pappasapril
- Reviewed on Tuesday, April 27, 2010
- Grades Used: Book 1 and 2 for 1st and 2nd
- Dates used: 2009-2010
I have used book 1 and most of 2 with a first and second grader. We work together. We are really enjoying the program and I am posting this message in response to a message I read on this site that said there was not enough review built into the program. Each new lesson is prompted to review the Phonogram Cards, Sound Cards, Rule Cards and Word Cards.
With each new lesson, there is also a Concept Review Section where a concept from the previous book 1 is reviewed.
We have found plenty of opportunities to review with this program. Here is how we use the program.
Day 1:
Review Phonogram Cards and Rule Cards
Concept Review: (from book 1 as far as we can see)
New Lesson: I read the scripted lesson and we use the tile board to practice the words that are given to the parent to present as practice before we do the words from the list. My children see the new concept with the colored letter tiles and they are able to practice several words before moving onto the words for the week. After we have done several of the practice words with the letter tiles, we move onto the words from the spelling list. HERE they use a dry erase board to spell these words. They were not particulary fond of doing all of the words with tiles and I found it to be more time consuming. This is what works for us. I would do what works best for your child. If they enjoy the tiles, then do it that way. When my children do use their dry erase boards, I have them write the word and then divide the word into syllables and label the syllables( o.....for open syllable, c..... for closed syllable, vce.....for vowel-consonant-e syllable). We might also underline the base word and circle the letter or letters that make it plural, underline the vowel team or consonant team. Anything here that might help reinforce what they have learned in the lesson or in previous lessons.
Day 2:
Sound Cards :parent says the sound, child writes the phonogram.
Rule Cards
Practice List: There are plenty of words to practice which reinforce the lesson. We use the dry erase board here as well and when they have finished spelling the word, they take turns putting the word into a sentnece orally. I like this activity because I can see if they use the correct tense and know the meaning of the word. They like this activity because it allows them to be creative.
Dictation Review: The author gives both Phrases and Sentences for each New Conccept. We use the Phrases during Review Dictation time and I skip around from one lesson to the next. I like this because I am able to see if they have truly mastered the concept. It gives them more review with things they have learned in the past lessons.
Day 3:
Phonogram Cards
Rule Cards
We talk about the New Concept they have learned for the week and copy the rule or generalization onto a piece of notebook paper. Then I give them the words from the Spelling List (Word Cards). If they do not spell a word correctly, I file the Word Card in the correct section of their box and we write the misspelled word correctly onto a running list of misspelled words and keep it in a section of their notebook "Trouble Words.
Day 4:
Sound Cards (parent says the sound, child writes the phonogram)
Rule Cards
New Dictation: We use the Sentences given and save the Phrases for review. The dictation is phonics based and builds on skills that they have learned in the past. There are no tricky words here. They should be able to correctly spell everything. The author does a great job of presenting the new words in dictation sentences as well as reviewing some of the previous concepts. It's fantastic.
Spelling B: This is something that we have created on our own. It's another way of reviewing the words. Words from book 1, words they have misspelled, words they have spelled correctly once, but can they spell them correctly multiple times? It's also another way to challenge them. They are not using tiles, they are not writing the words, they are doing it orally. My kids also like to use this time to put the word into a sentence orally.
As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities for review. It is not all written down for you, but with a little creativity, or reading what others are doing with the program is a great way to provide your children with plenty of review.
Let's be honest. Nothing is perfect. The only negative thing that we have come across so far would be in book 2 the Long U concept. I did not feel that there were enough words to practice. I'll be looking for words in their phonic readers to supplement. This is the only list that I wished had more practice so far.
Give the program a chance to work for you. We are loving it. A really fun thing for me as a parent is to be learning right along with my children. The program is easy to use and we plan about 20 minutes out of our day, four days a week as recommended by the author. My children are remembering all the rules and all the sounds and it is so nice when we are reading to look at a word and say " remember o has four sounds and the ..../o/.....in (wonderful) is saying /u/.
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starrynight
- Reviewed on Thursday, April 01, 2010
- Grades Used: k-2
- Dates used: 2010
I just placed my order for Book 2 and expect to use this program through all 6 levels. We love it!
Over the last two years, we have tried at least 4 other spelling programs include SWR and Sequential Spelling. Although I loved the theories of both of those programs they both were lacking in some form for us. I found SWR too complicated to use and their word lists were not organized by spelling rule/word families which drove us crazy. Also my reluctant writer hated making his spelling book. The only thing we ended up using from that program was their phonogram cards. Sequential Spelling on the other hand was organized by word families but failed to “teach” spelling rules. I had to add those in myself. It also required a lot of writing, after two weeks my kids were revolting.
Finally we stumbled upon All-About-Spelling. Eureka! It is everything I could hope for in a spelling program and is so easy to use (no mom prep – just pick up and go). I love the phonics approach, the teaching and memorizing of spelling rules, the built in review and my kids love to use the tiles. My five-year-old and seven-year-old are both using the program, each moving at her/his own pace. Spelling lessons are no longer a struggle with my kids… actually my daughter requests to start with spelling and my son has commented on how easy spelling is to do now. My kids love checking off their progress chart as they complete lessons. They are both gaining confidence in their spelling abilities and are retaining the information. This is the perfect spelling program for our family.
For what it is worth... When talking with my friends, I often compare the teaching style of All About Spelling to that of Right Start Math (which we also love).
