Reading Tips

As the year progresses, so do our young readers with their level of independence when decoding those tricky, and at times, elusive words. Teachers and parents can guide and encourage our students' reading habits by using some key phrases. Here are some that you might try while reading with your child at home! Happy Reading!

To encourage your child to use the meaning of a story, you might say:

Try that again. You said _______. Does that make sense? Look at the picture. What might happen next in the story? Did that make sense? What would make sense? Try___, would that make sense?

To encourage your child to think about the structure of the story, you might say:

Does it look right? Can you say it that way? What would sound right? Try___, would that sound right?

To encourage your child to visually problem solve the unknown words, you might say:

Does it look right? What do you expect to see at the beginning? At the end? Do you know a word like that? What does it start with? Can you say more than that? What do you know that might help?

To encourage your child to self- correct their errors, you might say:

You’re nearly right. Try that again. I liked the way you worked that out. You made a mistake. Can you find it? Something wasn’t quite right. To encourage your child to read fluently you might say: Put your words together so it sounds like you’re talking. Can you read this quickly?

Adapted from: Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell