DECODING STRATEGIES FOR BEGINNING READERS

Halimah Bello-Osagie is a Nigerian nursery school teacher. I met her as a teacher trainee a few years back and her passion for teaching was glaring.This is about five years later and what I see now is an explosion of beautiful fragrances from a resourceful,ever learning and growing teacher. Let's ride with her as she takes us through this enlightening and helpful journey. 

GROUPING PUPILS

•         Group according to their reading level

•         Grouping should be flexible: Be willing to move pupils to the next reading level when progress is observed.

•         Read with struggling pupils everyday: Create time to read with struggling pupils as this will motivate the pupil and encourage progress.

When grouping, be sure to ask yourself;

•         What are they doing well?

•         What do they need to work on?

When a pupil looks up to you for help while reading, do not give up the answer. Ask them;

    1. Will the picture help you figure it out?

    2. What can you try?

    3.  Is there a part of the word that you know?

Teach pupils to check for these while reading:

       ·       Structure; does it sound right?

       ·       Visual; does it look right?

       ·       Meaning; does it make sense?  

Decoding Strategies

1.       Eagle Eye: Teach pupils to look at the pictures for clues.

  

To make this fun for pupils, you can use a magnifying glass. Also child can highlight the word the picture helps read. Re-read the book several time.

 2.       Lips the fish: Teach pupils to sound the first letter of the word that is challenging. Example: Fish

3.       S-t-r-e-t-c-h-y Snake: We teach children that words are made up of sounds. Teach pupils to sound the letters of the challenging word and stretch them to get the right pronunciation. Example; p-i-g = pig

4.     Chunky Monkey: Chunk the word. Look for the part you know. Example: cat, grandma

5.       Flippy Dolphin: Flip the vowel sound and try the other

vowel sound if it does not sound right. Example: cake

6.       Skippy frog: Skip the tricky word, read to the end, hop back and try again. Example: A Giraffe has a long neck. GIRAFFE!

                 

7.  Tryin’ Lion: Keep trying and don’t give up. Re read the sentence and try a word that makes sense. If you are confused, start again. 

8.       Helping kangaroo: After you have tried all other strategies, ask for help!

                                  By Halimah Bello-Osagie