When helping your child read at home, several strategies may be used to aid in decoding unknown words.  Below is a list of strategies taught in class.

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1.) Tell your child to look at the picture.  You may tell your child the word is something that can be seen in the picture, if that is the case.

2.) Tell your child to look for chunks in the word, such as it in sit, at in mat, or and and ing in standing.

3.) Ask your child to get his/her mouth ready to say the word by shaping the mouth for the beginning letter.

4.) Ask your child if the word looks like another word he/she knows.  Does bed look like red?, for example.

5.) Ask your child to go on and read to the end of the sentence.  Often by reading the other words in context, your child can figure out the unknown word.

6.) If your child says the wrong word while reading, ask questions like:

Does it make sense?
Does it sound right?
Does it look right?



Last Modified on September 9, 2009