Decoding: Chunking

Decoding: Chunking
Objective:
The students will use their knowledge of word parts within larger words to decode unfa-miliar text.
Materials:
•  Reading material at the students’ instructional reading level
Lesson:
Preview the text, identifying words that may prove challenging for the students. Identify parts
of the words already familiar to students to serve as a prompt if the students have difficulty
with the whole word (e.g., the little word and is in the larger word stand). Then,
1.  Conduct a comprehension/vocabulary preview (see steps 1–3 of the sample lesson).
2.  Inform the students that if they find an unfamiliar word as they read, they should
first look for the parts of the word they are able to read such as smaller words
within the larger word, or prefixes and suffixes. Then they can blend the part of
the word that they are able to read with the rest of the word.
3.  Practice a few words in isolation.
4.  When the students come to an unfamiliar word, remind them to look for
familiar parts.
5.  Tell students who misread a word to return to the beginning of the sentence
containing the misread word and read the entire sentence again correctly.
6.  To encourage comprehension, discuss what happened in the story or the reading
passage and the students’ reaction to it.
Adaptations:
For teaching compound words, have the students look for the two smaller words that make
up a larger word.
As students are reading, record any unfamiliar words for additional practice at a later date.
For English language learners, be sure to preview any unfamiliar vocabulary. To reinforce com-prehension, stop at intervals throughout the text to review what has happened up to that point