Learning for Life

Here are some Reading Strategies we use at Epping Secondary College, feel free to use them at home or share with others:

SPLIT WORD:

Words are often made up of smaller words,

e.g. some + times + sometimes

When you find a word you don't know, check to see if you recognise a smaller word inside it, this might give you a hint about its meaning.

INFERENCE:

An inference is a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning. We need to find clues to get answers from the text. We need to add those clues to what we already know or have read. 

Remember there can be more than on correct answer and we need to be able to support inference with evidence.

5 Ws & H

When your start reading, always ask yourself:

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

How?

SKIMMING & SCANNING:

Skimming helps you to work put the main ideas in a text. You read the first sentence of each paragraph and the let your eyes drop down to find keywords in the paragraph and then let your eyes drop down to find keywords in the paragraph. 

When scanning, you look only for a specific fact or piece of information. Think of the keywords you are looking for and use your finger to search for those words.

CONTEXT CLUES:

Context clues are hints that the author gives to help defined difficult or unusual word. The clue may appear within the same sentence as the word or it might be just before or after it.

Laura McCarthy

Learning Specialist