Struggling readers need to build a core of words that they know quickly and automatically--that they can recognize without effort. They also need to develop a system for learning how to learn words. Here are some ideas for ways to help children look at and learn a new word:
- Use language that makes it clear you are talking about a word: "This word is _____." (Some children confuse letters and words.)
- Tell children to look at the beginning of the word and show them what that means (first letter on the left).
- Read the word to children as you run your finger under the word, left to right.
- Ask children to look closely at the word and say what they notice at the beginning.
- Ask them to look at the word and then read it as they use a finger to check it, left to right.
- Remind them of another word that will help them remember a new word: an, and; the, then.
- Help children notice the first letter and then look at the rest of the letters in the word, left to right, to notice more.
- Give children magnetic letters in order to build the word left to right.
- After building the word, have children take it apart and build it several times.
- After building the word several times, have children write the word.
- Show children how to check the word they have written letter by letter: a, a, n, n, d, d.
- Have children, using magnetic letters, break the word apart by pulling down the first letter (s) and then the rest of the letters, e.g., s-ee, th-e.
From When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (c) 2009 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.
