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Tips for
Teaching Decoding Reading Skills
The importance of teaching
decoding reading skills is undeniable, but if you are like
many parents, you probably aren’t quite sure how to go about
doing it.
The first step in successfully learning how to teach
decoding reading skills is to understand what decoding reading
skills are and the role they play in learning how to become a
successful reader. If you haven’t done so already, read,
Reading Decoding
Skills And The Elementary Reader to learn more.
Teaching
Semantics to Improve Decoding Reading Skills
You may not realize it, but
teaching your child semantics, or the meaning of words, starts
from the day he is born. Every time you talk to your baby or
toddler, he is gradually learning about new words and their
meanings.
But, how can you help your elementary aged child with
semantics?
One easy way to do this is to
begin a “word of the week” family activity. With this
activity, you choose a new word for your child that you want
him to use as much as possible throughout the week.
In addition, you will focus on
using the word, as well. In this way, your child sees you
modeling ways to use the word. It also helps prove to him that
you think learning new words is important. You might even want
to develop this into a contest and keep score on who manages
to use the word in a meaningful way the most throughout the
week, then follow it up with a special treat – such as a movie
or some other family outing.
Teaching
Syntax to Improve Decoding Reading Skills
Syntax can be tricky to teach
without directly doing so, but the best way to teach just
about anything is to make a game out if it. Therefore, a fun
way to help teach your child syntax is to play Mad Libs.
If you don’t know what Mad Libs are, they are stories with
words omitted. To create a Mad Lib, you need to write a story,
then remove certain words from it. Without letting her see the
story, ask your child to give you replacement words. You will,
however, specify whether the replacement word should be a
noun, verb, or other part of speech. The resulting story is
often quite funny.
An example would be:
The (noun) ran (adjective) to the store to buy a new (noun).
Then, he (verb) back home because he was (adjective).
After your child supplies you with words to fill in the
blanks, let her read it out loud and see what a funny story
she created.
If you don’t know how to make your own Mad Libs, or simply
don’t have the time, several are available on-line. One such
site is www.madglibs.com/.
You can also challenge your child to create her own Mad Libs,
then ask you to fill in the blanks. In this way, she will have
to determine the part of speech of the word that needs to be
replaced when creating her stories.
Teaching
Conceptual Relationships to Improve Decoding Reading Skills
A fun way to help create a strong
understanding of conceptual relationships is to play a word
game. For example, give your child a word, such as “animal,”
and ask him to come up with as many different animals as he
can. Let him know that animals that are similar still count,
such as “tiger” and “cat,” because they are still different
words. Have a competition with him and see who can come up
with the longest list.
After you have made your lists, discuss what characteristics
are the same and what characteristics are different about the
objects on your list. For example, in the case of tigers and
cats, they are both felines and they both have four legs, but
one is much larger than the other.
You might even make a Venn Diagram to illustrate your
comparisons. In a Venn Diagram, two or more overlapping
circles are drawn. Where they overlap is what the objects have
in common. Where they don’t overlap is what is different. For
an example, visit this website: kidbibs.com/images/venn.gif
Teaching Phonological and
Morphological Properties to Improve Decoding Reading Skills
A great way to teach phonological properties is to create
“wacky words.” This can be done in two ways. In one way, you
make up a word and write it on a piece of paper. You then
challenge your child to figure out how that word would be
pronounced. Guide her through sounding the word out by
following phonological rules, such as how to pronounce the
“sh” blend. Then, come up with your own make believe
definition for the word.
After developing a make believe definition for the word, add
on real suffixes or prefixes to the word and discuss how this
changes the overall meaning of the word. For example, if you
make up the word “shlock” and you decide “shlock” means “to
sleep,” then the word “preshlock” would mean “before
sleeping.” Often, using “wacky words” helps a child better
understand what the root of a word is and how the meaning can
be changed by adding other words parts to it.
A variation on “wacky words” is to have your child come up
with a new word, then challenge her to figure out how it would
be spelled. You can make up definitions and work on
morphological properties with this version, as well.
Teaching decoding reading skills can seem like a daunting
task, but with a little imagination and creativity, it can be
done – and provide great family bonding time, as well!
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