Decoding: Look at the Picture

After a long hike, Dee and Kala decided to stop for a bite to eat! They were excited to order, but when they opened their menus, there were a lot of difficult words! Let's help Dee and Kala by teaching them about “Decoding: Look at the Picture!” Sometimes during reading, we come to words we do not know. This is okay! There are lots of ways to work them out. When we use a strategy, or plan, to read out a word, it's called DECODING. There are a lot of ways to decode, or work out, words we don't know, but today we will use PICTURES to help. Pictures SHOW us what the words say on the page. They can also help us make good guesses about words we do not know! Let's try it! Here it says: eat the...hmm that last word is difficult. First, let's look at the picture and think about what we see.

The picture shows a bird feeder with seeds. Next, we can look at the first letter of the difficult word and THINK, what sound does make? It says /s/! What is in the picture that makes the same sound? Seeds are in the picture!" The word 'seeds' start with a /s/ sound too! Now we can make a good guess about what the word could be. It could be SEEDS! Finally, we should try out our word in the sentence to see if it makes sense! Eat the SEEDS. Yes, that makes sense! Now let's try it with Dee! "This is a jug." Hmm, Dee doesn't know THIS word. So he should look at the picture first and think about what he sees. "I see a jug filled with water." Next, he should look at the first letter, , and THINK about the sound it makes.. " says /w/." WATER also starts with /w/, so Dee should try the word WATER in the sentence. "This is a WATER jug. YES, it makes sense!" Now, let's help Kala! "Yum, get the bug. Hmm..." Kala doesn't know THIS word. First, look at the picture. What do you see? "I see a ladybird sandwich!" Next, look at the first letter, what sound does it make? " says /s/." SANDWICH has the same beginning sound, so try sandwich in the sentence. "Yum, get the bug SANDWICH. YES, it makes sense!" While Dee and Kala decide on their orders, let's remember! Today we learnt how to use PICTURES to read difficult words since they SHOW us what the words say on a page. When you come to a difficult word, look at the picture first and think about what you see. Then, look at the first letter of the word and THINK, what sound does it make? Is there anything in the picture that starts with the same sound? Then, guess a word that would make sense. Finally, try out your word in the sentence to see if it works! "LOOK, Dee! Here comes the waiter with our salads!" HAY now! Those don't look like any salads I've ever ordered!