Working with words: reproducible 2.4
Teaching key strategies for word recognition
When I come to a word I don’t recognise, I can …
• Look for the sounds and letters at the beginning of the word, the middle of the word and the end of the word.
• Look to see how many syllables are in the word and make a plan for sounding out each syllable and then blending the syllable parts into the whole word.
• Circle or under line the tricky part of the work.
• Look for common letter combinations within the word.
• Look for a word family in the word, then check to see if I know a word that rhymes and that would make sense.
• Look at the str ucture of the word checking for a prefix, a suffix or a root/base word.
• Read on – and ask myself – what word would make sense?
• Reread – and ask myself – what word would make sense?
• Think of a word I know that has similar spelling patter ns.
When I come to a word I don’t recognise, I can ask myself …
• Does this word look like a word I know? Does this word look like part of a word I know?
• Can I see a blend? What sound does this blend make?
• Can I see a consonant digraph? What is the sound this digraph makes?
For example: wh, th, gh, ph, sh
• Can I see a vowel digraph? What do I know about the various sounds these make?
For example: oa, ea, ei, ee, ou, oa
• How do I prepare to make this sound (what shape does my mouth make)?
• What vowels do I see – what do I know about the sounds these vowels make?
• Can I see a long vowel pattern? Can I see a short vowel? Are there any vowel digraphs?
• How many syllables can I see? What is the first syllable? The second syllable? (Etc.) Which syllables are open and which syllables are closed?
• Can I use any picture clues to help me?
• Do I see any prefixes or suffixes? If so, what are they and how do I pronounce them?
• Do I know a word family that this word belongs to?
• What is the grammatical structure of the word? What other words in this sentence might help me wor k out this word?
• What does /might the word mean?
• Can I see onset and rime?
• Can I use substitution to read on and help me think about what the word might be?