Teaching emergent readers to read is a process of discovery for both student and teacher.
Below are three strategies to assist emerging readers with decoding and learning new words:
1. Break it Down, Sound it Out and Rebuild
This strategy is effective for students who are first encountering new words or words that are longer than what they are used to. Both of these moments can make learning new words intimidating but by using this method with students, the process becomes one of exciting discovery.
For example, a student has to decode the following sentence:
Sherif uses a blue crayon.
Sherif uses a blue crayon.
The word crayon may be unknown to the student so you could break it down into the following three parts:
cr * ay *on
Students will decode the sight word "on" and the sounds of "cr" and "ay". After sounding out each part individually, students can then rebuild the word and will find it to say "crayon".
2. Point, Slide and Sound it Out
This strategy is great for students who are semi-fluent in beginning sight word recognition as well as blend and/or digraph sound recognition.
For example, a student is reading the following sentence:
Tamela wore a green shirt.
Tamela wore a green shirt.
If a reader was unable to fluently decode the word "shirt", they could do the following: Students will take their index finger and place it underneath the unknown word. Next, they will slide their finger along that word while simultaneously sounding out the word.
From the example that would mean they would first sound out "sh", then "ir" followed by "t".
This strategy can allow students to decode semi-familiar words in text.
3. Double Back and Read Again (Re-Read)
A strategy for students at various places in their learning of literacy. If a student comes across a word they are not sure of they can do a scan of it then double back and re-read at a slower pace being sure to decode each portion of the word.
By following these three emergent reader strategies, you can help your child to become a successful reader today, tomorrow and beyond.
