Spontaneous reading

Sayer and I discuss letters and phonics and sound out words all the time. Lately she's been into the sound made by the oo in moon. I'll ask her what letters make that sound and she'll say OO! Then I'll ask her how to spell moo or boo and she'll add the appropriate consonant to the beginning of the word. Then I'll ask her how to spell moon or book and she'll add the ending consonant. Sometimes I add another layer and ask about moons or books. But we're enjoying it.

Yesterday we went to Home Depot and were looking around in the lighting section. She and Duncan were running around in the asile where Mark and I were looking at products. For a little while they came and sat on the floor looking at a display box in the aisle a few feet from us. Then she jumped up and said - 'Mom! That box says flued!' (giving you the phonetic spelling of the word - that's what she sounded out). Sure enough, the box was full of flood lights, and she read the double o as the ue sound and sounded it out all on her own.

We explained to her that flood was an exception to the rule about oo making the ue sound, and that the word really said flood, and congratulated her lots on her reading efforts. Yay!