Decoding strategies for the 3rd grade classroom
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 


1.  Objectives: Students will be able to identify possible words that make sense in a sentence or passage that deal with the community or geography. Students will learn to read through an entire word and ask themselves if the word they identify makes sense and fits spelling criteria.

 Procedure: A sentence or short passage is written on the board or paper with a blank space in it. The blank space contains the first letter of a target word or word from the social studies word bank. Students are asked to offer words that use a specific beginning letter. Once the words are listed, they listen to the teacher read the sentence using that word. They are asked to state if the sentence sounds correct. Words that make sense stay and words that do not are erased or crossed out. The next letter is given and words that do not include both of the first two letters are eliminated. The process continues until one word, the correct word remains. Students like to guess what word will be correct, so it helps to emphasize that this is only an activity, all suggestions are welcome, and you're not looking for a winner at that point in time. (If you choose to use this as a competitive game, skip that last part)

Closure: The activity ends once the correct word is identified. Students may want to participate again, so it may help to have a few ideas ready to go or be a quick thinker. Students usually will understand if you ask them to give you a moment or two to think of a sentence.

Assessment: Does the sentence make sense? Does the word fit the spelling criteria and does it have to do with the community or geography?

2.                   

**Important Note:  Word building is a strategy for teaching students to decode, not encode.  In practical terms, this means that you should make sure you don't tell students a word and ask them how to spell it, because this would be asking them to encode the word.  Instead, you always provide the spelling of the word and then ask them to decode it, to tell you what word those letters make when put together in that particular order.  

  1. Students who are sitting quietly are selected to pass out letter cards.  You give each student a baggie or other container of letters, and tell them to hand one to each of their classmates.    
  2. Students should be instructed to place their letters in ABC order in a straight line across the tops of their desks or in a tag board letter holder (a folded-over strip into which the cards may be inserted with the letters still showing).  
  3. Line up your own letter cards in the top sleeve of your pocket chart.  After the students have had practice with putting letters in ABC order, you may want to put your letters out of order and see if the students can tell you how to correct your mistakes.
  4. Make the first demonstration word by pulling down the necessary letters and lining them up close together in a lower sleeve of the pocket chart.
  5. Tell the students, "This is the word map" then tell them to read the word together with you.  This emphasizes the fact that you blended the sounds together to make a normal word that they can recognize.
  6. Next, tell the students you can change this word into a totally new word, just by changing one letter.  Change the one letter necessary to make your second demonstration word.  Repeat step 6 with this new word.
  7. Now you are ready to tell the students that they can make new words with their own letter cards.  Explain that you will tell them which letter to change, and then they will tell you what new word has been made.  Train them to put the old letter back into its place in ABC order before they take out the new letter.  Explain that sometimes you will take two letters that are already in the word and make them switch places, and sometimes you will add or take away a letter without changing any of the other letters in the word.
  8. For the first word, tell them what letters to use in what order.  For example, "Take down your m and put it at the beginning of the word.  Take down your a and put it in the middle of the word.  Take down your d and put it at the end."  Then ask, "What is the word?"  (If they struggle, this is a good time to model cumulative blending, adding one sound at a time cumulatively until you have sounded out the whole word.)
  9. For the rest of the word list, you will tell them what letter to change.  You might use such phrases as, "Take out your d and put your t in its place," "Change the d to t," "Take the d and the t in your word and change places," "Take out the d," or "Add a t between the s and the a."
  10. As soon as you tell them what change to make, always ask, "What is the word?"
  11. When they tell you the word, immediately write it down in a column on the chalkboard.  Once you have finished building the different words, have them go back and read through this column of words to review and consolidate.  This column of words will also show them graphically how one small change can produce a new word. 
  12. The students should then copy this column of words into their journals.  This is an important step, because it requires students to practice actually writing down the words they learned, with the letters in the proper sequence.  This step helps them make the connection between spoken words and the written code for these words.
  13. End by having fun with the silly sentences.  Students really enjoy these.  Write a silly sentence on the board, using the words you just practiced.  Run your finger under the words as the students decode them.  
  14. Because each silly sentence is a question, go ahead and have fun with your kids talking over possible answers to these silly questions.