Reading Strategies
Reading outside of school provides the additional support and encouragement that allows
students to create a deep passion for reading, to deepen their comprehension skills, and to
build a broad vocabulary knowledge. Reading strategies can be developed and used before,
during, and after reading takes place. These strategies reinforce what your student is learning in
third grade.
Activities to do at home:
• Provide a time and space for your child to read every day.
• Find small and simple poems. Read them together and talk about the feelings they
convey. Try making up your own poems together about objects, people you know, or
anything you like!
• Read to your child or have your child read to you every day. Reading aloud to children,
of all ages, provides opportunities to discuss more challenging and complex plots and
themes which builds critical thinking skills.
• As your child learns to read new words and understand the meaning of those words,
help him/her keep track of them in his/her own dictionary. Your child can write them
down, draw pictures to illustrate the words or the definitions, or write sentences with
the words.
• Discuss any confusing parts, elements, or information in the book, chapter, or passage.
• Start a family book club. Let different members of the family pick the book. This could
be a good way to enjoy quality family time while experiencing the joy of reading
together!
• Ask your child to retell what he/she read in his/her own words.
• Ask your child to summarize what he/she read and tell what he/she learned from what
was read. This could be connected to something in real life, another reading, or to
events happening in the world.
• Visit the local library and make reading fun for the entire family
Give your child opportunities to participate in new experiences. Visit museums, the zoo,
theaters, historical sites, aquariums, etc. to help build your child’s vocabulary and
speaking skills.
• Find a series that interests your child and begin to read it together. You can read to your
child, your child can read to you, and he/she can read a chapter independently. You and
your child can interview each other as you read — ask about main ideas, events, and
thoughts you each have about the books and characters.
• Begin a family project of building vocabulary. Ask all family members to contribute to
the project by submitting new vocabulary words they read or hear. Vocabulary words
may be compiled in a decorative container in a prominent place. Family members
practice using the new vocabulary words in their speaking and writing.
• Act out a story, poem, or other text as if it is a play by using different voices for the
characters. This will help children practice appropriate pacing while reading and
encourage reading with expression.
• As your child develops favorite authors, look online for that author’s website. Your child
can email or write a letter to the author (under your supervision). The author may even
be at a book signing or other events in your neighborhood for you and your child to
attend.
• When you or your child uses a word with a prefix or suffix, stop to talk about it. Break
down the word and talk about what the prefix or suffix and the root word mean
together. Think of other words that have that same suffix or prefix. You can also write
the word out on two separate cards, with the prefix on one and the root word on the
other and make new words with the cards. Write down the different words with
prefixes and suffixes you and your child use.
• Talk about current events together. Discuss with your child so he/she understands what
is happening and how it connects to him/her, other events that he/she may have seen
or read about, and other areas of the community.
• Use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or cards from games to create both real and silly
words. Practice building longer words by putting together shorter words and sounds.
• After your child reads a story, make up your own version, changing details such as
setting, time, or even the ending. You can change the story so it occurs in places or with
characters you know. This helps your child understand story structure and make
comparisons. Alternatively, make up your own version of a fairy tale or known story.
• Possible questions/prompts to ask as or after your child reads:
o Who was this about?
o What were the main ideas/topics?
o Where did this take place?
o Retell the story in sequential order.
o What is the lesson/moral? How do you know?
o Which of these details is really important to the story? How do you know?
o How did the characters’ actions help move the story along?
o What do you think the author is trying to say when he/she uses the word/phrase
____?
o What clues can you find in the sentence or paragraph that help you figure out the
meaning of _______?
o How does what the author said in an earlier paragraph help us understand what is
happening now?
o Who is telling the story in this section? How do you know?
o What clues do the illustrations in the story provide to help you understand the plot
(or setting or characters) of the story?
o How are these two stories different? Similar?
o Summarize the text.
o What details explain or support the main idea?
o How are ________ and _______ related?
o What is the result of _________’s idea?
o What does the word ______ mean in this sentence?
o What did you do to help you figure out an unknown word?
o Do you agree or disagree with what the author has said so far?
o What information did you get from the map/chart/photo?
o How was this text written? (sequence, comparison, cause/effect, etc.)
o What details does the author use to support his/her point?
o What is the root word in ______?
o Does _____ have a prefix or suffix? What does the prefix/suffix do to the root word?
o What strategies can you use when you don’t understand the text?
