"CHUNKING"

"Chunking" is what Titus' kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Geise, calls it when you take "chunks" of words and put them together to make one word. It reminds me of the old school bits on Sesame Street or The Electric Company when they would have two silhouettes on the side and they would each sound out half the word and then they would put it together to make a word.

So, today I was volunteering in Titus' class. I usually do it on Fridays but she needed extra help with the Valentine's day party today. At one point, we were both sitting at the same desk. I was putting some books together and Mrs. Geise was helping the kids put words together. She pulled out the letters for the chunk "it". She would then put out different letters in front of "it" to make words and the kids would sound it out. First, there was "F - IT =FIT" then "B - IT=BIT" (you get the picture) lastly was 'H - IT=HIT" She then asked the kids to sound out other words that could be made with the "it" chunk. And not quite understanding that she wanted them to think of a "new" letter but assuming she wanted them to expand on "hit", one boy yelled out "SH-IT!"  Both Mrs. Geise and I lost it! And so did all the kids I might add. I was laughing so hard I was crying. We were both surprised, obviously because he said it, but also at the fact that all of these kids knew what that word was and that it was bad! Kids...you gotta love 'em!