Pinehurst Elementary School

1.   Instead of correcting your child as he/she reads, use a visual cue such as putting up a finger when a mistake is made.  This way you are not verbally correcting, yet your child knows he/she needs to cross check the word and self correct.  Cross checking is an important reading habit where the students ask themselves:

 *Encourage your child to look through the whole word using beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

 *Encourage your child to recognize parts of the word they know (especially patterns learned in word study). 

Does the word sound right?

Does the word make sense?

 

2.   Have your child read aloud the same book, a poem, an article, or part of their own book 2 or 3 times in order to practice reading smoothly. 

 

1.   For the first reading, have your child just read and use cross checking to problem solve tricky words.

2.   During the second read aloud, have your child practice chunking 3 or 4 words together in a phrase versus 1 or 2 words.  Ex. "The /cow/ jumped over /the moon/" is now read: "The cow jumped over /the moon/". 

3.   On the final reading, try to add expression to his/her reading.