You can think of reading comprehension in two parts: decoding - recognizing/sounding out words and comprehension- understanding the meaning of the text.  One does not precede the other; kids can understand text even when they can’t decode every word.  Conversely, even when they are able to read every word correctly, they still may not comprehend the story. Fluent readers use many strategies to make sense of what they are reading, and they do it automatically. We can help beginning readers by isolating these strategies and practicing them. When children have these strategies in their reading repertoire, they can start to combine them automatically and become more fluent readers.

Decoding Strategies:
Sample sentence: The bear climbed to the top of the tree to find the fruit.
-What is the beginning sound? C-C-Cl. The bear cl-cl-cl…
-Check the picture. What is the bear doing?
-Skip it and go back (context clues). The bear…. to the top of the tree. What did he do?
-Similar words. Does this look like another word you know?
-Sound it out. Cover up part of the word to isolate one sound at a time. Cl-cl-cl-iiiiii-mmmmm-ddddd

**A note about working on decoding strategies: Reading words should never be isolated from comprehension. Reading is meaning. If you’re struggling through each word and not discussing the book, you might end up disliking the process. Try to find books that are slightly challenging, but enjoyable. Make sure you incorporate discussion every time.

Comprehension Strategies:
-Make connections: Relate what happens in the book to your own life, or in another book.
-Predict: What do you think is going to happen next?
-Make inferences: Why do you think she was so angry?
-Question/Wonder: I wonder why he did that…. What’s the matter with the baby?
-Visualize: What picture do you see in your head when I read this part?
-Text Structure: Point out titles/headings/picture captions.

Comprehension strategies based on Making Meaning reading program.