Accuracy—Look Carefully at Letters and Words

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Txes M&A Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe." (Anonymous)

Well, we don't know if there is any truth to that being a real study or not, but we do know that we were able to read the paragraph fluently despite the mixed-up letters. It confirms how important it is to teach our students the accuracy strategies of look carefully at letters and words and listen carefully to sounds. In this video, Kelly uses a nursery rhyme to teach the strategy and layers on Cross-checking by reminding  her students to ask themselves, "Does it look right, sound right and make sense?"