the zombie zapped the zebra's head

One of activities we chose for our kindergarten buddy was Silly Sentences, found in chapter four of Fox's Word Identification Strategies. When we administered the emergent literacy profile to our buddy, there was some confusion around the beginning sounds section. When we asked him to identify the beginning sounds of the listed words, he named the beginning letters rather than the sounds. For example, when given the word "more" and asked "What sound does more begin with?," he answered "m". He even offered the letters "c-h" instead of naming the beginning sound for the word children.

Given his responses, we thought that Silly Sentences exercise could help reinforce the concept of beginning sounds. We came up with a half dozen or so silly sentences, crafted with his interests in mind - like many meerkats munch on millipedes - and wrote them on index cards. We had our buddy read each card and identify the common beginning sound. He caught on quickly and enjoyed the exercise, which also included illustrating each silly sentence. After we went through the prepared cards, we encouraged him to craft his own silly sentences on blank cards. This is when he really showed us that he "got it." One of his silly sentences was "The zombie zapped the zebra's head." Wow!

Another strategy identified by Fox that really struck me was that of using rimes to sidestep exceptions. For example, in a short word with one vowel followed by a consonant, the vowel is usually short. We can teach it this way and then start addressing all the exceptions, one of which is the word "find." Fox points out that given the vowel/consonant rule, the i in find should be pronounced like the i in dish, but isn't. It certainly seems like this could be a point of serious confusion for kids, hence Fox's assertion that teaching rimes is preferable. It seems much clearer to teach a child that -ind makes the sound found in find, kind, and rind and that -ish makes the sound found in dish, wish, and fish. I really liked this strategy and the way Fox described it.

I'm a little sad our time with our kindergarten buddy is at an end for now, but I'm excited to meet our second grade buddy next week.

PS Please think twice about using plastic baggies for the "Baggie Book" activity on page 165. There has to be another way to accomplish the desired effect without using a large quantity of environmentally un-friendly ziploc plastic bags. It's just wasteful.