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You can support your child's reading,

by using these prompts when he/she is "stuck" on a word:

 

To encourage your child to use the meaning of the story, you might say to him/her:

 

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 to him/her:

 

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 word, you might say to him/her:

 

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 to him/her:

 

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 to him/her:

 

Put your words together so it sounds like you're talking.

 

Can you read this quickly?

 

Here are some great activities to do at home to help your child use creative and tactile ways to study their spelling and high frequency words.

 

  • Write your words in shaving cream or pudding
  • Use magnetic letters  (a refrigerator makes a great playing surface)
  • Using alphabet cereal
  • Playing Hangman
  • Making flashcards with fun pens, markers, or paint for long car trips
  • Using Play Dough to form letters and words