does it make. Tell your child to take a closer look at the word. 3. Sound out the word. 4. Chunk the word. For example, if the word was outside cover half the word so that only the word �out� would be showing. Have your child try to figure this part of the word first before revealing the rest of the word. Once your child identified the word �out�, then reveal only the last part of the word. Then have him/her put the two words together to form the word outside. 5. Skip the unfamiliar word. When a child comes to a word that they do not know, have them skip the word and finish reading the sentence. For example, �I am wearing my blue (blank-dress). Ask your child what word would make sense based on the picture, letter sounds, or the main idea of the story. When helping your child read at home, several strategies may be used to aid in decoding unknown words. If you have any questions, or if I can be of any further assistance, please send a note to school or email me. |