*My*

Today we are going to teach students to make the word -my- come alive and become a word students need to know.

Yes it is a high frequency word so we teach it. But do we teach it so students can read it or do we teach it so students can use it? In many classes I am in, students can read and write my. But they aren't able to use it to create new words in writing or read tricky words. So when we think about if the student understands the word my- they don't if they can' use it. So let's learn how we can.

My. /M/ like in mop. /Y/ is like the long i sound. We have to teach our students that y, yes, has two sounds eventually, but we have to teach patterns first. So practice patterns on a white board or in notebooks. Have them write the word my on the top and tell them they will make a list.

Teacher- "If you know my write by."

Student(s)- write(s) fly. And yes! with a y because they see the y in my and know to use it.

Then continue with the words: fly, cry, shy, dry, sky, spy, fry, why, sly.

Teacher- "Now circle the same sound you hear in each word."

Student(s)- will circle the y in each word.

Teacher- "Think about what sound you hear and what letter you wrote".

Student(s)- will be able to tell you that the y makes an i sound (maybe a long sound).

Now that students have seen this pattern they should be able to use it again as they read and write. It might need to be repeated by some students, done in small groups, or used for differentiation, but eventually -my- isn't just a high frequency word, it a word that can be used to make new words while reading and writing. That is when we know our students understand, when they use it.