Coaching

Main ideas and thoughts for: Classrooms That Work, Chapter 5 and What can I say besides "sound it out"? 

Chapter 5: Classrooms That Work
This chapter was filled with activities that a teacher could use in a classroom for phonics. Some of the activities seemed too lengthy for the younger grades but may work in grades 4-6. One activity that I would use in the classroom was called Using Words You Know.

The teacher would introduces 3 to 5 words the children already know.In the book, the teacher used

ways of transportation. Bike, car, train, and van were the words used in this example. After the teacher placed them in their category, she introduced new words similar to the 4 already there. To the right, there is a picture of the 4 categories after several words have been added. This activity is great because children can make a phonemic connection between words they do know and words they don't know.

What I can say besides sound it out?
This article discussed how teachers "coach" children through words they come across that are unfamiliar. Several teachers and parents tell their children to "sound it out" when they come to a word. However, there are other strategies to help children when they are struggling with new words.
Here are some questions and statements that I found helpful from the article to replace "sound it out" :

• Is there a chunk you know? (th, ch, pr, etc.)
• Look and think what you need to do.
• Can you take something off? 
• If it is a compound word, what is the first word? Second word? 
• What do you think that e sounds like?

QUESTION: Why do you think it is beneficial to the child to have us "coach" them through a word instead of saying "sound it out"?