Word-Attack Strategies
(excerpt from www.readinga-z.com)
Strategies to help your child decode, pronounce, and understand unfamiliar words

• Look at the picture.
• Are there people, objects, or actions in the picture that might make sense in the sentence?

• Start with the first letter, and say each letter-sound out loud.
• Blend the sounds together and try to say the word. Does the word make sense in the sentence?

• Look for familiar letter chunks. They may be sound/symbols, prefixes, suffixes, endings, whole words, or base words.
• Read each chunk by itself. Then blend the chunks together and sound out the word. Does that word make sense in the sentence?

• Think of a word that looks like the unfamiliar word.
• Compare the familiar word to the unfamiliar word. Decide if the familiar word is a chunk or form of the unfamiliar word.
• Use the known word in the sentence to see if it makes sense. If so, the meanings of the two words are close enough for understanding.

• Read the sentence more than once.
• Think about what word might make sense in the sentence. Try the word and see if the sentence makes sense.

• Read past the unfamiliar word and look for clues.
• If the word is repeated, compare the second sentence to the first. What word might make sense in both?

• Think about what you know about the subject of the book, paragraph, or sentence.
• Do you know anything that might make sense in the sentence? Read the sentence with the word to see if it makes sense.