The A in The CAFE
Improving Reading Accuracy using Meaning and Decoding Strategies (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyStage 2: Consolidation / Fluency
Ages:
5-9
Grade Range:
1st 2nd 3rdFood Groups:
Primary: Letter Sounds & Phonics, Reading Fluency & Expression Secondary: Reading Comprehension Strategies, Motivation for Literacy
Transcript
The next category of strategies is Accuracy. The first strategy that I introduce is "Use the pictures". It's very useful and common for first graders. When they're learning how to read, they need this extra support to tell them that what they think they are reading or a word that they recognize the first letter or two, and they look at the picture and then they can say, "oh, I know what this is." Then they can read it. It gives them some confidence and excitement when they're learning how to read. The next strategy that I introduce within Accuracy is "Flip the sound". This has to do with the sounds that vowels have - short vowels and long vowels. When the students are learning how to read, they can find themselves in a situation where they are reading a word and they're using the short vowel sound. It doesn't make sense, they don't recognize the word, they feel like it, but this is how it should be because I'm putting all the sounds together. As soon as they flip the sound of the vowel they're using, it becomes a word that they actually recognize. For example, if they are trying to read the word sat, they might say /s/ /ai/ /t/, /sait/, but that is not, that should be the word there but it doesn't make sense. But when they flip the sound, to a short vowel /a/, so it would be /sat/ and that would make sense. That's a word that they can recognize. Another strategy from the Accuracy category is "Cross Checking", and that is a strategy that we use a lot. When they're reading, and something doesn't make sense or doesn't look right, they get to cross check, meaning they compare what they said versus what the word is or the letters; the form of the word. Then, they do the cross checking so they check against the picture, does it make sense, does it look right? Or they can look at the letters of a word. For example, if the word was stop, and they say carpet, obviously that would make no sense because carpet would need a C or a K at the beginning and a C and S. So we will cross check and then look back and say "oh, okay so let me do it again". So it's just a way of telling them that they have to look back and maybe something didn't make sense so something didn't sound right. Another strategy is "Chunk letters and sounds together". This is very useful and common in students that are learning how to read. One of the things that I always tell my students is instead of sounding all the letters of the word until the end and then putting them together. With long words, it doesn't work because by the time they get to the end of a word, they forgot already the first sound. What I tell them is to add one sound at a time and say it from the beginning and then add one more and say the whole thing until they can figure out what the word is. One of the activities that I do with my students that I find very effective is the use of vests where you can use erasable markers. I write one letter per vest and I ask one student at a time to turn around and then they sound the letter that they see. Then I ask the second student to turn around, and then all the students put those two together and say it. With the vest, it allows them not to know what the other letters of the word are yet and then they have to use the strategy. Another strategy that relates to the first one is "Blend sounds, stretch and reread". The students sound the letters and then stretch it, and then put them together. That works with very short words such as cat, so they would probably say /k/ /a/ /t/, and then put them together and that's cat.
Related References
Additional Links:
The Daily Cafe www.thedailycafe.com
Activity Objective
The goal of The A in The CAFE: Improving Reading Accuracy using Meaning and Decoding Strategies (Virtual Tour) is to provide students with a range of strategies to help them read accurately. This teacher has his students focus on using the pictures to check if they understand what they are reading, flipping the vowel sounds, cross checking, chunking letters and sounds together, and blending and stretching sounds as they read.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Remind students to look at the bulletin board to check that they are following the prescribed steps to help them become accurate readers. - Model what an accurate reader looks and sounds like by reading to the class while they follow along. Also model what inaccurate reading looks and sounds like. Highlight the importance of crosschecking, chunking letters and sounds, and blending to improve reading accuracy. This can be an engaging activity if you use a data projector so that all of the children can see the words in the book you are reading.
Other Recipes by this Teacher
What are We Doing in Class Today?: Motivating Beginning Readers with a Daily Schedule (Virtual Tour)
K - 6th
Literacy CAFE in First Grade: Fostering Independence using a Menu of Strategies (Virtual Tour)
1st - 3rd
The Daily 5 in First Grade: Engaging Students with a Balanced Literacy Approach (Virtual Tour)
1st - 3rd
Predicting and Inferring: Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies using an Explicit Framework (Virtual Tour)
1st - 3rd
Revising and Editing in First Grade: Using Success Criteria to Focus the Writing Process (Virtual Tour)
K - 6th
