Sounding Wordsfrom The Diary of a First Grade TeacherSounding WORDS is studied after the children have mastered the LETTER sounds. Letter SoundsIn first grade we’ve been studying the beginning sound of the letter b.I told the class …
Letter Sounds “B has the same sound that you hear at the beginning of these words: b–b-boy, b–b-bird, b–b-bus, B–B-Boston.” I wrote the words - and more examples - on the whiteboard. And we read them aloud, together. Next, the students took turns naming other words that start with the b sound. When it was Loegan’s turn, he pointed outside… From our classroom’s huge windows, we could see the faculty parking lot. And at that moment, we saw Mr. Benken - the school principal - stepping into his Volkswagen and sitting down. “LOOK,” Loegan said, “there goes b–b-big Mr. B-B-Benken in his little b-b-bitty b–b-bug.” Sounding Words Out Versus Dolch Sight WordsParents, if you ever find yourself teaching Reading, you should know that SOME words should be "sounded out" and some shouldn’t.Many words are taught as sight words … That is, they should NOT be broken down into seperate sounds. They are taught as WHOLE WORDS. For example, let’s look at the word, “ONCE.” The word – ONCE – is an example of a "sight word." It should NOT be divided and sounded out. First graders are taught this. And there’s only one way for them to learn it: Practice. Practice. Practice. Case in point – Weesie. Today, she began reading a story to me … “ON KEY upon a time… “ To see a list of first grade sight words,
visit Sight Words Dolch.
The ch Sound and the sh SoundAs you know, it’s imperative that your child has paper, pencils, crayons, and ALL of the required supplies at school.Every time a student doesn’t have the necessities, he or she will have a difficult time completing the assignment. While some school districts may provide materials for students, many don't. And I'm sure a teacher would loan a child supplies IF the teacher had extra. But we "run out" too! So every day, please BE SURE your children have what they need so they can always do their very best. Also, remember crayons are needed in the primary level classrooms for many different LESSONS throughout the school year. Really, they're not for JUST "playing-and-coloring."
Crayons Today, for example, crayons were needed... But that wasn’t the problem. It was something else. We were working on a Phonics worksheet. And I read the instructions to the class… “First, look at each picture on your worksheet... If the name of the picture begins with the ch sound, color the picture ORANGE. If the name of the picture begins with the sh sound, color the picture BLUE.” We worked the examples together. Then, they worked on their own. In one minute, Ema – who’s very competitive - handed me her worksheet. “I’m the FIRST ONE finished!” she announced. I looked at her work. “How can I check this, Ema? You haven’t colored any of the pictures.” She smiled knowingly. “Look close,” she said. “My PENCIL colored ALL of the pictures for you.” “Oh … I see ... but tell me ... HOW do I know if you know the difference between the ch sound and the sh sound? Where are your crayons?” Sighing heavily, she reached for her worksheet. “Oh, I bet you need some crayons. Is that it?” “Nooooo,” she complained. “My crayons are over there.” Suddenly, she stood erect and spoke boldly, “But there’s ONE THING I like about this pencil ... It knows CH. And it knows SH. And it knows them BOTH in a HURRY!"
Sounding Words: The ch Sound and The sh Sound Return from Sounding Words to Funny Stuff.
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