Hooked on Phonics: CK
July 5th, 2006In Hooked on Phonics, Sebastian started learning sounds at the end of words a few weeks ago. One of the first letter combinations they teach you is "ck."
No, it's not that word ending in "ck," so don't worry . . . and I won't bother you about the time he was reading "tips" by using the "t" sound a second time in place of the "p."
One method I have added to the HOP method is that I will sometimes ask Sebastian, "What's that?" or "Like what?" so that he can explain what that word means. Originally, I did this to ensure that Sebastian understood the words he was sounding out because even though he could originally put the "m" and "at" sounds together, he had no idea he was saying "mat." This mini-game became so enjoyable to Sebastian that he started telling me what many of the words were. Often, he would throw me off. For instance, when he read off "bat," I would expect him to mention baseball, but he would say "They fly around at nighttime!" This was not the only time that he surprised me with his description.
Hooked on Phonics will introduce sounds, and in the book, they have a page with various words using that sound. Here's the "a-ck" section from the "ck" page:
ack: back - Jack - lack - pack - rack - sack
After reading off the last of the "ack" words, Sebastian gleefully looked at me and announced, "Sack — just like the sack under my pee-pee!" I then felt obliged to explain that the word is more generally used to describe many sorts of bags.
Ahh, the joys of being a parent . . .