Students who struggle with decoding must engage in strategies that help build their phonological awareness while still focusing on decoding written text. Students must gain an understanding of the importance of print as it carries a message. Printed words are composed of letters, and that letters correspond to the somewhat distinctive sounds heard in a spoken word (Beck & Juel, 2002). Below are a few strategies and activities to try with students who struggle to decode. Other children in the classroom could benefit from this activities as well. Manipulatives: Play Dough: Children can learn to hear and count each sound in a word. Roll play dough into small balls, one ball for each sound. The child squishes a ball for every sound he or she hears. Magnetic Letters: Magnetic letters can be used in a variety of ways. Students can use the letters to show letters and sounds they are familiar with. They may also use the magnetic letters to easily create and change words. Mirror: Since many letter sounds appear very similar, it is important that students receive intensive instruction focusing on the correct modelling and sound of the letters. Have students practicing making sounds in front of a mirror. For example, when working with the sound /f/ versus /th/, students must see and feel how their lips and mouth move. Alphabet Chart: Have an alphabet chart readily available for students who struggle to decode. The chart may act as a reminder that the letter 'f' makes the sound/f/ as shown by a flower on the chart. Word Families: Word families allow students to compare and contrast words that they do not yet know to words they are familiar with. Word families help students see that words that sound the same are often spelled the same too. With enough practice, support, and explicit instruction children will begin to hear rhyming words and manipulate letters to create new words. Begin by pre-selecting a few words from a word family. Have your student(s) create one of the words together with your support. For example, "Let's start with the word 'cat'. Can you hear all the sounds in 'cat'? /C/ /A/ /T/. Touch each letter as you say the sounds. Now let's see if we can change one letter to make a new word, 'rat'. /R/ /A/ /T/ Which letter should we change?" Once the students are able to change beginning sounds and recognize ending patterns they can begin to change to a new word family. For example, "Let's start with a word we know, can you please write (or build) the world 'mat'. /M/ /A/ /T/ Let's see if we can change one letter to make the word 'map'. Which letter do you think we should change? Now that we have 'map' let's try to change one letter to make the word 'sap' /S/ /A/ /P/" Teachers can use word family strategies while students are reading books as well. Continue to encourage the word family strategy when students come across a new word in their own readings. Syllables: When children are learning to decode it is important that they have an understanding of syllables. Syllables help students learn to divide words into parts or "chunks". When students can easily break up a word it will help speed up the process of decoding. There are many ways children can practice syllable identification in the classroom: 1) Jumping Syllables: To include movement in activities, have students jump the syllables. If a word has three syllables, they have to jump three times while separating the syllables correctly. 2) Clapping Syllables: To begin, think of a word the student will know. Tell them the word and together practice clapping the syllables. "Associating syllables with a beat can help students to better learn the concept of syllables within words" (Janice et. al., 2019). 3) Drumming Syllables: To continue utilizing beat, have students drum or bang the syllables using an instrument. Again, ensure you begin with words that are achievable for each individual student. The words can become more difficult as students' confidence and abilities grow. Reading Strategy Friends: When students struggle to decode, they may need extra support or resources. Another strategy to try in your classroom to support students who struggle with decoding skills is to introduce "Reading Strategy Friends" to your classroom. These "Friends" can be introduced using a bookmark or anchor chart. You may also wish to find stuffed animals for students to hold while they read and attempt the strategies. 1) Eagle Eye: When a reader gets stuck on a word, encourage them to use their picture for clues. Before they make a guess using the picture, they can look at the unfamiliar word and check - does the picture start with the sound that I see on the page? 2) Lips the Fish: When a student is having trouble figuring out a word, tell them to get their lips/mouth ready. Instruct students to start by making the sounds of each individual letter. Tackle the word slowly to hear each individual sound. 3) Stretchy Snake: This strategy goes along with Lips the Fish. When students are trying to stretch the words they emphasize each letter sound to stretch the word out. 4) Chunky Monkey: This reading strategy may utilize pieces of previous instruction such as word families and syllables. Teach students to break up the word into familiar or manageable parts. For example, if students come across the word "adaptable", it will look really big and intimidating especially for early readers. However, when students "chunk" the word up it can be read. Students should hopefully recognize /ad/ and /ap/ from previous word family instruction. Students may even wish to clap the syllables to help them chunk a word. "A-dapt-a-ble". Once the child has identified the word, they should go back and re-read the sentence to build word recognition, meaning, and fluency. 5) Skippy the Frog: Sometimes children just need to skip the word. If a student has tried a few different strategies and is still really struggling with reading a word, have them skip the word and continue reading the sentence. Sometimes after reading a little bit further, the meaning will become clear and the student can go back to the skipped word. Have the child re-read the sentence once they know the proper meaning and pronunciation. 6) Flippy Dolphin: There are many words in the English language that do not follow the "rules" taught to our elementary learners. For example, the word 'have' should have a long vowel sound if that sneaky, bossy, magic E at the end was doing its job. If a student comes across the word 'have' and pronounces it with a long /a/ sound, have them FLIP the vowel. Instruct students to try another vowel sound if the first one does not sound correct. 7) Tryin' Lion: This strategy tells readers not to give up, to keep trying! Some students will have to re-read a word or sentence several times in order to make sense of it. Emphasize to all of your students that this is okay! It’s a good thing to be persistent while reading. What isn't okay is giving up. If a student has to re-read a word numerous times in order to understand it, each attempt is benefiting them. They are practicing different strategies, letter sounds, and once they learn that word they will be more likely to recognize it quicker the next time they see it. The free reading strategies bookmark can be found at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Strategies-Bookmarks-2353244 Practice, Practice, Practice Finally, students need time to practice! Children need time to develop their decoding skills in an environment that is positive and encouraging. Allow students time to practice identifying letters and sounds or chunking, blending, and manipulating words by using activities that are fun and engaging while remaining at an appropriate level for difficulty. Teachers and students both need to stay positive. Consistent practice and explicit instruction will help those students who struggle with decoding. References: Beck, I. L., & Juel, C. (2002). The Role of Decoding in Learning to Read. Scholastic Red. Retrieved September 24, 2018, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/aed9/5c4d2b4ddb11d4199e4ab91ac0ee41fb2219.pdf.Select Gorski, D. (n.d.). Tiered Instruction and Intervention in a Response-to-Intervention Model. Retrieved from http://www.rtinetwork.org/essential/tieredinstruction/tiered-instruction-and-intervention-rti-model. Janice, Drinkard, E., & Bryant, A. (2019, September 19). Syllable Games: Classroom Strategy. Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/syllable_games.
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