When figuring out unfamiliar words, I think there are different problems to consider.
1. They can't pronounce the word but they know the word and the meaning. 2. They can pronounce the word but they don't know what it means. 3. They can't pronounce the word AND they don't have any idea what it means. The decoding and chunking is only good to use if they don't know how to say the word. But a deeper issue with older readers is that they don't know the word meanings. I have the kids (2nd grade and up) use post-its to mark when they come to a word that they don't know the meaning (whether they can say it or not). Then, they make a T-chart that says "Words I don't know" and "I can infer..." They write down the page number where they found the word(s) and they use many of the same fix-up strategies that you wrote in your email in terms of re-reading, thinking about the story, finding another word that fits or makes sense in that unknown word's place... After the chapter or the reading is done for the session (this is usually in guided reading groups) the kids share their words and their strategies for making good inferences about what those words mean. I usually find one or two kids who have done this well as I'm listening to them read throughout the GR session and have them share first and do a lot of praise of their good use of the steps and the strategy.When they are off base, we discuss it and I usually give them the real meaning of the word and show them how that would have fit in by using the same strategies. This often doesn't help with pronunciation, but I think that just the same, it's vocabulary building. And it's okay if we tell them how to say some difficult words if and when the chunking and all that doesn't work. I find that for some kids, that chunking just doesn't work! I'd love to hear other ideas and strategies as well! Kristin NJ
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