dropping the e

bylromarha

Welcome to my world. I teach year 1. I am faced with groups constantly sighing (as I've taught them to) and saying "Sounds just don't work on this word." There are many!

The heavy emphasis schools are now required to put on phonics is laughable if it wasn't so sad. A few weeks back I tested my 5 and 6 year olds on the government issued test to see how many made up words they could read out of 20...

care - look at it phonetically - really look. It could be

c /ay/ r - as in magic e making a say its name
c /ar/ e - as in the word car
c /are/ - /are/ is a sound in itself. As in /air/. Unless you're using the sound /are/ as a word "are".

So in answer to your question, I agree with those who say read read read and read some more, so your son gets a feel for words and how they work in context.

And for the specific scenario you have described, explain the root word "care" (and other root words) can change endings and sometimes we need to take parts off the root, most commonly the e, to make the word grow. And the more we read, the more we know which roots need letters chopped off before they can grow.

And there's me not supposed to be working today - on strike for the 1st time ever in my 14 year career as our kids are currently getting such a raw deal in schools and Gove seems to think his reforms are improving things...aren't you glad that our year 1 kids can read made up words better today than they could 3 years ago?

Morglin

double_mummy wrote: »

he is asking about all of them i just used one as an example

the school are just telling him thats the way it is done - hence why we are trying to move him schools but thats another issue lol

it might just be a matter of practice rather than logic

Well, that is just the way it is done!

And, like legions before him, your little lad will soon get the hang of the eccentricities of our language.;)

Lin