- Review decoding compound words (such as doghouse,
playground) as each syllable (being a word) will be
more readily recognized. Have students look for and
identify the two familiar smaller words in the larger
word.
- Have students look for inflectional endings (such as
-ing in playing and -est in oldest), cover them, read the
remaining word, then read the entire word. Begin with
words that do not involve spelling changes, such as
raining as opposed to taking in which an e is dropped
from the base word when the ending is added.
- Have students look for a final -le in a word (such as
puzzle), cover it, read the remaining syllable, and then
read the entire word. Begin with words that contain
the double consonant, then use words that use an
open vowel (such as maple) and words that contain
two different consonants at the syllable juncture (such
as tumble). (See figure 4.11 in this chapter for a
description of syllable patterns.)
- Have students look for affixes (see L.3.b) in a word (e.g., un- and -able in unreadable), cover
them, read what remains, then read the entire word. Alternatively, have students look for a
familiar root word first (e.g., bend in unbendable), read it, then add any affixes or inflectional
endings. Begin with words that do not involve spelling changes (such as y changing to i in
happiness).
- Have students identify the number of vowels in a word, underlining or circling them, then
determine whether any are vowel teams. Break the word into syllables based on the vowels
(and knowledge of syllable patterns, such as closed and open syllables [L.2.f]; see figure 4.11).
Decode each syllable, blend the syllables together, and determine whether the word sounds
right.
Children are taught to monitor their understanding as they decode unfamiliar words in text.
They learn that contextual analysis can be used to verify the accuracy and fit of the word in the
sentence (RF.3.4c). In other words, when they decode, they ask themselves whether the word is a
real word and whether that real word makes sense in the sentence and overall context. Contextual
analysis necessitates that children attend to meaning while reading and that they have a sufficiently
large vocabulary in order to recognize a word once decoded. Thus, comprehension and vocabulary
contribute to children’s ability to check for decoding accuracy.
Fluency
As children continue to read increasingly complex text, they
continue to work on building fluency so that cognitive resources
are devoted to meaning. Fluency encompasses accuracy, rate
(which demands automaticity), and prosody. Data from an
extensive study of oral reading fluency revealed the mean
words read per minute by students in grades one through eight
in unpracticed readings from grade-level materials (Hasbrouck
and Tindal 2006). Figure 4.29 presents the means for grade
three. The researchers recommended that students scoring
more than ten words below the 50th percentile be provided
more extensive instruction in fluency. Fluency rates should be
Decoding multisyllabic words is
given considerable attention in
this grade (and in the grades four
and five span), differentiated
as appropriate. Teachers build
on the skills students acquired in
grades one and two to decode
two-syllable words and teach
them to decode longer words,
as well as to write multisyllabic
words using knowledge of syllable
patterns.
As children continue to
read increasingly complex
text, they continue to work
on building fluency so
that cognitive resources
are devoted to meaning.
Fluency encompasses
accuracy, rate (which
demands automaticity),
and prosody.
364 | Chapter 4 Grade 3
