4. Learn strategies to work out
unfamiliar words
"Unless you do something beyond what you can
already do, you will not grow and develop."
When children first start out it is important to supply words they struggle with so that the flow of the story is not lost and the experience of reading is rewarding and fun. As your child progresses with their phonic knowledge and grows in confidence in their reading ability it is important that they begin to learn how to work out words they are unfamiliar with.
It is important not to jump in too quickly with the elusive word, as your child needs to make an effort to work it out for themselves. This may take some time to develop, and be met with a certain amount of resistance, as the easy way out is often preferred!
Try the following strategies to help your child to self-correct when they are stuck with a word:
- Allow them time to think what the word might be. Say "Look at the picture to help you."
- Say "Look at the first letter and tell me the sound," then encourage them to try the word again.
- Say "The word starts with..." and give them time to decipher the rest.
- If they give you the wrong word say "Can we say it like that; does that make sense?"
- Help them to sound out the word.
- Tell them the word after they have had time to have a go.
- Get them to re-read the sentence with the given word.
- Get them to find the corresponding Word Card and match it in the text.
Give lots of praise to partial or full success, saying "You’ve done it, you’ve worked out the word!", "Well done!"