This coaching cycle we're working out the bugs in getting flexible small group guided reading going in four more intermediate classrooms during this grading period, and one of our challenges is figuring out and and making a list of all the strategies we can think of for figuring out unfamiliar words - and teaching our students to use these strategies independently and systematically. Primarily we work on using our comprehension strategies during small group, but we realize that effective readers need a self extending system of getting better, and that includes growing vocabulary, over and above the specific words being taught in content, etc.
We've put our heads together and come up with these ideas (see below) and we'd appreciate any input the mosasic list can add (I've already looked through the TOOLS pages). A lot of what we've come up with resembles fix up strategies. So are we working on what kinds of monitoring tools will help kids figure out unfamiliar words? And can you make some suggestions to extend/improve our list? Thanks, PJ 4,5,6 & Lit Coach Our Thoughts so Far: 1. Think about the story, and what I already know about the topic, then ask myself, what word would make sense here 2. What words do I already know that will help me figure out how this word might sound (example, squaw: I know squid and I know saw, so I can blend the squ and the aw togehter and say it. Does that sound like any word I've heard before and might know the meaning of? 3. (similar to #2?) Look for chunks I know in the word, blend them together and make a couple of gueses at how this word might sound. Does that sound like any word I've ever heard before and might know the meaning of? 4. Read on for the rest of the paragraph, and maybe a few paragraphs more. Then go back a couple of paragraphs before the word. When I come to the word, get my mouth ready to make the sound the letters at the beginning would sound like. Then make a good guess for what word that begins that way would make sense. Reread the paragraph with my guessed word and ask myself, "Does this make sense?" 5. Look at the picture for clues, such as: those people have binoculars and are looking up into the sky through the binoculars. One of the ladies has a book in her pocket with the title BIRD WATCHERS' GUIDE. I'm guessing that those people are bird watchers, and I'm guessing that those words they are arguing about in the text (fullfinch, golden plover, and old squaw) are the names of the birds they think they've seen. 6. Are there any parts of this word that give me clues to what it might mean? This word is helpless. I know what help is, and I know that if I add -less to the end of it, the new word means without help, or not able to help. This page is about how helpless baby penguins are, so I'm guessing helpless means not able to take care of or to help themselves. So baby penguins need adult penguins to take care of them. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
