Reading Strategies

As our students are beginning to comprehend books better and understand the story elements, we are moving into traditional reading with them. We have to start very basic, then build and build and build, so that they get the time to practice a new strategy and master it before moving on to a new one. So what are reading strategies? Reading strategies are like tools in a tool box. Each one is made to help with a particular job or skill. Reading strategies are the "tools" our friends pull out of their "tool box" when they get stuck reading. These are the reading strategies we've taught so far:

1. Look at the picture
2. Get your mouth ready
3. Ask yourself, does that make sense?
4. Point to the words

Looking at the picture is a strategy that we started the first week of school. The students have been telling or "reading" books by looking at the pictures and telling what is happening in the pictures. When we move into traditional reading, that strategy stays the same. They still will need to look at the picture before reading to get an idea of what words they might see on that page. From their, we teach them to get their mouth ready. When they use this strategy, their mouth is forming the sound the first letter in a word will make. They wait for a second before saying the sound, then look at the picture to guess what the word might be. This is where the third strategy comes in, does it make sense. If the first letter in a word they see is S, they might start thinking of words that begin with S. They then need to go back and look at the picture since they know the beginning sound, and think about what word matches the picture and makes sense. Pointing to the right word is very important. They need to use all the above strategies to be able to point to the correct word.

Ask your student to show you their reading strategies from their "tool box"! This is a GREAT thing to do with their leveled book in their book-in-a-bag every night.