My Reading Philosophy
Reading is my favorite subject to teach! My goal is to not only make students amazing readers...but to make students become independent readers! Teaching the skills necessary for reading in order to be have students engage in books independently is my end goal for every student that walks into my classroom.
There are many different ways to hit my goal of becoming an independent reader! Check out some of these great reading resources and how I teach reading in my classroom.
Heart and Flash Words
Heart and Flash words are words that we see a lot when we read! Sometimes, the words are easy to sound out and can follow the 'normal' phonetic sound of the alphabet, such as A - Apple - ahh. This would be called a flash word. Words such as can or not are flash words: they are words we see a lot when we read, and we can sound them out with our 'normal' letter sounds.
However...many words that we see a lot when we read have tricky parts, called 'heart' parts. We call them heart parts because they are the part that we have to memorize with our heart! The rest of the word we can sound out! Some heart words include there, said, and because!
Check out the video to see how we break down words by their sound instead of just memorizing our high frequency words!
Reading Strategy Buddies
When it comes to reading, students need to learn skills on how to decode words that they do not know. If students are always told the word that they do not know, they do not learn crucial skills such as problem solving or learning how to decode!
The reading strategies will help students decode or figure out words that they do not know! Students will be learning each of these reading strategies during the year to help them with finding patterns in words, decoding, problem solving when reading, and helping them hear sounds when they spell!
Students are encouraged to use certain strategies when they come across a word that they do not know. If a student is looking at a word such as 'this', I will prompt student to find the chunks in the word that they do know (chunky monkey), use their digraph dalmatian to identify their digraph that is given in the word (th), and then stretchy snake the rest of the word!
WATCH THE VIDEOS BELOW OF MS. WARD TEACHING EACH OF THE READING STRATEGIES SHE USES IN THE CLASSROOM!
Stretchy Snake Reading Strategy
Pointy Porcupine Reading Strategy
Blendy / Blending Bluejay Reading Strategy
Digraph Dalmatian Reading Strategy
Flippy Dolphin Reading Strategy
Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy
Listed below are 10 reading strategies as well as different phonics skills on how to help your student!
Frustration Reading Level
If a student is reading and they are having a hard time reading words in every sentence, that means that the book that is picked is at a students reading frustration level. Try a new book that may have less words, easier to decode words, or contact me to help with finding books that are more suitable for your student to read.
The last thing I want to happen is a student becoming worked up when they are reading. Let's work together to find books that students love AND are appropriate for their reading level!