Reception sounding out/spelling

[soundslikeachallenge]

I've been helping out in Reception class and observed a literacy lesson.

Children sound out the word 'Who's'.
Teacher writes it on the board.
Children: "H" tch says "The first sound is written 'Wh'" then asks "what's next?"
Children: "oo" then "s"
Tch then writes 'oo' and 's' next to 'Wh'
so it appears 'Whoos'. Tch says this is how we are taught to write the sound 'oo'so we'll write it. Tch does not correct class or explain it's a tricky word that doesn't follow the rules.
I'm confused!!!
(The sentence was 'Who's been sleeping in my bed? except a full stop was put instead of an exclamation mark )

Does this sound right? Am I missing something?

I wouldn't teach it that way. If she is correcting the initial /h/ sound saying it is written "wh" I can't see why she has not corrected the /oo/
I would teach it as a "tricky" word and explain how it is "tricky"

Thank you for replying.
I agree completely, she corrected the initial /h/ but not /oo/ so I was flumoxed!
This happened last week with the word 'Calendar' spelt by class as 'Calind' and left as such saying "That is one way of spelling it."
Really don't know how to deal with this...is this just a teaching style I wonder to build confidence???

I would have taught that within the context of other wh question words and said it was a tricky word we have to just remember. It's not a sound out word. But I'd forgive it, it's all learning for them and better to try and sound out a word when reading or spelling than relying on sight knowledge.

Sorry x posts corriefan.
I agree it's better to have a go but surely a teacher wouldn't allow such misconceptions?
Now they think that is how to spell it.

Agreed- children need to know that some words have to be remembered in different ways rather than just sounding them out and that English is a confusing language! No doubt it'll be the one thing they do remember!

I'm assuming they had already read Goldilocks so the ideal time to tell them about "who" would have been then

Yes story already had been told, let's see what next week brings...thanks!

Sounds totally wrong! It is one thing to encourage children to have a go in their own writing, quite another for the teacher to deliberately write a wrong spelling on the board. She is not even consistent.

I would ask children how to spell a word and write exactly what they say on the board in reception.

mrz - and then you'd write the correct spelling too (if they didn't get it right), yes?

In our reception they encourage free writing so the children can be creative without being hindered by spelling. They slowly learn correct spelling as they learn to read and get to grips with tricky words.

Today ds drew a spaissh ship.

I have had this dilemna at home with my dd1. Do I correct her or not - should I leave it up to the teachers etc. Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. There are some words she couldn't be expected to know, these I leave. But if it's something I think she could learn, I will correct her.

I think teacher should have spelled it correctly - it is not that difficult a word.

bluegiraffe I would say that is a very good try (if it was) and explain that some sounds can be written in different ways (I usually use c,k,ck as an example of a sound that can be written in several different ways -they know already) and show them how to write the sounds correctly for that word. I wouldn't just write the correct way without teaching and I wouldn't teach "who" in the way described by the OP.
For reception children I would only ask them to spell words some of the words in the sentence - so I would write
"Who" and explain what it says and how it doesn't look like it sounds and that we have missed part of the word "has"then ask the class to spell "been" the "sleeping" "in" "my" "bed" and (Kung Fu ) the question mark.
The next day I would ask if anyone remembers how we wrote "who"

I wouldn't correct it in a child's independent writing.

Yes, that sounds like a much more sensible approach, mrz

Thanks for your replies, really helpful.