Magnets

I got my degree in Elementary Education, with an emphasis in language arts, specifically early reading.  This means that aside from having a great love of learning and literature, I also have a great interest in the literacy of my children.  Luckily for me, both of my children love books, being read to, and exploring words and letter sounds.  We play a regular game of naming words that start with random letters or sounds, and every time they smile with pride at their knowledge, I am doing mental cartwheels, in other words, I am in heaven.  Today Tessie took our game one step further, and I just about lost it.

She was playing with refrigerator magnets, arranging them into matching letter and color rows.  I know, she is already a little nerdy, but I like her that way.  She started putting magnets together and asking me what words she was making.  The first word was IZJ.  I sunded it out for her, and when she crinkled her nose at the odd sound combinations, I reassured her that it was okay, she was just making nonsense words.  Then I asked if she wanted to spell some real words like CAT.  She agreed enthusiastically, and a new game was born.

We said each letter's sound by itself, then she picked the letters (by herself) that made that sound.  She placed them next to one another, then together we blended the sounds to make the word.  "Cat!" she said proudly, pointing to the word she had just made.  We high-fived, then started changing the first letter to make different rhyming words.  She spelled CAT, HAT, PAT, and BAT, before tiring of the game.  I stared at the words on the fridge as she walked away, and thought no combination of letters had ever been more beautiful.