Decoding Strategies Freebie

I love teaching literacy to little ones, which is why I chose to get my Master's in it 5 years ago.  The growth is SO awesome!  Those 'Aha' moments are the best for both me and my students!  Over the years, guided reading has evolved in my classroom.  Several years ago, every student was in a guided reading group EVERY DAY.  But, with budget cuts, we went from having loads of helpers to fewer and fewer each year. SO...I make it work the best I can, while meeting the needs of all my students!  One thing has remained the same throughout: I ALWAYS teach decoding strategies.

While some students come to school more prepared than others and may be quite fluent, they may not always know all the strategies for attacking a tricky word.  On the flip side, struggling readers typically have no idea how to decode a word, which will lead to little or no comprehension.  Reading strategies provide the means to tackle problems and with practice will lead to skills that become automatic over time, which is what we want, right?!  I have selected the strategies below as the most important ones that young readers need.  I prefer to use these as opposed to animal names, just because I feel teaching the real words and strategies are more authentic and have more meaning to beginning readers.

Here's how I introduce strategies in guided reading:  For my level A-B readers, we mainly focus on pointing and looking at the picture.  

I begin my C-D students with the first three strategies and add more as they become more fluent and comfortable using them.  Once students move away from finger pointing {level D-E}, I only ask them to point to the word they are having trouble with.

Organization Tips: I have my strategies attached by rings so I can easily show or hide the strategies my groups are working on.

For reinforcement at home, I distribute smaller versions of the strategy charts.  I attach magnetic tape on he back so the parents and kids can keep them on the fridge and grab each night as they are reading.  I have found over the years that most parents truly want to help their children with reading but just aren't sure how.  These little charts make great tools for parents.

For another fun ways to encourage reading at home, send home a monthly reading log and reward students for bringing it back filled out!  I've used these logs in my classroom for many years and they are a HIT!  You can read more about them here.

I hope you found this post helpful.  Click the strategy cover to snag the posters for free and click the reading log cover to check out the monthly reading logs.  I appreciate you taking a moment to leave feedback and a comment, as well!

xo
Megan