Strategies

Decoding Strategy	How	Why
Zoom in on the ending	Discussed importance of stopping when you get to a word you don't know and zooming in on the ending, don’t just move on after the initial sound. When you have the word, read it to make sure the word makes sense. Teacher modeling and thinking aloud of coming to an unknown word and attempting to solve it by looking at the initial sound and then zooming in on the ending Guided practice and independent practice of strategy in independent reading book and conferring with teacher	When identifying a word, Chace focuses on initial sound. He will just look at the first letter and take his best guess of what the word is, even if it doesn’t make sense or look right in context. To continue building the automatic recognition of words
Identify and sort words with similar endings to begin to use endings as a strategy to decode a word	Discussion on how good readers know how endings are just as important as the beginning sounds. Pointing out how sometimes they can be tricky; specifically focusing on the different sounds of  -ed endings Teacher modeling of the different sounds of -ed endings (/id/, /d/, and /t/) Sort words with -ed endings based on their sounds Independent practice within their own reading book; finding -ed sounds in their text and sorting them by their ending sound. Conferring with teacher	The more exposure and practice that Chace has in manipulating and focusing on components that make up words, the more decoding and word attack will become instinctive when reading and will require little to no attention. Building their decoding skills will allow the students to build automaticity. “When students are focusing less on decoding, they can spend more attention on making meaning from the print they are reading.” (Tankersley, 2003)
Run into the first part of a word and read through	Discussion on how sometimes as readers we spend so much time trying to figure out that word, we forget everything we read! When this happens, we need to use our strategies to help us work through it. Teaching think aloud using mentor text to model strategy. First you want to get a running start by looking at the first few letters together. Then you can read through the rest of the word by something that sounds right, makes sense, and matches the beginning of the word. Guided practice and independent practice of strategy in independent reading book and conferring with teacher	The purpose of this strategy is to help students look at the word as a whole, run into the beginning sound(s) and read through to the end. To build on toolbox of strategies that could be used when decoding an unknown words The more choices that a reader has when getting stuck on a word, the more they can pull from to successfully decode the unknown word. “When children slow down to approach an unknown word, they drop the meaning from the entire beginning of the sentence and just start puzzling over the word. Then, as an isolated word, it becomes harder to figure out without the meaning support as well.” (Serravallo, 2015)
To use more than one strategy to figure out an unfamiliar word	Discussion on how good readers pull from more than one strategy when attempting to decode an unknown word. Teacher modeling using mentor text and think out loud while attempting to use different strategies to solve unknown words, so the reader recognizes that proficient readers think this way and try different ways to solve a word. Strategy prompting chart with strategies and visual prompts for student to use as a tool Guided practice and independent practice of using different strategies in independent reading book and conferring with teacher	As students begin to compile a ‘toolbox’ of strategies, it is important that they understand that proficient readers use more than one strategy when solving a word, and when one doesn’t work, they can try another. “Students must learn to self-monitor their own reading, and when a word they read doesn’t look right, make sense, or sound like it would in text, they should cross-check it.” (Serravallo, 2015) The goal is that these strategies become habitual where they will not require attention and the reader can shift its focus to fluency and comprehension.
Taking the word apart, and putting it back together	Discussion on how being a reader can be a lot like being detectives and how detectives take a bigger problem and break it down into little small parts to try and solve the mystery. Teacher modeling and thinking aloud to show most of the parts of bigger and unknown words, if we break them down are word parts that we have seen before in other words. Guided practice of using sentence strips and scissors to physically cut the word into its parts and put it back together. Independent practice of using different strategies in independent reading book and conferring with teacher	Serravallo(2015), explains that children can be taught to be more aware and to use strategies to help them figure out the print as they read. The ideal is that students learn to search for and use all three sources of information; meaning, syntax, and visual. Sometimes longer, harder words become overwhelming to developing readers and end up being skipped. Purpose of the strategy is for students to deconstruct the simple word parts that they know to ultimately decode the much bigger word. This strategy helps students to realize that bigger words are made up of the same word parts.

