Reading Corner with Mr. Troast - What’s all the Nonsense about Nonsense Words?
You may have heard your child's teacher mention nonsense words to you at some point this year. You may also have found yourself thinking, what in the world are nonsense words? Nonsense words are a great way to practice early phonics skills and apply what they are learning in the classroom to words. Nonsense word fluency measures a student’s ability to decode individual phonemes (individual letter sounds) and then blend the sounds together to read words. We teach and use nonsense words to see if students can blend sounds to make words.
As a child's vocabulary starts to grow they automatically start to memorize and identify words in the text. As a young reader that's great, but what happens when your child comes across a word they haven't learned or memorized? We want them to have the skills to determine the sounds of each letter and blend them together to form words. This will make them better readers as they encounter longer words with more syllables.
To practice these skills we use nonsense words. These are made-up words. At the primary level, a typical pattern referred to as CVC (Consonant, Vowel, Consonant) can be used to make up nonsense words. An example of a nonsense word is "sup". Getting the practice of identifying each individual sound and blending will help them later on when they get to larger more difficult words. Knowing “sup” will help students decode words like: supper, supportive, and supplemental.
The next time you hear your child or teacher mention nonsense words you'll know what they are talking about. Feel free to use the link below for a fun nonsense word game that you can play at home as a family.
Middle School Parking Lot Pickup
Dear Parents,
Is your child an after-school walker? Please take a moment to sit down with your child and discuss safety when it comes to walking home. I've received reports of students not staying on the sidewalk and coming very close to the road on 303rd. Make sure they look both ways when they are crossing the road and always make sure they are paying attention to what is happening around them.
Our staff walks with students all the way to the Sunflower/Paola High School entrance off of 303rd. Staff will ensure safe crossing at the intersection of 303rd and Hedge Lane and the crosswalks in front of Sunflower Elementary. At that time, students are released to walk on the sidewalk to meet siblings at the Paola Middle School parking lot. I encourage parents picking up in the middle school parking lot to utilize the drive-thru line at Cottonwood. If you come around 3:25, the line is very short.
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Breakfast Please have students at school before 8:00 am if you would like them to eat breakfast. Students will not be allowed into breakfast after 8:05. This is to ensure students are arriving to class by 8:10, which is the scheduled start of our school day. Any questions can be sent to corey_troast@usd368.org or amber_seck@usd368.org | Arrival and Dismissal Just a friendly reminder that dropping and picking up students at our crosswalk is no longer an option for arrival and dismissal. Please go through our car line to drop and pick up students. Our dismissal and arrival times have been faster this year due to less congestion in our front parking lot. Thank You for your help! | iDismiss Parents if your child is a car rider after school, please make sure you know their idismiss number. It keeps our line moving. Please make sure you merge behind the designated car based on staff instructions. Following the correct car will ensure your child is at the correct spot waiting for you. Your idismiss number will not be shared with anyone unless they are on IC |
Breakfast
Arrival and Dismissal
iDismiss
Cottonwood Elementary
