Decoding Strategies

Focus on the Right Word

1. Have the student draw a picture of the problem to focus on the problem they are solving.

Young readers often figure out a new word by thinking about what

would make sense in a sentence or story. You can help by suggesting that the child look at the pictures, then read a sentence again. If a child's guess at a word is incorrect, ask questions such as, "Does that make sense? What did the girl do at the last house she visited?"

Dictation

2. Give the students a number and have them write out the number in expanded notation. Example 101 is written, “one hundred one.” To decode math symbols you can do a math sentence by having them write out the equation in sentence form. Example: 4 – 2 = 2 is written, “four minus two equals two.”