Kindergarten Quote: DON'T sound it out.

School starts tomorrow.

So if you were wondering why I have not blogged (or called or emailed) recently, now you know: School starts tomorrow.

I think it's a good time, on this, the day before school starts, to share another Kindergarten quote. Unfortunately this quote is a written one and the student in the story does not say a word. In fact, she only writes three letters. But they're funny ones.

Lizzie is (or was, when she was in Kindergarten) and impulsive thinker. That is, she does her best when she answers quickly, without taking time to think. When she stops to think, the correct answer - which she had as soon as she heard the question - slips away.

I asked the children, during a spelling test, to write the word "out." I sounded it clearly. I used finger cues to show them that the word has three letters. I sounded it clearly again. Lizzie immediately took pencil to paper and... stopped to think. I sounded it again, gave finger cues again. Lizzie went ahead and wrote the letter she was sure of: t. Then she stopped to think some more.

I encouraged the students to test their spelling by sounding out the word they had spelled. Essentially, to read their word. If it sounds like "out," it's "out."

Lizzie was well and truly stuck. She looked up at me as I walked over to her desk, her eyes clearly communicating, "Mrs. Lynch, can't you just tell me how to spell it?" I knelt down and said, "Lizzie, you just need a two-letter phonogram in front of the t. I'm going to say the word again and I want you to - as quickly as you can - write the two-letter phonogram in front of the t. Are you ready?"

She nodded.

I enunciated clearly, "out."

Quickly, she added the two-letter phonogram.

The two-letter phonogram she added? sh

I quickly covered her word "sht" with my hand and said, "Don't sound it out."