Teach Kids How to Decode Words
Beginning readers need to be explicitly taught how to sound out and blend unknown words. This will require lots and lots of modeling of using the alphabetic code: matching graphemes and phonemes. The goal of code-emphasis instruction is to help students automate sound-symbol associations to decode words accurately. Through lots of practice and exposure, they will begin to recognize some whole words automatically. This means that a word has been stored in orthographic memory through the orthographic processing system. Until then, though, students need to be in the habit of looking at all of the letters in a word in order to sound it out accurately. “There is no comprehension strategy powerful enough to compensate for the fact that you can’t read the words.” - Dr. Anita Archer Classroom Application One of the most common, simplest ways to explicitly teach and practice decoding with your students is to use a blending board. You may like a traditional bl...