“Does it look right?” is an important prompt or reading strategy that you can use to teach your child how to read.
What does this mean? Your child is reading a new sentence and comes to a word she doesn’t know. She makes an attempt and says a word that’s not quite right.
What you need to ask is: “Does the word on the page look like the word you just said? Does it look right? Check the word. Are all the letters there to make the sounds that you just said?”
Let’s look at this sentence:
“Mother baked a tart for Grandma.”
What if your child says pie instead of tart because she looked at the picture for help which is a good thing to do?
You can say: ” Yes, it could be pie, but what letter would you have to see at the beginning of the word if it were pie?” (Make the ‘p’ sound.) “It would have to be a ‘p’ but there’s a ‘t’ instead.” (Point to the first letter of the word and make the ‘t’ sound.)
Ask: “What could it be instead of pie? Could it be tart? Let’s check to see if the letters are there for the word tart.”
Say the sounds slowly, t-a-r-t, while checking by running your finger slowly under the word. Ask your child to check the same way with her finger saying the sounds out loud.
We do this all the time when reading. We check to see that all the sounds we’re saying are on the page. We’re checking if the word looks right. Your brain does this so quickly you don’t even know it’s happening. We have to show children how do this. Some children pick it up naturally, others don’t and we need to teach it.
Super Hammy – My First Reading Series from DC Canada Education Publishing is an excellent set of books that I have designed for beginning readers – pre-school, kindergarten and grade one. They can also be used for teaching English as a Second Language.
The books have been levelled by Fountas and Pinnnell (Levels A to C).
The Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery has officially approved “Super Hammy Goes for a Drive” (Level 3) for Reading Recovery use.
To purchase Super Hammy books now click HERE!
Super Hami is also available in French. Cliquez ICI!
A fabulous and colourful Super Hammy ABC poster is also available.
Oksanna Crawley 