Fluency Strategy	How	Why
Read to sound like the character	Discussion on how  aside from learning about who our main characters are, when we read, we want to take that information about them and how they might feel at that moment in the text, and do our best to sound like them. Teacher modeling using mentor text of making inferences about how the character is feeling at that specific point in the text, and using expression to sound like the character would. Show  before and after and allow them to see how when you reread to sound like the character you are becoming an expressive, interesting, and more fluent reader. Guided practice; students read two pages of independent practice, making inferences and rehearsing to read like character Independent practice of reading book and teacher conferring Recording sounding like the character using Vocaroo app: http://goo.gl/DE2Aaw	To pay close attention to how our character feels and read to sound like our character To continue analyzing characters to promote deeper thinking Provokes students to think about how a character in a story may be feeling and then asks students to use a voice to sound like the character. Sounding like the character is expressing the emotions of the character in books, while developing fluency and expression. Serravallo (2015) explains that it is important to model fluent, expressive reading in various parts of a book to show students a myriad of emotions present in a text and to help students tap into their inner actor.
Recognize the different types of punctuation and what they tell the reader to do while reading	Discussion on how how good readers know that we do more than just read the words on the page, but we read the marks on the page as well. Teacher modeling of the different types of punctuation and their signals: (.) voice goes down, (,) voice goes down to a pause, (?) voice goes up, (!) voice goes way up. Explaining that if we read a sentence with the wrong ending mark, it could change the meaning of the sentence and confuse you to what is happening in the story. Guided practice; identifying punctuation and reading it to match using Google Slides Independent practice of reading book and teacher conferring	“Readers do more than just read the words-- they also read the marks on the page.” (Serravallo, 2015) Without reading punctuation, it can impede on both a student's fluency and their comprehension. “Fluency is actually considered by many to be the bridge between decoding and comprehension.” (Pikulski & Chard, 2005) The purpose of this strategy is to allow students to understand what the different types of punctuation looks like and what it signals you to do with your voice as a reader.
Warm up and transfer	Discuss that when working on fluency, before diving into your independent reading book, good readers sometimes warm up on an easier book, to get the feel for reading that is easy is and smooth. Teacher modeling using easier mentor text; thinking out loud and really focusing on the aspects of fluency with like expression, tone, and pacing Teacher modeling of transferring those same fluency focuses into independent reading book Independent practice of warming up with an easier book & then transferring to reading book and teacher conferring	Warm up and transfer technique is allowing students to warm up on an easier book, getting the feel for fluent reading where they are not focused on word recognition, then move to a more difficult book. Developing readers are attempting to shift focus away from decoding and word recognition to fluency and comprehension. “Fluency enables learners’ word recognition to move from laborious to automatic. It also allows learners to apply elements of oral language to written text.” (Kuhn & Levy, 2015)
Saying goodbye to robot reading	Discuss the importance of learning to not read word by word, like a robot, but try to read a few words together at a time, in phrases Teacher modeling and thinking aloud using mentor text, scooping words in phrases, and rereading to make sure the phrasing and pace sounds right Guided practice using marker boards; deciding where to scoop words and saying them out loud to practice reading fluently Independent practice of strategy in independent reading book and conferring with teacher	The purpose of this lesson is to break students away from robot reading by teaching them to scoop up a few words at a time and read in phrases to become a more fluent reader. Robinson, McKenna, & Conradi (2012), explain that fluent readers have developed the ability to recognize words automatically as well as accurately, and they can incorporate the use appropriate phrasing and expression into their reading.

Comprehension Strategy	How	Why
Questioning	Stress the importance of stopping to think about what questions we think about while reading. Teacher modeling of making thinking visible by asking questions and jotting them down while reading; thinking aloud and explain the thinking behind the question. Guided practice using post-it notes and same mentor text Independent practice of strategy using independent reading book, post-its Teacher conferring	The strategy of asking questions while reading teaches students to be metacognitive. “The ability to routinely generate mental questions while reading, listening, or viewing something not only boosts attention and alertness, but also strengthens comprehension.” (Duke & Pearson, 2002) “When you ask yourself questions about incoming information, you are paying attention, self-monitoring, and actively constructing knowledge.” (Lewin, 2010)
Making our thinking visible	Discussion on the importance of really slowing down and stopping to think about our main character as we read Teacher modeling of using post-its to track thinking about the story and thoughts about the main character Guided practice using post-it notes and mentor text Independent practice of strategy using independent reading book and post-its Teacher conferring	To build metacognition while reading and make thinking visible When a student makes their thinking visible about a character, it is causing them to think about their characters in a more complex way. This promotes thinking about who the characters are, what their motives and events that caused them to be that way, and how they have changed throughout the book. Lucy Calkins (2010) explains that it is important to teach children to draw from the details in the text to grow ideas about these characters and to read in a way that brings them to life.
