300 Instant Words, Onsets, Prefixes and Suffixes Being able to read fluently (smoothly) is important. It is difficult for children to understand what they read if they have to keep stopping to sound out words (called decoding). All that time and attention to individual words takes away from understanding the whole story. All the lists that follow can help build your child's fluency. 300 instant words your child needs to know for reading, writing, and spelling fluency. If your child knows these words, s/he knows about 64% of all words in any book. To View / Print in PDF Format Also included is a list of onsets. Onsets are important for students to know, so they can make the first sound of an unknown word and read on until a good stopping place. When a reader makes the first sound of an unknown word and continues to read, many times the reader can supply the unknown word based on the context of the sentence. Then have the reader read the sentence again. The list below contains instructions for how to teach the onsets. This system REALLY works because the children put an action to each onset, helping him/her remember the sound of the onset. To View / Print in PDF Format Also included is a list of common prefixes and suffixes. Knowing how to pronounce these affixes will increase fluency. Readers can cover the prefixes and suffixes leaving a smaller word to read, then uncover the prefixes or suffix and say the entire word. Knowing the meaning of the affixes will increase your child's vocabulary. To View / Print in PDF Format Back To Previous Page P.O. Box 5581 Sun City Center, FL 33573 Phone: 813 642-9932 FAX: 1-(866)-350-4502 Click Here