Reading Strategies for
the Home
Presented by Christina Shpunder LDT-C
Early Reading Behaviors
AGES 3-4, PRESCHOOL
Enjoys listening to and talking about
storybooks.
 Understands that print carries a message.
 Makes attempts to read.
 Identifies familiar signs and labels.
 Participates in rhyming games.
 Identifies some letters and makes some lettersound matches.
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Early Reading Behaviors
AGE 5, KINDERGARTEN
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Sounds as if they are reading when pretending.
Enjoy being read to.
Retells simple stories.
Uses descriptive language to explain or to ask questions.
Recognizes letters and letter-sound matches.
Shows familiarity with rhyming and beginning sounds.
Understands that print is read left-to-right and top-tobottom.
Begins to match spoken words with written ones.
Begins to write letters of the alphabet and some words.
Early Reading Behaviors
AGE 6, First Grade
Reads and retells familiar stories.
 Uses a variety of ways to help with reading a
story.
 Reads some things aloud with ease.
 Identifies new words.
 Identify an increasing number of words by sight.
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Kindergarten
 Say
silly tongue twisters – sing songs, read
rhyming words.
 Read it and experience it
 Use your child’s name
 Trace and say letters
 Talk about letter sounds
First Graders
Don’t Leave Home without It!
 Once is not enough. Encourage your child to
re-read favorite books and poems.
 Dig deeper into the story. Ask your child
questions about a story just read. “Why do
you think Clifford did that?”
 Take Control of the Television.
 Encourage reading as a free-time activity.
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First Graders
Be patient.
 Pick books that are at the right level.
 Play Word Games.
 Help your child sound out the word as you
change it from mat to pat; sat to sag, etc.
 Gently correct your young reader.
 Talk to your child every day about school.
 I read, you read.
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Second Graders
 Tell
family tales.
 Be your child’s #1 fan.
 One more time with feeling.
 Point out the relationship between words.
Explain how related words have similar
spellings and meanings.
 Use new words your child has learned on
flash cards to help them automatically
recognize them.
Third Grade – Fifth Grade
 Make
Books Special. Take them to the
library, read with them, buy them books.
 Crack open the dictionary. Look up
unknown words.
 Talk about what you see and do in order to
build your child’s background knowledge.
 Read different types of books. Boys
usually prefer non-fiction (real stories).
MIDDLE SCHOOL STRATEGIES
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Predicting - Look at the book cover, headlines, subheads,
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Questioning - Create their own questions before, during and
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Clarifying/monitoring - Become actively aware of their
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Summarize - What did you learn. Write it or say it!
graphics, and pictures. During reading predict what is going to
happen next.
after reading. Take statements from the text and turn them into
questions, or use prior knowledge to create inferential questions.
comprehension. What didn’t they understand. A word, a
sentence, or even an entire section. Take action to gain the
understanding.
http://www.mrswatersenglish.com/2014/11/reading-comprehension-strategies-for-middle-school-students/
HIGH SCHOOL STRATEGIES
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Tap into prior knowledge and experiences.
Background Information. Go over new vocabulary and
specialized terminology.
Use context clues when reading unfamiliar words.
Have child monitor their comprehension. Slow down when
reading.
Take notes or draw visuals.
Summarize the passage after reading.
Discuss what they have read.
Read high interest books/magazines at your child’s
level.
http://www.adlit.org/adlit_101/improving_literacy_instruction_in_your_school/vocabulary/
PICTURE INFERENCES
General Tips
Echo reading
 Choral Reading
 Paired reading
 Books on tape or CD – Check with local library.
As they listen have them point to the words.
 TV captions – Practice reading and fluency
 Repeated reading for fluency
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Accuracy Strategies
Cross checking unknown words. Does it match
up with pictures, sound right, make sense?
 Tap out the word – Children still learning
phonics
 Flip the sound – Used when learning long
vowels. “cak” for “cake”. Say the word with
the long vowel.
 Find chunks in the word - Smaller words or
parts in the larger word.
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Accuracy Strategies
Play with rhyming words – Cat, mat, sat
 Identify compound words – Break it down,
cupcake
 Skip the word and come back – read the rest of
the sentence for possible context clues.
 Know trick words or sight words - Should
recognize automatically.
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Fluency Strategies
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Choose good fit books – Like picking shoes.
Children should be able to read books
independently.
Read and read again – Teach it’s ok to reread a
passage so it’s not robotic.
Read and talk like the characters – This will help to
work on expression. Add emphasis on different
characters.
Read to the end of the sentence – Make it a game to
read to the end of a sentence without stopping.
Expand Vocabulary
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Tune into interesting words – Keep a journal of new
words to refer back to.
Use a tool – Dictionary, Thesaurus, or glossary
Use other words to help – Context clues
Play “I Spy” game.
Keep a journal.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/oral-language-expanding-your-childs-vocabulary
Print Concepts
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An understanding about the conventions of literacy.
Strategies
*Point out the title and author’s name
*Talk about where reading begins
*Play games to match lower and upper case letters
*Make a book with your child using large print and
illustrations
Phonemic Awareness
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Improves children’s word reading, reading comprehension, and
spelling. The hearing of sounds.
Strategies
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Sing alphabet songs
Read stories your child selects
Help your child to clap the beats/syllables
Point out letters. Especially those in their name
Sing songs that manipulate phonemes, such as The
Name Game
Phonics
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Improves your child’s word recognition, spelling, and
comprehension. Letter-sound relationship.
Strategies
*Encourage child to point to words and say them out
loud when writing them.
*Listen to your child read
*Help child sort words with long and short vowel
sounds
*Break larger words into smaller chunks
*Play spelling and word games like Scrabble/Hang
man
Fluency
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Can be developed through modeling fluent reading.
Strategies
*Read out loud often.
*Let your child choose books to read and reread.
*Model reading for fun.
*Act out a book or story.
*Read a sentence out loud and let your child read it next.
*Help your child read new words and talk about the
meaning.
Vocabulary
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Vocabulary can be built with everyday oral language.
Strategies
*Talk to your child about daily events.
*Talk about how illustrations and text in a book
support each other.
*Help your child learn new vocabulary based on
hobbies or interests.
*Discuss books being read in school.
Comprehension
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Comprehension is the reason for reading.
Strategies
*Ask your child to predict what might happen next in
a story.
*Ask who, what, when and why questions.
*Ask your child about the topic of a book before
reading it.
*Ask your child about the main idea or message of a
book might be.
Comprehension
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Play board games. Games require putting into action
everything that is read.
Cook or bake with a recipe. Find a lengthy recipe for
something that your children love to eat and make it
together.
Play Hangman. The simple word game is a good way
to build your child's vocabulary.
Sight Word Bingo
Blends
Long “e”
Synonyms and Antonyms
Teach Rhyming
Sight Word Fishing
Reading Companion