Accuracy (Decoding) Strategies

As adults, we take for granted the struggle young children encounter when learning to read. While the process has become automatic for us, children are working to find their way through the maze. Keep in mind the purpose is to derive meaning from text.

Many of us learned to read by sounding out every single word until we developed a large sight word vocabulary and/or learned to recognize word patterns. Today, we know there are many different strategies to help readers decode text. Below is a list we teach young readers. Your child may rely heavily on one or use several different approaches. Remember, saying the words doesn't necessarily mean your child understands the words. As you read with your child, try not to jump in and say the word. Instead, give your child some time to utilize strategies to decode the text at hand.

I can decode words by using the following strategies:

Ø "I Spy" - Looking for picture clues to help generate vocabulary

Ø "Say & Slide" - Saying the beginning sound and sliding to the end of the word

Ø "Leap Frog" - Leaping over the word, reading to the end (sentence, paragraph, or page), and then going back and rereading

Ø "Family"- Looking for word family patterns I know (-an => van, tan, can, plan, scan, etc.)

Ø "Running Start" - Going back and starting over by reread quickly

Ø "Stop & Think" - Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?

Ø "Puzzle"- Breaking the word apart, and looking for pieces that I know (fantastic => fan-tas-tic)

Ø "Sub"- Substituting a word that makes sense and keep reading ('canine barks" => "dog barks")