Elementary Reading Strategies

Posted by Megan Sheakoski Jul 31, 2008

The days of following the lessons in the Teacher’s Book and hoping for the best are long gone. Students need explicit instruction of the strategies that good readers use to make sense of what they read. Teachers need to be aware of the reading needs of their students and teach them the specific skills they require to be more successful. Primary teachers can use a variety of strategies to teach reading skills.

The Language Experience Approach Reading Strategy

The LEA reading strategy is used by teachers to help students learn to read better using their own words. After a shared experience students dictate what happened to the teacher who records it word for word into a story. This story becomes the basis for a variety of reading lessons.

The Word Splash Vocabulary Strategy

When students don’t understand the vocabulary in a story or textbook they aren’t able to comprehend the author’s message. Teachers use a Word Splash to teach difficult vocabulary words to the students before, during and after they read.

The Reciprocal Teaching Reading Strategy

Reciprocal Teaching is a four part strategy that increases multiple reading skills at once. The clarifying part of the strategy makes sure that student have a way to figure out unknown words by breaking them into chunks they can manage. Predicting helps students to comprehend material by teaching them to look for clues from the author and interact with the text. Questioning and summarizing are also taught to ensure understanding and to aid in recall and retention of the information.

Teachers need to teach elementary students reading strategies that increase their ability to read effectively. The Language Experience Approach, the Word Splash, and the Reciprocal Teaching strategy teach students how to decode and comprehend text while learning new vocabulary words to become better readers.