Every week, my first grader, Em, has a homework packet to complete. The work is not onerous or majorly time-consuming (though I question the need for homework in the lower grades), and she can get the whole packet finished in less than an hour. A little spelling, reading, handwriting, phonics, and math...no big deal.
Except the blasted word families.
Each packet has two word family "houses" to complete. For example, one word family could be "__ay" words: cay, ray, day, may, fay, lay, jay, bay, say, way, pay, pray, stray. The child is supposed to come up with eight (on easy families) or six (for the harder ones) words and write them down.
This is no big deal, until you get to the more obscure word families. Like this week's homework.
The two word families for this week are "__igh" and "__ight". The "-ight" family is no big deal, but the "-igh" family? How many words do YOU know that end in "-igh"?
Em came up with "high" and "sigh" on her own, and then came to me for help with the last four blank spots. Off the top of my head I thought of "thigh". With some struggle I came up with "weigh" (which, does that even belong in the same word family? It has a completely different sound!), and then I was...stumped.
Thank heavens for google. I searched for "words that end in -igh", and ended up with a list of 22. Some of which definitely shouldn't count. What the heck is "quaigh" or "laigh" or "skreigh"? (A two handed Scottish drinking vessel, a Scottish variant of "low", and a Scottish word for shriek, respectively.)
All first graders should know those words, right? In SCOTLAND.
Argh. I hate homework for parents.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment