M-O-M

Spelling is just the beginning of learning to read. We see words in a book and Alyssa asks what they are. I point at the word, spell it, and then sound it out. That way, the next time she sees the word she knows what it is. She's been writing words on her own like her name, C-A-T, D-O-G, M-O-M, and D-A-D. She's so proud when she writes something and we praise her for it. We're always challenging her to write new words. We also have a game on our iPhone called SightWords that teaches word recognition. It's the 100 easiest words in the English language. Your child can look and hear the word so they learn basic reading just by word recognition. It's great!

We just got back from our family vacation to San Francisco. One day, we were riding on the train and Alyssa was talking to a very nice lady named Pietra. I'm still laughing at their conversation:

Alyssa: Hi!
Pietra: Hi!
Alyssa: What's your name?
Pietra: Pietra
Alyssa: (looks puzzled)
Pietra: Pietra (sounded out slowly)
Alyssa: Pizza?
Pietra: (laughing) What's your name?
Alyssa: Alyssa, A-L-Y-S-S-A
Pietra: That's a nice name. What's your mommy's name?
Alyssa: Chanda
Pietra: How do you spell your mommy's name?
Alyssa: M-O-M

Not realizing how many people on the train were listening to this conversation, everyone started laughing as soon as Alyssa spelled M-O-M. I'm so tickled that she associated the spelling of M-O-M with my name instead of just saying she didn't know. This was one of those special moments that made Mom smile... and I'm still smiling. :-)