1. When reading with your child, have your child look for well-known letter chunks in the words they are reading. These chunks could be prefixes, suffixes, endings, whole words, or base words. For example, your child may look for the chunk and in the word sand, or at in flat.
2. When chunking a word, have your child first read each chunk separately. then have your child put the chunks together to make the word. This will train your child to quickly and easily spot chunks. Stretchy Snake and Blend the Sound are often used in combination with Chunky Monkey (see "Reading at Home" for details on CAFE strategies).
3. If your child is having difficulty finding chunks, guide him/her to look for familiar endings and familiar prefixes (note that we have not taught students the terms "prefix" or "suffix," we talk about beginning and ending sounds.
4. Encourage your child to use his/her fingers and hand to frame the chunks found in words, decode those chunks first, and then move on to tackle the whole word.
5. To help train your child to look for chunks in words, play a game of "I Spy" when reading. For example, when looking at the word blend, you would say, "In this word I spy the word end." Then, switch roles with your child and let your child "spy" chunks in words.
Thank you for your continued support at home!