Thinking About the Meaning of a Story

Now that your child has figured out how to sound out words, reading continues to be tricky. Here is what to do when she comes to a word that is hard to sound out.

• While they are trying to sound the word out, remind them to think about the story
• What would make sense here and looks like that?
• Discuss what is happening in the story related to that tricky word.
• Accept words that are close in meaning and look similar.
  

Suppose your child comes to a word like "laugh" that is very hard to sound out. (although gh does make a /f/ sound in some words like "tough" too) But it is not something your child has seen before. Talk about the story and how the characters might react to something or look at the pictures to see if they look like they are smiling. They ask them to think about what they are doing that starts /la/. They will probably say laugh. If they do, point out that they thought of a word that makes sense! They will probably agree with you that laugh is a tricky word. Always, praise their good thinking as learning is all about thinking!