Learning about the main character/making inferences	Discussion on the importance of characters and how good readers recognize that fictional stories are less about what happens and more about who it happens to. Teacher modeling using mentor text of making inferences about the main characters based on what is happening to them, what they are feeling, and how they are reacting. Guided practice using mentor text of using google to track our thoughts and make inferences to learn more about the main character Independent practice of strategy using independent reading book and google docs Teacher conferring	When readers focus on the learning and making inferences about the characters, they are thinking about them on a deeper level and often making connections. Making inferences is critical to text comprehension because texts normally do not (or cannot) state all of the relevant information. Therefore, to successfully comprehend a text, the reader must generate inferences to fill in “missing” information and build a coherent mental model that incorporates information in the text. (McNamara, 2009) Making inferences allows students to learn to “read between the lines”, combining information from the text and prior knowledge that enables them to construct meaning and promotes connections.
Rereading to learn even more about the main character/making inferences	Discussion on just like in life when we continue to learn about the people in our lives the more we get to know them, same goes for reading. Stressing importance that when you reread, you don't just see new things in the story, you also notice new things about the characters. Teacher modeling and using mentor text to reread to continue to learn more about the main character; thinking aloud and documenting more information learned about the main character via Google docs Independent practice of strategy using independent reading book and google docs Teacher conferring	Learning to reread a story for a specific purpose is an important skill for developing readers to learn. “When readers purposefully bring to consciousness what they already know relating that knowledge to the text, they put a set of schemata into place, establishing a framework for the new information they will encounter.” (Graves, 2011) The purpose of this lesson was to show the students that just like with people in real life, even when you think you may have learned everything there is to know about a character, you can always learn more.
Making inferences about the main character based off their relationships with other characters	Discussion on the importance of rereading with a purpose Teacher modeling and using mentor text to reread to continue to learn more about the main character, specifically focusing on relationships with other characters. Teacher  think aloud and modeling documenting more information learned about the main character via Google docs Independent practice of strategy using independent reading book and google docs Teacher conferring	Reading through a specific lense and reading closely reflects the values of the Common Core Standards. “Remind students, once again, to reread in order to learn even more about the character, noticing new details to help them understand characters in new ways.” (Calkins, 2006)
Summarizing what’s most essential	Discussion on how good readers summarize, they remember to tell what's important, tell it in the order it happened, tell it in a way that makes sense, but try not to tell too much! Teaching modeling using mentor text to think aloud and determine what is most important to include when summarizing. Guided practice using mentor text and summarizing prompting folders as a tool to retell orally Independent practice of strategy using independent reading book and google slides to create a digital retelling of the story: https://goo.gl/29I9cw Teacher conferring	“Summarizing requires students to first determine what’s important and then condense it in their own words.” (Graves, 2011) The purpose of this lesson was to practice recalling events in the story and determining what is most important to retell or summarize the story “Students should be able to say back, in sequence, the most important information after reading a section of a text.” (Serravallo, 2015).
Having accountable conversations around reading	Discussion on the purpose of rereading a text multiple times to understand it better Teacher read aloud of mentor text; prompting questions to student throughout to illicit thoughts, opinions, and thinking about the story and characters Rereading again with the purpose of finding a pattern in the story Discussion with teacher and peer around the plot, characters, and patterns in the book	Rereading a story multiple times with different purposes relates to the values of the Common Core Standards as well as allows the student to gain a deeper understanding of the story through different lenses. “To read closely is to investigate the specific strength of a literary work in as many details as possible. It also means understanding how a text works, how it creates its effects on the most minute level” (Mikics, 2007, p. 61)