How to teach fix-up strategies

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Today we’re tackling fix-up strategies. What are they, and how can you help your readers use them?

What are fix-up strategies?

Fix-up strategies are what good readers use when they come to an unfamiliar word or when they stop understanding what they’re reading.

Fix-up strategies aren’t just for our students. Adult readers use them all the time! Think about the last time you read a challenging text. Maybe it was a complicated instruction manual. Perhaps it was a scholarly article, memoir, or even your latest novel.

When you read a whole paragraph and realize that you don’t remember a thing, you go back and re-read. You read the challenging part a little more slowly. You stop to think about what you’ve read and check any graphs, charts, and captions to support your understanding.

You fix-up your reading.

How to teach fix-up strategies to K-2

An excellent to teach fix-up strategies is to model them during whole class Read Alouds. It’s also important to explicitly teach them during whole class mini-lessons.

But I’ve found that my teaching is extra meaningful when I teach fix-up strategies one-on-one.

Whether you’re listening to students read at the guided reading table or in individual conferences, you can teach them to use fix-up strategies with the following prompts.

When the reader doesn’t know a word, you can say ...

Look at the picture.
Look at the first letter of the word.
Do you see any parts of the word that you know?
Skip it and read to the end of the sentence. Then go back to it.
What would make sense?
Sound it out.
Does that sound like people talk?

When comprehension breaks down, you can say …

Where did it stop making sense?
Did you understand that sentence?
What part was confusing to you?
Go back and re-read that part.
Retell what you’ve read so far.
What do you think will happen next?
Try reading the confusing part more slowly.
Let’s look at the pictures and captions. How can they help you understand what you’re reading?
Create a picture in your mind as you read.

Grab this related free printable!