Friday, June 24, 2011

Adventures in Phonics

Jarrah and I have been reading The Cricket in Times Square (a classic from my childhood) together at bedtime, and it's quite a challenging read. She's so good at saying long words I'm sometimes surprised when she's still furrowing her brow after saying it right: then I remember that "bedclothes," "forlornly" and "concentration" are not in her daily lexicon.

We take turns reading a page, which can be a lengthy process, so I figured maybe it was just tiredness catching up with her when I heard the following sentence:

"We tip over the Leenex, break the glass in the alarm clock, and throw all the small change on the floor." (This is from a chapter in which Tucker Mouse concocts elaborate schemes to frame someone else for the two dollar bill Chester Cricket has eaten.)

"Wait a sec..." I said. "We tip over what?"

"Leenex."

"Is there some reason you're not pronouncing the 'K'?"

"I thought it was silent."

Well, that was a knee-slapper. I get that pronunciation is a tricky knot to untie. Speaking of which, I better get back to my knitting.

5 comments:

Stephanie said...

This morning the kids were playing spelling games, amongst them, testing each other on homophones. Fun to watch their brains in action, J quickly corrected herself on 'know'--or as she put it, "I was just kidding the first time." Been hearing a lot of that from the back seat, and also, I was just testing so and so...

Laural Out Loud said...

You have quite the reader in Jarrah! She sounds pretty advanced for her age! My daughter's vocabulary could use a boost- I'll have to check out the book!

Samantha said...

@Steph: LOL, I have to look up "homophone." How sad is that? :) I love the "just kidding" thing. ;)

@Laural: It's a sweet book, but you have to gloss over the chapter with the sort-of racist Chinese dialect thing. It's an old book. ;)

Mrs. Chapman's 2nd Grade Class said...

That darn silent k will get you everytime! Even when its not silent!

Michelle said...

I cannot believe she's reading that well!! Looks to me like you picked the right school. :) (And she has the right parents!)

I also loved that book as a child. I remember trying to read it to my children a few years ago. Guess we didn't finish that.

Oh, and I'm reading the Hunger Games book 2. Good times.