Hi Everyone!
We're closing in on the end of the Decoding Strategy of the Day series. I hope you are learning some valuable information to help your child during his/her at-home reading!
Decoding Strategy of the Day: Look at the Last Letter!
Looking at the last letter can seem counterintuitive to decoding an unknown word...how can looking at the very last letter in the word help your child read the word? If he/she can't read any of the parts that come before the last letter, what good will it do to look at the end of the word? Well......
Do you remember when I started this series on Monday? I wrote that all good reader strategies are predicated on the idea that good readers constantly monitor what they're reading. They ask themselves, "Does it look right?", "Does it sound right?", "Does it make sense?". This strategy -- look at the last letter -- is a prime example of a "monitoring strategy". Simply put, it's a strategy you can use when your child reads something incorrectly but doesn't seem to notice he/she is wrong.
The strategy in action:
Follow along while your child reads out loud. When your child incorrectly reads a word with an ending, stop him/her. Prompt your child by saying, "Look at the last letter. Does that look right?" For example, pretend the sentence reads, "Billy looked for his cat." Your child reads, "Billy looks for his cat." It doesn't matter which sentence your child reads...the words make sense to his/her ears whether he/she says "looked" or "looks". However, when you stop your child and say, "Look at the last letter. Does that look right?", you will prompt your child to monitor his/her reading. Your child should recognize that he/she said "looks" (which ends in "s"), even though the word is "looked" (which ends in "ed"). The 2 endings have completely different sounds! When your child thinks about making an "s" sound for a word that ends with a "d" sound, he/she should recognize, "No! That doesn't look right," therefore, "No! That doesn't make sense!". Your child should look at the last letter, go back, and reread the sentence with the tricky word.
I'll close this series tomorrow with the last strategy: Skip the tricky word and read on, then come back.
Thank you!
We're closing in on the end of the Decoding Strategy of the Day series. I hope you are learning some valuable information to help your child during his/her at-home reading!
Decoding Strategy of the Day: Look at the Last Letter!
Looking at the last letter can seem counterintuitive to decoding an unknown word...how can looking at the very last letter in the word help your child read the word? If he/she can't read any of the parts that come before the last letter, what good will it do to look at the end of the word? Well......
Do you remember when I started this series on Monday? I wrote that all good reader strategies are predicated on the idea that good readers constantly monitor what they're reading. They ask themselves, "Does it look right?", "Does it sound right?", "Does it make sense?". This strategy -- look at the last letter -- is a prime example of a "monitoring strategy". Simply put, it's a strategy you can use when your child reads something incorrectly but doesn't seem to notice he/she is wrong.
The strategy in action:
Follow along while your child reads out loud. When your child incorrectly reads a word with an ending, stop him/her. Prompt your child by saying, "Look at the last letter. Does that look right?" For example, pretend the sentence reads, "Billy looked for his cat." Your child reads, "Billy looks for his cat." It doesn't matter which sentence your child reads...the words make sense to his/her ears whether he/she says "looked" or "looks". However, when you stop your child and say, "Look at the last letter. Does that look right?", you will prompt your child to monitor his/her reading. Your child should recognize that he/she said "looks" (which ends in "s"), even though the word is "looked" (which ends in "ed"). The 2 endings have completely different sounds! When your child thinks about making an "s" sound for a word that ends with a "d" sound, he/she should recognize, "No! That doesn't look right," therefore, "No! That doesn't make sense!". Your child should look at the last letter, go back, and reread the sentence with the tricky word.
I'll close this series tomorrow with the last strategy: Skip the tricky word and read on, then come back.
Thank you!
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