4 yo boy

[rmc20021]

I have a 4 yo dcb who I've been working with, along with my other 3/4/5 yo dck's with their colors, numbers, ABC's etc. We have been working on the letter B and the sound it makes. When we first started, I was having the kids help me to find other words that make the 'b' sound...he was doing great, coming up with words that I wasn't even thinking of and choosing the correct words every single time.

After the second or third day, he started just coming up with all these off the wall words which he obviously knows is wrong. When I tell him that word does not make the 'b' sound (which I KNOW he knows) he will then name off ANOTHER word which I know he's just horsing around. He is keeping a perfectly straight face and really acting as though that is what he believes, yet I'm positive he is just doing it for attention...he's definitely an attention seeker.

How would you handle this boy??? Ignore when he does things like this on purpose? Continue to remind him? HELP...I don't want this to become a pattern with him because I feel it will interfere with his natural learning if he keeps purposely doing this.

[Laurel]

I have a 4 yo dcb who I've been working with, along with my other 3/4/5 yo dck's with their colors, numbers, ABC's etc. We have been working on the letter B and the sound it makes. When we first started, I was having the kids help me to find other words that make the 'b' sound...he was doing great, coming up with words that I wasn't even thinking of and choosing the correct words every single time.

After the second or third day, he started just coming up with all these off the wall words which he obviously knows is wrong. When I tell him that word does not make the 'b' sound (which I KNOW he knows) he will then name off ANOTHER word which I know he's just horsing around. He is keeping a perfectly straight face and really acting as though that is what he believes, yet I'm positive he is just doing it for attention...he's definitely an attention seeker.

How would you handle this boy??? Ignore when he does things like this on purpose? Continue to remind him? HELP...I don't want this to become a pattern with him because I feel it will interfere with his natural learning if he keeps purposely doing this.

Hmmm, kind of a tough one. Are you letting the kids just call them out? If so, maybe instead just ask each one by name if they can think of a word. If not, give them hints and let them guess a b word you are thinking of. He won't be able to interrupt because it is not his turn. Make his turn last so at least he won't confuse the other children by saying a string of incorrect words. Plus if he says the wrong word he'll have to then guess the hints to a word you are thinking of. Maybe that will disarm him a bit??? He won't get a shocked look from you for saying the wrong word and then he'll have to guess your word. It will be like focusing him back to B words at least. It won't give him as much attention because he can't rattle off a bunch of words. Just one and then he has to guess yours and then on to the next child.

In case that explanation was confusing:

You: Susie, can you think of a word that begins with the B sound?
Susie: looks confused or says a word that doesn't begin with B
You: Okay, see if you can guess this one. I am thinking of something that you can hold in your hand and turn the pages. In it are stories and pictures. You can get one at the library. It starts with a B sound.
Susie: a book

Now Johnny, can you think of a word that begins with the B sound?

Just an idea....

Laurel

[Sunchimes]

I have this child too. She is really smart, but she does this exact thing. I was puzzled because no matter what I did, she couldn't identify her numbers. She can count to 20 easily, but she couldn't tell me what a 2 looked like. We got a new book with numbers and she was picking them out with no trouble at all. She does the same with letters-if you ask, she acts like she has no idea, but more than once, when she thought I wasn't paying attention, I caught her picking letters out of a book.

I only have her and a baby right now, so she isn't trying to get attention or mess with other kids.

I don't know if I'm handling it right or not, but when she starts this, I just stop what we're doing and go to something else. She is hungry to learn, so I just put it out there and absorbs it. She's just 2, so I don't feel like I need to push it yet.