Reading Strategies

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CELEBRATE READING!

Dear Parents,

 

As your child continues on the path of reading success, he/she will be participating in our reading log program.  This program is designed to help children engage in all aspects of reading including phonics, meaning, and language strategies. 

  

If your child gets stuck on a word, please give lots of “wait time” to see if he/she can solve the word independently.  If your child reads a word incorrectly, leave time to see if he/she will self-correct.  Most of the time, children realize that they’ve read something incorrectly and go back and fix it up before turning the page.  Celebrate this progress when it happens!

 

We are trying to foster independence in our young readers.  The more we ask questions, the more likely the reader will begin to ask him/herself the same questions when reading alone.  When we assess readers, it’s not considered an error if the reader reads a word wrong, but then goes back to fix it up.  It’s called a self-correction, and is exactly what good readers do.  Whenever a child reads a word or piece independently, we’re that much closer to him/her becoming a self-regulated reader, our ultimate goal!

 

We hope that you can help in holding back from supplying unknown words to your young reader until he/she has been given lots of time to try the strategies that the children are learning in class.  We know it’s hard and tempting to just help them through a text, but that impedes the student from becoming an independent reader. 

 

So, sit back and listen.  We are reading coaches.   A good coach teaches his athlete what to do in the big game, but can’t get into the game and actually play for him.  We are now reading coaches for your child.  We’ll teach him/her what to do when reading, but when it comes time to read, it’s their game!

 

Thank you for your help and cooperation!

Mrs. Johnson

Comments such as the following are helpful to use with your child:

*Good for you.  I like the way you tried to work that out!

*That was a good try.  Yes, that would make sense there.

*I like the way you looked at the picture to help yourself.

*I like the way you went back to the beginning of the sentence and tried that again.  That’s what good readers do!

*You are becoming a good reader.  I’m proud of you!

 

 

If your child needs prompting, say one or more of the following:

 

*Get your mouth ready for the first sound.

*Look at all the letters in the word.

*Look through the word.

*Look at the pictures.

*What would make sense there?

*Were you right?

*What else could it be?

*Does it look like another word you know?

*What else would make sense there?

*Try a different sound for the vowels.