Another Accuracy strategy I teach is to chunk letters and sounds together. Since I have already taught students to use beginning and ending sounds, this continues to support the idea that they need to slow down and look at the whole word. When students get past reading one-syllable words, stretching a word one letter at a time becomes tedious and often sounds very different from the actual word. By teaching students to look at blends and word families they know, they are able to become more independent in reading muti-syllable words.
Explaining the Strategy:
“You can look for parts that you know.”
“You can use word parts to solve a word.”
“You can look at the first and last parts of a word to read it.”
Ideas for Teaching:
- While reading a big book or poem together, focus on a challenging word. Ask students to highlight (using different colored markers) parts of words they know. Sound out the parts together to solve the word.
- Read aloud books with rhymes so students can hear and notice word parts.
- During guided reading or writing, have students use white boards to chunk words into parts. Practice writing words that have the same spelling patterns.
Helpful Websites:
This website is created by the Florida Center for Reading Research. There are many activities for teacher to use in the classroom that involve teaching syllabication, word parts, and chunked text.
This website includes many articles discussing phonics and decoding in for primary students.
Supporting Picture Books:
Cronin, D. (2000). Click clack moo. New York, NY: Simon and Schusters Children’s Publishing Division.
Martin, M. J. (1996). From Anne to Zach. New York, NY: Boyds Mills Press.
Professional Resources:
Pinnell, G., & Fountas, I. (2003). Phonics lessons grade 2. Portsmouth, NH: FirstHand.
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2009). The cafe book. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Reutzel, D., & Cooter, Jr., R. (1999). Strategies for reading assessment and instruction. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.