“Funny Words” ll – 11/18

“Funny Words” ll  – 11/18

Here is an edited version of my earlier blog on decoding “funny words.”

Do you have a bright second-grader who seems to be having trouble with reading? It may be because he or she is “seeing” the words instead of hearing them. However, sometimes with the strange spellings of the English language, this can be an advantage. Here is a way to help this child make a transition to both seeing and hearing – essential for reading skills. Numbers refer to commentary at end. (1)

What do we call this process? (2)

Here is a short, dramatic vignette that illustrates how a visual Second Grader can make the transition from seeing words on the printed page to hearing the words she or he already knows.

Characters:
Eddie: a bright, lively boy who has just returned home from school, where he is in the Second Grade. Christine: a Stay-At-Home Mom who is on leave from her job as an elementary school teacher.

It is 3:30PM and Eddie is tearing into a plate of fruit, milk and cookies while his Mom talks to him.

Christine: How was school?

Eddie: OK.

Christine: And you have a play date today with Jordan.

Eddie: I forgot. He quickly crams the rest of the food in his mouth, finishes his milk and jumps up.

Christine: Wait, honey. I want to hear what you did today.

Eddie: You mean besides Recess and Lunch?

Christine laughs as she clears away the food.

Christine: Yes. That’s what I mean. We have about 20 minutes. Why don’t you show me your homework?

Eddie: Oops, I think I forgot it.

Christine: Don’t tease me. Where is it?

Eddie: It has to do with reading “Funny Words.”
He takes out a crumpled piece of paper from a folder. Christine smoothes it out.

Christine: What did you do? Eat this?

Eddie grabs it and pretends to put it in his mouth.

Eddie: No. You want me to eat it now?

Christine: No. She takes the paper back. This is kind of fun. Look at these words. Can you sound them out?

Christine hands him the paper.  It says:

Star lIGHT

Star brIGHT

First star I see tonIGHT

I wish I may,

I wish I mIGHT

Have the wish

I wish tonIGHT

Eddie reads very slowly.

Eddie:  Star li-gget, Star bri-gget, first star I see to-n-igget, I wish I may, I wish I…..mi-gget, have the wish I wish to—-n-igget.  This doesn’t make sense.

Christine:  You’re right, but you read what you saw.  Did the teacher have anyone read in class? (3)

Eddie:  No.  She said we were supposed to try at home.

Christine:  So let’s try.  What part of the reading made no sense?

Eddie:  All those “iggets.” (4)

Christine:  Try this.  Instead of saying “Star li-gget” say “Star light.”

Eddie:  Star light.  That’s better.

Christine:  Put a circle around all the red letters in each word, and say  “ite” instead of “igget.”

Christine hands him a crayon.  Eddie encircles all the groups of red letters, and reads more easily.

Eddie:  Star light, Star bright, first star I see to-n-ight, I wish I may I wish I might,  Have the wish I wish tonight. (5)

Christine:  Great!

Eddie:  OK.  But why did they write it that crazy way in the first place?

Christine:  A long time ago, some English language sounded and looked different than it does today.  So some words we have to learn.  But once you know how “IGHT” sounds in these words, you  can say it easily.  There’s a whole group of them.  Fight, Light, Might, which you already know, and others, like Sight, Tight. (6)

Eddie:  What about “Bite”? (7)

Christine:  Not that one!  But you learned a lot already.  Let’s go out on the porch and wait for Jordan.

Eddie:  Not “Bite.”  Figures. (8)

He follows his mother out to the porch.

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COMMENTARY

(1)  Research on the process of teaching children to read mentions phonological awareness (recognizing language sounds) Cunningham, 1990, and print awareness (making the transition from speech and hearing to text on the paper ) Ball & Blachman, 1988.  This involves the  child’s ability to recognize the relationship between what he or she hears, and what she or he sees.  An auditory child will tend to start with patterns in the spoken sounds, and a visual child will tend to start with patterns formed by the written symbols on the page.  The order really doesn’t matter as long as both types of children make the necessary transition.

(2)  Instead of stating rules, I like to follow the lead of the child and call the many exceptions in English spelling “Funny Words.”  Most children are happy to agree!

(3)  Christine knows that Eddie’s teacher welcomes independent activity, especially with some help from an adult.

(4)  Eddie’s teacher has been teaching word sounds, but the four repeated red letters in the poem need to be memorized, and their correct sound is much easier to say than trying to sound out this letter group one by one.

(5)  It’s  easy for Eddie to recognize the shape of the letter group, especially if it is outlined in red.

(6)   This is a “rule” but Christine eased Eddie into it.

(7)  Already an exception.  Another common one is “Kite.”

(8)  It’s a little much for him!

Copyright © All Rights Reserved 2012

Please leave me a comment, or e mail me at liseand@aol.com

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Teacher, Where is your house? Blog by Lisa Dewey Wells

Here is a wonderful blog from LisaDewey Wells about the transition for a child from school to summer schedule.  Lisa is a remarkable teacher with a rare insight into how a child feels and thinks.  The key, as she demonstrates, is to listen to the child and respond to the child’s dialogue, instead of superimposing your own message.  Once the children know you will hear them, they can speak out with confidence.

