A few years ago when Max was just starting to figure out about reading he would often ask me spelling questions. For instance, if we were driving somewhere he would say something like, "Mom, can you spell road?" And then I would. One day he got going and started asking me to spell word after word. "Can you spell spider?"; "Can you spell shirt?"; "Can you spell airplane?"; etc. Finally after impressing him by not even pausing to answer all these spelling queries, he asks, "Can you spell every word?" Of course I answered, "yes."
Now he is in first grade and is a pretty good reader and he has taken to making spelling part of his regular speaking. For instance, he'll often do something like, "Mom, can I have some c-a-n-d-y?" And sometimes his spelling isn't exactly spot-on so I really have to think about what I think that he's trying to say/spell. Let's face it, the English language is full of lots of spelling conundrums. Vowels make all sorts of sounds. Then there are strange combinations of letters, like "ph" or "ion." Sometimes the letters "ea" together make a long "e" sound, and then sometimes they make a long "a" sound. There are lots of these phonetic inconsistencies that can be really confusing for a 6 year old.
So yesterday he reasoned out how to spell Cheerios:
"c-h-e-e-i-r-e-a-o-s-e."
1 comment:
Well done Max. I have been so bothered as my poor boys spell things as they should be and I have to explain that the English language is a bit messed up, and though they should be right, they are in fact wrong, but there is no reasonable explanation for it!!!!
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