NavyMommy Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I would love to hear from some of you who are using AAR 1 with your kids. I am thinking about getting it for my DD who will be in K this year. We've started with OPGTTR, but it's a bit dry and I think she would really enjoy something more entertaining for reading. I am having a hard time getting her interested! I bought the pre level at the beginning of this year because I thought it would really be fun, but honestly we have had a hard time sticking with it. She enjoys the games, but I didn't feel like the letter learning part was through enough, she wasn't retaining it when we only spent 1 day on a letter, so I stopped and we've just been doing our own thing. She now knows the bulk of her letters (upper and lower) and their sounds, but not some of the other skills like clapping out syllables. Would AAR1 be a good place to start? I feel like going back now and redoing the pre level would be to much and take to long, she's ready to start reading NOW! However; I don't want to get her frustrated by starting something that would be to advanced for her. Any experiences, suggestions to share? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arboreal TJ Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 AAR1 is great so is the Pre1. Why were you only spending one day per letter? Take the pretest for AAR1, if your DD passes then dive in! You'll likely need to spend more than one day per lesson. Other than skipping around on the fluency sheets we have followed the program as designed and it's worked wonderfully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyMommy Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 I didn't see an actual 'pretest' on the site, just a list of skills that needed to be accomplished. Do you have a link? I'll go try and dig around a little more. From the list the main thing that stuck out was that she does not know syllables but I wasn't sure how big of an issue that would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arboreal TJ Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Don't sweat syllables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berley Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 I agree with Arboreal TJ. My son is starting K this year. He knew letters and letter sounds, but no syllables. I started him in AAR1 in April very slowly. He was sounding out words and reading their stories by lesson 4. His attention span is very limited, so we work on it for 10-15 minutes at a time. Hubby and I are amazed at how well he is reading after such a short time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyMommy Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Thanks! I think I will go for it :) I just had her come over and sat down and walked through most of the questions, she did really great on everything, I had thought she understood everything but wasn't 100%. I'll probably go ahead and order it soon and spend the time before we start our year playing the games throughout the rest of the pre level. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Well, I will be a voice from the other side...;) my ds just finished K. We started with OPGTR and knew right away he needed more. I went back and forth over aar 1 and pre level. I went with pre first and am so glad I did. I wouldnt start aar 1if your child doesn't know all letters and sounds and is ready to blend. It starts blending/reading in lesson 1. What I did was go through 3-4 lessons a day with pre level. There is so much phonemic awareness there. If your child can do all the finding beginning and ending consonant sounds and rhyme and knows letters and sounds then yes aar 1 is great, but if not, since you have pre level I say go through it quickly. I was frustrated at first "going back" to per level for K but in the end I am glad I did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdownie Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Aar1 goes pretty quickly over letter sounds. I think the first lesson has s,m,p and a, maybe? If your child knows her letter sounds pretty well, I think it would be a great place to start. Dd calls it her "fun,fun,fun" school and has been asking for it throughout the summer. Within a few lessons, she was blending well. Now, she loves to pick up easy readers and read on her own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellen Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Needing to know the syllables comes in at the end of AAR 1 if memory serves well. You would have time to teach it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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