Prepare handouts with a story written at the students' reading level. However, omit a number of words within the story. Write omitted words onto index cards and distribute to the class. While reading the story instruct the students to focus on comprehension and when the story comes to one of the omitted words, direct the students to look through the index cards to choose the correct word.
Show a picture and ask students to tell what they think is happening. Do this a few times and discuss how pictures can help you understand a story. Prepare four or five short texts which are stories. Have an illustration to go with each story. Instruct students to glue the matching picture to the appropriate story on a large sheet of paper.
Give students the opportunity to work on their abilities to pick up on context clues within their reading by handing out stories or texts. Instruct students to circle unfamiliar words and then attempt to determine the word's meaning. Direct students to write out their best guesses then check the actual meaning by looking in the dictionary. Ask students how they came to guess the meanings or what clues the text provided.
Write a sentence on the board and use a word that is invented. Show students how to guess what that word may mean by the clues provided within the sentence. An example would be, "I don't like to drink FWIP because of its bitter taste." After practicing as a class, have students create their own invented words and put them into sentences for their partner to decode the meanings.