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339homeschool
- Reviewed on Saturday, March 21, 2009
- Grades Used: 2nd and 4th
- Dates used: 2008-2009
I have a fourth grader who has been homeschooling since 2nd grade and is an amazing reader, but struggles with spelling. This basically means that she has mastered the decoding part of phonics enabling her to read, but wasn't taught enough in-depth phonics to encode or use the phonics to spell. It has been a challenge to find a program to remediate spelling but not necessarily with the purpose of teaching reading.
My other daughter is in second grade and was diagnosed with dyslexia mid-second grade. She is reading at a 1st grade level. She has been working with a reading specialist for eight months. I sit in the lessons and reinforce them at home. The reading specialist is certified in Orton-Gillingham, Wilson and Linda-Mood Bell and uses a combination of the methods. None of these excellent programs is all that accessible to homeschoolers, either due to price, amount of time to train or lesson plan organization.
I use or have used many different curriculum to reinforce the reading specialists lessons including Phonics Road, Phonics Zoo, Explode the Code, Primary Phonics and All About Spelling and several others quickly discarded.
Here is my feedback on All About Spelling:
Pros: It is really well organized in a step-by-step fashion introducing the phonographs in a very systematic way. This is important in dyslexia. It uses letter tiles and cards in a multisensory way, although it doesn't mention the Wilson system "tapping" of sounds out on fingers. I mention this because none of the multisensory home methods I tried worked for my second grader struggling with dyslexia. It wasn't until the reading specialist introduced finger tapping that it began to click. I also purchased the magnetic tiles from Wilson which I highly recommend because they come in a magnetic "book" that keep the tiles neatly in place between uses.
The reading specialist usually follows a routine:
Decoding
1. Review previously learned phonographs on flash cards
2. Introduce new concept. Such as sh says /sh/.
3. Use new concept by manipulating tiles or highlighting the new skill on a list of words, or play bingo or go fish
Encoding
4. Then she has her spell words using the new concept including nonsense words. In addition, she will have her recall five ways to spell ... long a, or short e etc.
5. Then she dictates sentences using words with the new concept.
Reading
6. Then she spends time reading. This is targeting decoding, fluency and comprehension.
Cons: There are several things I don't like about All-About-Spelling. The first is that it doesn't have you start with a review of previously learned sounds. At least it doesn't stress how very important this is especially with dyslexia. This is something I do, but only because I know from the reading teacher how important it is in dyslexia. There is research that the cards are most effective read a specific way and the cards are not set up to work that way. Reading the letter name first, a word associated with the letter next and finally the sound is more effective than a different sequence. For example a apple /a/.
My biggest problem with All-About-Spelling is that the lessons are too brief. My fourth grader kept saying we didn't cover concepts I was reviewing with her and she was making mistakes with concepts we'd covered. The lists of words are just too basic. The program doesn't spend enough time playing with words enough for it to really sink in and become understood.
Wison has lists of words, non-sense words and dictation passages that are organized into different levels and cover hundreds of words. If I were not working with a reading teacher I think I would follow All About's sequence of lessons, but use Wilson materials especially the rules notebook, workbooks for decoding and the dictation book for encoding. But then again I feel it would be missing the games and the reading and the....
Well I guess all in all , I think a really excellent reading/phonics/spelling program has yet to be written. Hope this helps, especially for anyone with children struggling with spelling issues and dyslexia.
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nukeswife
- Reviewed on Wednesday, March 11, 2009
- Grades Used: 1, 4
- Dates used: 2007-present
We started this program in 2007 and then set it aside because I thought "This is too easy" . I later realized that just because it seems easy doesn't me it's fluff and doesn't work. This program is amazing. I have been trying to help my oldest son learn to spell. We have tried may different workbook programs as well as Spelling Power and nothing clicked for him. He would get all the words right with the workbook programs, but this didn't transfer over to his other work, such as writing or grammar. Now he's blown through level 1 and ready to start level 2, sure level 1 was easy for him, but he said now some spelling words make more sense because he knows the "Rule" behind it. The biggest change has been my daughter, she's 7 and has mid Nov. birthday, she has been desperatly wanting to read but it's been slow going for her. We tried other phonics programs such as HOP, WP LA, and SL LA but nothing was working for her. I even bought WRTR and although I love the theory behind it I found the book hard to figure out what to do to actually teach it. I figured "why not try AAS with her" and I signed up for the AAS forums to ask questions called "The Chatterbee" (https://marierippel.infusionsoft.com/go/chatter/fawkesacademy/) I found some very encouraging advice and my dd is doing well with the program. She's now made it to step 12 which is half way through the first level and has her spelling is astounding us, but the best part is her reading is improving dramatically, she doesn't cry about trying to read decodable readers anymore and says "I know this, the bee taught me" She calls it "the Bee" because the first level includes a progress chart with a Bee on it and the numbers of the steps are in "honeycomb" shaped spaces. So each step we complete she puts a bee sticker on.
I can't say enough great things about this program and the woman that created it. Marie is wonderful about answering questions and sends those answers quickly. I just wish I had found this sooner. It was the key that helped me unlock this area of Language arts for my kids.
Kel
UPDATE: We've now moved on to another curriculum for my older son and my dd's new LA program includes spelling but AAS has laid a nice solid foundation and I contiue to recommend it. It's a wonderful program that is very thorough, fun and easy to implement.
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