Not by sight, round three

This year the girls are in 5th Grade, 3rd Grade, and Kindergarten. One would think I would have a grasp on the elementary education process at least from a parental perspective. With the exception of the fifth grade assignments and expectations, this is not our first rodeo. But, I seem to already have forgotten the ins and outs of helping a child learn to read.

If you have a school-age child, you’re probably familiar with sight words. These are words the child is taught to recognize or “read” by sight rather than by sounding them out. Or in our case, sight words are words the Lord uses to refine me in the areas of patience and self-control.

I remember the older two struggling with the word “the” for some reason, and the Kindergartener is no exception. Unfortunately, this short non-sensical word is one of the most important articles in the English language. So, we’ve got to know it. Therefore, we practice it. I try making a little rhyme where “t-h-e” spells THE.

We finally get it! We have mastered the word “the!”

Here’s what I don’t understand. We know it on Thursday night. We still know it on Friday morning at 7:45 A.M. But, when it comes time for the test at 8:15 and we see the word “the” on the paper? My kids have all three been like:

Clearly, we don’t perform well under pressure.

I’ve know for awhile now that the Kindergartener doesn’t learn in the same way the older two do. She thinks a little more outside the box. She learns better if something is taught in the form of song or story. They sing a song at school about the color words like “green” and “red,” so she has mastered those fairly quickly. But, it’s the words like “have” and “is” that don’t have a song or a rhyme that are giving us the most trouble.

This week we’re working on three new sight words: my, we, and like. I thought these would be easy enough since they are short words.

Alas, I was wrong.

We go through the cards on the ring and get to “my.” The Kindergartener furrows her brow in concentration and says: “muh-yuh” {as she sounds out each letter sound}

Then I’ll say, “No, try again. You can’t really sound this one out.” So, she studies the flash card a bit longer and says with more confidence: “muh-yuh” {as if saying it again will convince me it’s a word we actually use}.

I give up for now and we move onto “like.”

Me: Okay. Try this one:

Her: “luh-luh-luh”… love!!

Me: No, remember it’s not “love” it’s “like.”

Her: Well, love and like are kind of the same thing.

Me:

She makes a good point, but I’m pretty sure the test is on the word not the concept. For the “luh-luh-LOVE.”

I’d like for her to pass the new words this week. But, I think I better just focus on how sight words, even the third time around, are as much a tool for teaching kids to read as they are a tool for teaching me to be a more patient, “luh-luh-loving” person.