Enjoy!

“Where is Your House?”

Reprint of Blog by LisaDewey Wells:  Wonder of Children

Posted on May 26, 2012 http://wonderofchildren.wordpress.com/author/wonderofchildren/

 

 

 

“Miss Lisa, Miss Lisa…..where is your house?”

Recently one of my wee friends asked that question.  Several times.  Each time I gave him what I thought was just enough facts to answer the question.

He didn’t want to know the name of my street.

He didn’t want to know the name of my town.

He didn’t want to know what it was near.

He didn’t want to hear what it looked like.

Problem was, I wasn’t getting what his question really was about.

He wanted to know where I’d be once school was out.

Then he asked me the same question about our other teacher-friends.
After all, many kids think teachers actually live 24/7 in that school building, right?  We’ve all seen the shock and awe when you bump into a student in the grocery store.  Why would we ever leave that building we live in during the school day? But, what if we left? Where would we be?

As the school year winds down, this little guy – and maybe others –  wondered where we’ll all be.  Soon our schedules, faces, and routines will change. Our sense of identity and community will be challenged. All the work we invested in getting to know each other, building trust, taking risks, learning and sharing, will fold into the fabric of our being , ready to rest  deep inside until we need to draw upon those experiences or until something else triggers our memory.

Look inside any classroom and you can see it. Perhaps it’s masquerading as excess energy, giggles, negative-attention seeking behavior, a lower frustration threshold, apathy, irritability, or challenging well-established rules and guidelines. End-of-the-year angst can strike kids at any age – adults, too.

We may be feeling sadness or disappointment that the friends we’ve come to respect and crave will not be daily fixtures in our lives. We may wonder who will fill that void over the summer and beyond. Is there any wonder behavior begins to change as the year comes to a close?

Listen closely to their wonderings and worries. Help them appreciate all that they have accomplished and what they have to look forward to this summer and beyond. And don’t forget to let them know what you’ll be up to!

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Please tell me and/or  Lisa, about your experiences with this transition. Liseand@aol.com.

I wanted to add a similar experience I had with a young girl of about 8 years old.  She asked me if she could come and play with me sometime, and I said, “Of course.”  Then she asked, “Should my mother call you, or will your mother call me?”

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Are You A Mover II?

Here are some more ways to appreciate your awareness of body language in yourself and others, including children and active pets.  My earlier blog, “Are You A Mover?” was printed on 12/26/2010, and asked you to notice the difference between a person who is “headstrong” or has “her head in the clouds.”  Take a look at some more basic movement vocabulary that speaks constantly to all of us, whether we are aware of it or not.

Richard Burton once described his awe at meeting Picasso who, he said, had the extraordinary stillness of a lizard.  This is an interesting perception, since a body that is motionless receives particularly clear and vivid visual impressions.  Another example from Alexander Lowen’s classic “The Language of the Body” describes a patient whose shoulders were disproportionately broad.  As a child, this patient wanted to comfort his mother whose attitude toward children involved much self-pity and suffering.  The little boy was sympathetic, but also afraid and angry.  Lowen pointed out that shoulders also rise out of fear and defiance.  The position and appearance of the shoulders carried the patient’s whole family history.

If you have the opportunity to go to a play, you may be able to observe how the movement of the actors evolves from their inner feelings about who they are, where they are, and what they are doing there.  Here is how a director describes his approach to a staged version of Tolstoy’s famous short story, “The Death of Ivan Ilych.”

Ivan is an official who has achieved a certain status.  He is pompous, vain, smug, but also retains a hint of childlike excitement about his success in life.   His movement in the beginning of the piece consisted of short steps, chest out, nose up – somewhat like a penguin.  When he became excited he speeded up, but his head came down to earth and his eyes took in everything – a combination of a bird and an eager child.

His wife felt dissatisfied with him and her life but wanted to keep up appearances.  Her movement was solid and driving, feet and trunk well into the ground, and whenever she was around her husband, she fussed with her hands.  Perhaps she arranged the doily on the armchair in which he was reading or brushed crumbs from his place at the table as he ate, or arranged his collar when he kissed her good bye in the morning.  This behavior was purposefully ambivalent.  It looked as if she was the perfect wife, but in reality she was hostile and critical in her actions.  As Ivan became more and more ill, the childlike openness increased.  The rituals and formalities of his way of life became empty and meaningless in the face of impending death.  At the same time, his wife’s superficial caretaking took on a new meaning, revealing to the audience the hypocrisy and sadness of their interaction.

I hope this inspires you to take a closer look at the body language around you.  You can start with the three young people above in a photo called “Unemployment.”  What’s going on?  Let me know!  Reach me at liseand@aol.com

 

© 2012 Copyright:  Lise Liepmann All rights reserved

Image: Unemployment by graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

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