Reading Skills
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Please find below some Beanie Baby Strategies that we have been using and
practicing at school to help children figure out unknown words. These reading
strategies are modeled after the Beanie Baby figures that were popular a few years
ago. When your child is reading at home, it would be good to refer to these strategies
as that keeps the language consistent between home and school.
Most of these strategies are fairly straightforward but the following provides a
brief explanation of each.
Eagle Eye tells you to Look at the Pictures: Have your child look at the pictures for
clues to help figure out the word.
Lips the Fish tells you to Get your Lips Ready: Have your child say the first few
sounds of the word out loud.
Stretchy Snake tells you to Stretch it Out: Have your child stretch the word out
slowly and put the sounds together to figure out the word. As a further point, we
prefer to use the phrase “say it slowly,” rather than “sound it out.”
Chunky Monkey tells you to Chunk the Word: Have your child look for a part or a
“chunk” that they know (ex: -ing, -old, -and, etc.).
Skippy Frog tells you to Skip it, Skip it: Have your child skip the word, read to the
end of the sentence, and then go back and try it again.
Tryin’ Lion tells you to Try it Again: Have your child reread the sentence and try a
word that makes sense.
Helpful Kangaroo tells you to Ask for Help: After your child has tried applying some
of the strategies as learned, he/she can ask someone else for help.
Dot the Giraffe tells you to Watch the Punctuation: Have your child watch the
punctuation (, . ? ! “”). Example: Read with expression when you see the
talking/quotation marks.
Flippy Dolphin tells you to Flip the Vowel Sound: Have your child try another vowel
sound if the first one did not sound right. In other words, try a long vowel sound if
the short vowel sound does not work (example: a vowel will say its own name when an ‘e’
is added to the end as is bit to bite, hat to hate, not to note).
The children at school are becoming familiar with using these strategies to help
solve unknown words. We hope that you will find them useful at home. Please do not
hesitate to call your child’s teacher/school should you have any questions.
Eagle Eye
Look at the
Pictures!
Lips the
Fish
Stretchy
Snake
Get Your Lips
Ready!
“S-t-r-e-t-ch”
it out!
- Look at the pictures
- Say the first few
- Stretch the word out
for clues to help figure sounds of the word out
slowly.
out the word.
loud.
- Put the sounds
- Read to the end of
together to figure out
the sentence and say
the word.
the sounds again.
Chunky
Monkey
Skippy Frog Tryin’ Lion
Skip It, Skip It!
Try It Again!
Chunk the Word!
- Look for a “chunk”
- Skip the word (“skip
that you know (-ing,
it, skip it”).
-and, -art, -old,
- Read to the end of
etc.).
the sentence.
- Look for a word part - “Hop back” and read
(be-, -er, etc.).
it, read it.
- Try to reread the
sentence.
- Try a word that
makes sense.
Helpful
Kangaroo
Dot the
Giraffe
Flippy
Dolphin
Ask For Help!
Punctuation!
Flip the vowel sound!
- After you have tried
all of the other
strategies, ask for
help.
- Look at the
punctuation (, . ? ! ).
- Read with expression
when you see talking
marks (“ “).
- Try the other vowel
sound if it doesn’t
sound right.
- Flip a short sound
into a long sound or
vice versa.