In today’s blog post, I will share some helpful reading prompts that you can use when reading with your child at home. Reading prompts are specific language that you can say to your child to figure out tricky words. Prompting can help kids use reading strategies independently, fix mistakes and build confidence. Prompting promotes independence!
When you are helping your child figure out a tricky word, you can use certain language to teach what to do, prompt your child to remember what to do, and reinforce the use of a strategy that your child uses to solve a tricky word independently. Please see last week’s posting where I discuss teach, prompt and reinforce. https://learningtoreadtogether.com/what-to-say-when-your-child-gets-stuck-on-a-word/
- Teach: Use this language if your child has never used this strategy before and you want to teach your child how to use a new strategy to figure out a tricky word (this teaches your child what to do when they are stuck!)
- Prompt: Use this language to remind your child to use a strategy that they already know how to do (this promotes independence!)
- Reinforce: Use this language to praise and compliment your child for using a strategy independently (this builds confidence!)
Readers use many strategies to figure out tricky words. Readers often use several of these strategies at once. Here are some strategies that readers use to figure out tricky words:
- Saying the first sound of a word
- Using the picture
- Thinking about what word makes sense (readers can figure out the word by using the other words in the sentence to predict the word that comes next)
- Saying the sounds in a word (with words that have approximately 5 letters or less i.e. dog, ship, slick) **longer words should be broken into parts
- Thinking of the vowel sound and then saying the word (i.e. the word “teach”-the vowel team is ea that says “ee”)
- Looking for a word part, an ending, or a known word inside the longer word
- Skipping the word, reading to the end of the sentence and going back to the word
While “sounding out a word” is a good strategy, it is often not the most efficient. That is why saying the first sound of a word, thinking about what word makes sense, and skipping the word and going back to it are helpful strategies. When readers use strategies efficiently and quickly, they don’t lose meaning in a story. It is important to remember that if there are too many tricky words for your child in a story, then the story is probably too hard. Check out this past posting about reading level and selecting books that are “just right” for your child. https://learningtoreadtogether.com/reading-level/
Here is an example of language that could use for the strategy (looking for a know word inside a longer word)
Sorry this came out blurry. The page reads:
“Where is Bella with my presents? Where is Bella with my cake?” said Rosie. Rosie was sad. “Oh dear! Oh dear. Bella forgot my birthday!”
Teach:” You can look for a word that you know to help you figure out longer words. Then you can sound out the rest of the word. Watch me.” Say the word you know, cover up that part with your finger and then sound out the rest of the word. For example, in the word “forgot” say “for” as the word you know, cover up “for with your finger as you sound out “got” as /g//o//t/.
Prompt: “Can you find word that you know in that longer word to help you?” (Remember to say this only if your child knows this strategy already) You may have to teach them a couple of times before you prompt them to use it.
Reinforce: “You found a word that you knew to help you with that tricky word. Then you sounded out the rest. Nice work!” (Remember to be specific and use language that is specific to the strategy that your child used instead of just saying “nice work”)
You can turn any of the above strategies into language that you would use to teach, prompt and reinforce using the example I provided above. I will be blogging more about helpful reading prompts and how they foster independence and confidence in kids when they read on their own. You can honestly use this format of teach, prompt and reinforce to help your child in other academic areas too. It is important to keep the language consistent, to the point and brief. Hope this helps you as you continue your journey learning to read together with your child!