Reading Strategies

Reading strategies are tools readers learn to help them when they are stuck on a word they do not know.

• LOOK AT THE PICTURE–Look at the pictures to help figure out the unknown word. Clues from the picture to predict what they are reading.

• GET YOUR MOUTH READY–Get your mouth ready with the beginning sound(s) of a word.  If you don’t know the word, say all of the sounds and blend the sounds together to say the word.

• DOES IT MAKE SENSE?–Once you say a word, think and ask does it make sense? If it doesn’t make sense, go back and get your mouth ready (see above) and look at the picture for clues (see above).

• DOES IT LOOK RIGHT?–When the reader says a word, it says must match the word in the text.  If the reader doesn’t know the word, they should say all of the sounds and blend the sounds together to say the word. Accuracy is very important, so make sure the word is said correctly.  Often names are harder to read, so help your reader with a name. The reader may say any name that starts with that letter if it’s a name you do not know. 

• DOES IT SOUND RIGHT?–If what is read does not sound right to the reader, they should realize it and fix their mistake. Have them use any of the strategies to help them fix their mistake.

• REREAD–The reader can reread to fix errors, to figure out the meaning, or even to make it sound better with expression.

• LOOK FOR CHUNKS–The reader can use their knowledge of word families to decode unfamiliar words.

 

The Reading Hand–is a way to remember to use these strategies.