Reading Cheat Sheet - Reading Roadmap Support for Pre-Reading, Accuracy, Comprehension, and Fluency

Oct 13, 2026

Reading Cheat Sheet outlines targeted support for students who struggle with pre-reading skills, accuracy, comprehension, and fluency. It presents practical strategies such as choosing a “just right” book, building stamina with longer reading stretches, using cover illustrations and pictures for clues, and guiding word-by-word tracking. For accuracy it emphasizes checking sounds, using sense/sight cues, and re-reading key parts. For comprehension it focuses on questions, connections, predictions, literary elements, vocabulary growth, and non-fiction research. For fluency it highlights practice time, sight word mastery, expression, voice, and punctuation pacing.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPosters

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Reading Cheat Sheet

IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH PRE-READING SKILLS, WORK ON...

IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH ACCURACY, WORK ON...

IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH COMPREHENSION, WORK ON...

IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH FLUENCY, WORK ON...

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This only happens TWICE A YEAR! | | --- | | Enrollment starts May 2nd! | Set an alert! Reading Cheat Sheet | | IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH PRE-READING SKILLS, WORK ON. . . . | | --- | --- | | | Finding a good reading spot | | | Selecting a “just right” book | | | Getting started reading right away | | | Reading the whole time | | | Reading for longer stretches of time to build stamina | | | Looking at the cover illustration to gather clues about what the story will be about | | | Pointing underneath one word at a time | | | Reading left to right across the page | | | Finding the title of the book | | | Reading the pictures for clues about what is happening | | | Looking for sight words they already know | | | Looking for repeating text | | | Using prior knowledge to connect with the story | | | Asking “What’s happening?” to follow what the story is about | | | Making predictions about what will happen next | | | Retelling the story when they are finished | | | Rereading the story when they finish to practice the words again | © The Read ing Roadmap . Reading Cheat Sheet | | IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH ACCURACY, WORK ON. . . . | | --- | --- | | | Learning how to pick a “just right” book | | | Asking “Does that make sense?” | | | Checking “Does that look right?” | | | Asking “Does that sound right?” | | | Looking at pictures for clues | | | Checking beginning and ending sounds | | | Starting with the part of the word that they already know | | | Looking for pairs of letters that make sounds together (sh, ch or ph for example) | | | Finding vowels that go together | | | Skipping the word and coming back to it again | | | Stretching out the word slowly, then saying it again fast | | | Rereading from the beginning of the sentence when they figure out the tricky word | | | Swapping out the vowel sound for its pair (ex. changing a long vowel to its short sound) if the word doesn’t sound right the first time | | | Making a good guess about what the tricky word might be | © The Read ing Roadmap . Reading Cheat Sheet | | IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH COMPREHENSION, WORK ON. . . . | | --- | --- | | | Making mental pictures of what is happening | | | Backing up and rereading from the spot where they lost track of what was happening | | | Asking questions as they read | | | Making connections between the book and their own life | | | Thinking about what they already know to help them understand what is happening | | | Predicting what will happen next and revising guesses as they go along | | | Thinking about literary elements: genre, plot, character, setting, problem/resolution | | | Learning how to read non-fiction text by using the table of contents, index, headings and captions | | | Understanding different characters’ point of views | | | Increasing vocabulary | | | Recognizing characteristics of different authors | | | Retelling what happened in the beginning, middle and end | | | Asking “Would I recommend this book to a friend? Why?” | | | Thinking about how characters changed from the beginning of the book to the end and why | | | Using nonfiction text to do research | © The Read ing Roadmap . Reading Cheat Sheet | | IF A CHILD STRUGGLES WITH FLUENCY, WORK ON. . . . | | --- | --- | | | Spending more time practicing reading | | | Picking “just right” books | | | Memorizing high frequency sight words | | | Reading strings of 2 to 5 sight words fluently | | | Learning tricky letters or spelling patterns (ex. CVCe words, blends, digraphs) | | | Rereading to build speed and accuracy | | | Using punctuation marks to read with expression | | | Making their voice match the feeling of the story (ex. sounding disappointed during a sad part or excited during a happy part) | | | Incorporating character voices | | | Using a narrator voice

FAQs

What should be done first if a child struggles with pre-reading skills?

Help them find a good reading spot, select a “just right” book, and start reading right away. Use cover illustrations and pictures to gather clues about the story.

How can accuracy problems be addressed while reading?

Encourage the child to check if what they read makes sense, looks right, and sounds right. Use beginning/ending sounds, letter-sound pairs, vowel pairs, and re-reading when a tricky word appears.

What strategies support comprehension during reading?

Ask questions as they read, make connections to their own life, and use predictions with revisions. Focus on literary elements (genre, plot, character, setting) and teach non-fiction comprehension using table of contents, index, headings, and captions.

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Quinn Holloway