Reading outside of school provides the additional support and encouragement that allows
students to create a deep passion for reading, to deepen their comprehension skills, and to
build a broad vocabulary knowledge. Reading strategies can be developed and used before,
during, and after reading takes place. These strategies reinforce what your student is learning in
third grade.
Activities to do at home:
• Provide a time and space for your child to read every day.
• Find small and simple poems. Read them together and talk about the feelings they
convey. Try making up your own poems together about objects, people you know, or
anything you like!
• Read to your child or have your child read to you every day. Reading aloud to children,
of all ages, provides opportunities to discuss more challenging and complex plots and
themes which builds critical thinking skills.
• As your child learns to read new words and understand the meaning of those words,
help him/her keep track of them in his/her own dictionary. Your child can write them
down, draw pictures to illustrate the words or the definitions, or write sentences with
the words.
• Discuss any confusing parts, elements, or information in the book, chapter, or passage.
• Start a family book club. Let different members of the family pick the book. This could
be a good way to enjoy quality family time while experiencing the joy of reading
together!
• Ask your child to retell what he/she read in his/her own words.
• Ask your child to summarize what he/she read and tell what he/she learned from what
was read. This could be connected to something in real life, another reading, or to
events happening in the world.
• Visit the local library and make reading fun for the entire family
Give your child opportunities to participate in new experiences. Visit museums, the zoo,
theaters, historical sites, aquariums, etc. to help build your child’s vocabulary and
speaking skills.
• Find a series that interests your child and begin to read it together. You can read to your
child, your child can read to you, and he/she can read a chapter independently. You and
your child can interview each other as you read — ask about main ideas, events, and
thoughts you each have about the books and characters.
• Begin a family project of building vocabulary. Ask all family members to contribute to
the project by submitting new vocabulary words they read or hear. Vocabulary words
may be compiled in a decorative container in a prominent place. Family members
practice using the new vocabulary words in their speaking and writing.
• Act out a story, poem, or other text as if it is a play by using different voices for the
characters. This will help children practice appropriate pacing while reading and
encourage reading with expression.
• As your child develops favorite authors, look online for that author’s website. Your child
can email or write a letter to the author (under your supervision). The author may even
be at a book signing or other events in your neighborhood for you and your child to
attend.
• When you or your child uses a word with a prefix or suffix, stop to talk about it. Break
down the word and talk about what the prefix or suffix and the root word mean
together. Think of other words that have that same suffix or prefix. You can also write
the word out on two separate cards, with the prefix on one and the root word on the
other and make new words with the cards. Write down the different words with
prefixes and suffixes you and your child use.
• Talk about current events together. Discuss with your child so he/she understands what
is happening and how it connects to him/her, other events that he/she may have seen
or read about, and other areas of the community.
• Use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or cards from games to create both real and silly
words. Practice building longer words by putting together shorter words and sounds.
• After your child reads a story, make up your own version, changing details such as
setting, time, or even the ending. You can change the story so it occurs in places or with
characters you know. This helps your child understand story structure and make
comparisons. Alternatively, make up your own version of a fairy tale or known story.
• Possible questions/prompts to ask as or after your child reads:
o Who was this about?
o What were the main ideas/topics?
o Where did this take place?
o Retell the story in sequential order.
o What is the lesson/moral? How do you know?
o Which of these details is really important to the story? How do you know?
o How did the characters’ actions help move the story along?
o What do you think the author is trying to say when he/she uses the word/phrase
____?
o What clues can you find in the sentence or paragraph that help you figure out the
meaning of _______?
o How does what the author said in an earlier paragraph help us understand what is
happening now?
o Who is telling the story in this section? How do you know?
o What clues do the illustrations in the story provide to help you understand the plot
(or setting or characters) of the story?
o How are these two stories different? Similar?
o Summarize the text.
o What details explain or support the main idea?
o How are ________ and _______ related?
o What is the result of _________’s idea?
o What does the word ______ mean in this sentence?
o What did you do to help you figure out an unknown word?
o Do you agree or disagree with what the author has said so far?
o What information did you get from the map/chart/photo?
o How was this text written? (sequence, comparison, cause/effect, etc.)
o What details does the author use to support his/her point?
o What is the root word in ______?
o Does _____ have a prefix or suffix? What does the prefix/suffix do to the root word?
o What strategies can you use when you don’t understand the text?
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