I asked two children in my class to read today.  The first child encountered a word that confused him and asked me how to say it, rather than sound it out himself.  I asked him how the word was spelled and he said, "A-S."  I asked him what sound the "A" made, then what sound the "S" made, then I told him to put them together.  Then he looked at me and said, "isn't that a bad word?"

     Later on, another child had difficulty with a word, so I asked him to spell if for me, which he did.   I asked him what sound the "B", the "U", and the "T" made.  Once he identified the sounds, he put them together and said "but."  He giggled for a long time afterwards.