5 things good readers do when they come to a tricky word. 

Think about the story---You want your child to be able to predict what a word might be by thinking how that word would fit into the message of the story.

Check the picture---This is a very good strategy, if the answer for the word is in the picture.

Go back and get your mouth ready---You are asking the child to make the sound of the first letter of the tricky word and then to move thru the word looking for other sounds he/she knows.

Look for chunks--- This strategy makes for much faster reading than just sounding out each of the individual sounds.

Does that make sense?---Would we say it that way?---This strategy asls your child to listen to what he/she has just read.  It is talking about the way we talk.