to 2nd Grade

Reading

The following strategies are ones that we often use at school to help your child grow as a reader.  You can also use these strategies to help your child practice reading at home as well!

Click here to find a poem about the strategies your child should be able to independently while reading.

Help your child problem solve while reading:

Instead of telling your child the word right away when he/she makes an error or gets stuck, give him/her an opportunity to problem solve by using some of these prompts.

1. Check the picture.

2. Something isn't quite right.  What can you try?

3. You are almost right.  Try that again.

4. Read and check to see if looks right.

5. Read and check to see if it sounds right.

6. You said _____.  Does that look right?

7. You said _____.  Does that make sense?

8. You said _____.  Does that sound right?

9. You made a mistake on this page or in this sentence.  Can you find it?

10. What letter would you expect to see at the beginning of _____?  Does in match?

Hints for Reading with your Child

Take a minute to read the chapter or part of the book you are going to ask them to read to you so you can give them a preview as you walk them through it before they read.  If you are working with a struggling reader, give them a very thorough preview and point out any vocabulary that you expect to be hard.  If the reader is pretty fluent, then the preview should be brief, perhaps asking them to look at the first couple of pages only and encouraging them to make a prediction about what might happen in the story.

As students read orally, give them a minute to figure out words before you tell them.  Cover up parts of words or ending to help them.  If they are frustrated, begin by taking turns by pages so you can model fluency and expression for them.

At different points in the story, stop and ask them to make a prediction about what will happen. 

During and at the end of the story, ask questions like:

• What have you learned about the characters so far?

• Is the setting affecting the story?

• Why did the author put this in this order?

• Are there any problems presented so far?  How might they be solved?

• Has anything like this ever happened to you or anyone you know or have read about before?

• What do you wonder about this story?  For example, do you wonder why a character did a certain thing?  Do you have any questions about the story?  (Examples: I wonder if..., I wonder why..., I wonder where...)

• Does this part make you create a picture in your mind about what is happening or where it is happening?  Describe it.

• What is the author trying to say in this part?  Why did he/she include this part?

• What do you understand now that you didn't understand about this story before?

• Is there a big idea that you think the author was trying to get us to think about?

• Who are the characters?

• What is the setting?

• Complete this phrase: I think... (Examples: I think that the character should..., I think _____ is brave because..., I think I would be sad if...)

When you complete a whole book, tell the student to write three to five sentences about the book.  Help as needed.  Then ask the student to read the written response to you.  Help them edit the response as needed.