Related Reading and Grammar Skills

Reading skills are all the related knowledge needed to be a successful student.

Reading skills include:

Dictionary Skills

- when using a dictionary or thesaurus, it is important to teach students how to use the guide words at the top of dictionary pages to help make looking up words quicker. (subscribers go to an exercise worksheet)
Word usage includes:
  • synonyms ‐ words that have the same meaning
  • antonyms ‐ words that have the opposite meaning
  • homonyms - words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, eg., there, their, they're. A series of worksheets to deal with these three homonyms are available that work progressively to help struggling students grasp this concept.
    (go to exercise worksheets.)

Vocabulary Skills

- when determining the correct vocabulary word to fit into a sentence, try reading the sentence using each of the vocabulary words to help determine the best choice.

Alphabetic Order

For PreBeginners, learning to print the letters of the alphabet in the correct order is essential for putting words in alphabetic order.
  • Playing games where you sing the alphabet and then say a nursery rhyme or math fact is probably the easiest way to learn the alphabet.
Other effective tools include:
Since there is no logic to the order of the letters, it will require repetition and lots of practice.
For older students dealing with putting words into alphabetic order - use a highlighter to mark common beginning letters. eg., if 3 words start with the same letters, highlight or cross out the beginning letters they have in common and this will bring into focus the next letter: green, great, gravy
(see our alphabet worksheets)

Sentence and Paragraph Writing

- writing an effective sentence and coherent paragraph is essential and very easy to accomplish with the use of a paragraph writing formula.
  • Essays - groups of paragraphs about a specific topic. These are easily written by using a formula.
  • Poems - groups of words written in verse form ‐ rhyming, haiku, odes, sonnets, free verse.
  • Stories - groups of paragraphs written to entertain or educate.
(see our reading section for writing skills)

Grammar: Parts of Speech

- there are 8 main parts of speech with which students should become familiar.
  • Nouns - persons, places, or things, eg., Sam, New York, dog. (sample)
  • Verbs - action words, eg., run, jump, hop. (sample)
  • Pronouns - unidentified nouns eg., he, she, it. (sample)
  • Adjectives - words that describe nouns, eg., red, large, beautiful. (sample)
  • Adverbs - words that describe verbs, eg., slowly, quickly, fast. (sample)
  • Conjunctions - joining words that act like a junction within a sentence, eg., because, while, since. (sample)
  • Prepositions - positioning words, eg., on, in over. (sample)
  • Interjections - words interjected usually at the beginning of a sentence, eg., wow, gee, hello. (sample)
(see our Grammar Parts of Speech page)
(see our grammar worksheets)

Punctuation

  • Periods, Question Marks, Exclamation Marks - the punctuation that goes at the end of a sentence. (sample)
  • Commas - the punctuation mark that helps clarify a sentences meaning. (sample)
  • Quotation Marks - separate what is said by a person from the remainder of a sentence, eg., Henry said, "It is raining outside."
(see our punctuation worksheets)

Figures of Speech

  • Alliterations - words that start with the same letter or sound, eg., darling dancing daffodils (sample)
  • Similes - a means of making a comparison using like or as often in an exaggerated manner, eg., An elephant is as big as a house.
  • Metaphors - are similes without the words like or as , eg., An elephant is a big house. (sample)
  • Onomatopoeia - are words that imitate the sound of the words they represent, eg., buzz, hiss, clang, drip
  • Oxymorons - compound words that are made up of two small words that are contrary or groups of words that seem contrary, eg., nightlight, jumbo shrimp (sample)
  • Hyperboles - exaggerated statements to emphasis a point, eg., "I am so tired, I could sleep for a year."
  • Irony - statements that mean the opposite of what is stated, eg., "Lovely weather."
(see our grammar worksheets)

Logic

  • Sequencing - is a thinking skill, if the student determines the first event and the last event in the sequence, it makes it easier to order the remaining events. (go to exercise worksheets)
  • Analogies - comparisons. The trick to solving analogies is to use the comparision words in similar sentences. eg., glass is to milk as envelop is to letter; A glass holds milk, an envelop holds a letter. (subscribers go to exercise worksheets)
  • Follow Directions - involves reading, thinking and logic. (go to exercise worksheets)
  • Brain Teasers - thinking logic brain teasers teach students how to solve logic problems, these skills will transfer over to math, science, social studies problem solving, etc. (samples)
(see our Thinking Skills page)

Science

Science requires: (see our science exercise worksheets)

Social Studies

Social Studies requires: (see our reading comprehension worksheets)

There are many related skills that a student must master to succeed in school.

See our Teaching Resources for Reading for teaching and practice worksheets.
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