AAR questions/problems

[kama]

I recently started using AAR 2 with my daughter. She is a struggling reader and we are going very slow. We are running in to a couple of problems I am hoping that I can get some ideas. First of all the magnentic white board is really awkward. How do you manage it during lessons? I have to hang it high up on the wall to prevent my 3 year old from playing with the magnents so right now for a lesson I have to take it down off the wall and set it on the table. But it is really awkward, do I lay it on the table? Try to prop it up somehow? We have sat on the floor and propped it on the couch, I just can't seem to figure out a comfortable way to use it.

I am also unsure about the word review cards, do I just keep doing them until I feel like she can read the word without struggling then put it behind the mastered divider? Even at lesson 10 there is a massive stack of word cards to review at the start of each lesson and by the time she has done that she pretty much doesn't want to do the lesson. Just to clarify, I have already cut the review cards down at least in half by taking out words and putting them behind the mastered divider when she can read them with out help. So right now we break it up, we do the cards then later in the day do the lesson part, then later on work on the practice sheet, which we also have to break in to sections. She really struggles on the read the story days. She gets really fatigued trying to read the whole story and forgets and has to sound out words she wouldn't have had to on the card, which makes the story reading slow going and she hates it.

I had intitally considered placing her in level 1 but I think she would get very bored very fast since that is all stuff she has already been working on for 2 years. She is able to do the sound cards no problem, and the word problems only sounding out a few words but the practice sheets and the stories are rough.

 

She is 8 1/2 and in "second grade" but reading is a real struggle for her.

[Jess4879]

We had a similar issue with our board and my youngest.  I ended up turning the board around and leaning it against the wall and then putting his magnetic letters on it.  For us, it worked.  He thought the board was simply for his amusement and never bothered to check out the other side.  For lessons, we flip it around and lean it against the wall and we sit on the floor for lessons. 

 

The word cards...I put behind the mastered divider once she can say them as quickly as I can flip them.  If the stack is getting overwhelming, it might be a sign to slow down further?  It also helps to build the words with the tiles.  Some of the vowel combo's took us a bit longer and required some additional review.  I printed out the fluency pages and had my dd highlight the new vowel chunks and then read the words and I've also found bingo games to be helpful for review. 

 

Level 2 lessons can have a lot of reading.  I'd break up the fluency pages, stories, etc into shorter sessions.  My kiddo used to get tired too and start to make mistakes, so it was a sign that we needed to leave off for a bit.  We often covered lessons in 3 short sessions a day, rather than a long one.

[Momto6inIN]

I had trouble with the white board too but then I saw a friend who had hers on the fridge and it was as if a light bulb had gone off in my head!  lol  It works tons better and now my toddler doesn't get at it.  We keep the tiles up near the top of the fridge and the 6 year old stands on a stool to do lessons (which she thinks is pretty cool).

 

As far as the review cards go, I don't have very much help to offer.  I thought we were only supposed to do 10 review cards a day?  At least that's how I did level 1 with my daughter.  At the end of level 1 she had a huge stack to get through too and I was a bit discouraged, so I just kept reviewing those with her every day and reading other books til she could read them without help before starting level 2.  Now that we're in level 2 she goes much faster.

[TheAttachedMama]

STORAGE: 

We keep the magnetic board in storage and pull it out for the reading lesson.  I keep it up high on top of a desk and pull it down at the start of a lesson.  Having it on a wall would be great because then you could visually refer to it while teaching if they decode or encode a word wrong in another subject.  (Like, if they spelled a word wrong, you could model on the board how to spell it with the tiles.) BUT I sort of feel like using it on the wall is awkward when they are small.

 

USAGE:

For level 1 we propped the board up against a chair and sat on the floor for our lesson.  But my wiggly daughter would always roll all over the floor during the lesson which drove me NUTS! 

So then, I hung it up high for awhile and had them stand on a stool to do our lesson.  BUT, again, my wiggly daughter was always doing weird things like standing on one leg or hopping on the stool or just normal wiggly child things....which would inevitably cause her to fall.  SO---- I now pull the board out of storage and use the board on a table top.  Keeping my daughter in a chair seems to help her stay safe and still.  She sometimes get up on her knees if she wants to lean over the board.  I keep most of the tiles across the bottom so she can easily reach them with her shorter arms.  She then drags them up when reading or spelling.

 

WORD CARDS:

I wait until the child knows the words like the back of their hand before filing it behind mastered.  They have to know the word as well as they know the word 'the' for example.  They can read it without hesitation and without thinking about it.  Even though they KNOW how to decode it, I wait until they have read the word enough that they can read it by sight.

 

We use an 'incentive' sticker chart to motivate reading practice.  Anytime they read a book, they get a sticker for their chart.  Anytime they finish a fluency sheet, they get a sticker.  Anytime they MASTER 10 word cards they get a sticker.  After they get 40 stickers, we go and do something special.

 

What I do is keep about 13-14 cards at a time in the review area.  We practice those multiple times per day (morning, before lunch, and before calling it quits for the day.)  Sometimes we read through the cards several time in each practice session.  Just quickly flip through them and practice reading the words a few times.  It takes like 1 minute.  Once they can get 10 out of the 14 cards mastered, they get a sticker. 

 

SO---

If you have a HUGE stack of cards behind your review, I would personally stop moving ahead until you get those cards mastered.  It really will pay off later because the fluency sheets and readers will be so much easier for them. 

 

I would make your reading lesson running through a few word cards several times to warm up.   Then, go back and re-read the older reader stories.  OR, get some other 'early readers' and read those together.  (Helping with any words that they don't know.)  OR, go back and spend some time reviewing some of the older fluency sheets. 

[kama]

Wow, thank you so much it is really helpful to hear how other people physically use the board. My daughter is  a major wiggler and yes she would roll all over the floor which drove me crazy, when I put it on the table sometimes she slowly scoots closer and closer to the board until she is laying on the table which also drives me crazy. I could hang it on the wall but it either be hard to reach or she would have to stand while she read the board and it would be in a slightly inconvenient area. It is a full sized white board. 

I have had some reservations about whether or not maybe I should have started with level 1 and gone at an accelerated pace (mostly practicing word cards and reading the practice sheets and stories to build her confidence and reading stamina up). She *can* do level 2 and I don't want to go slower than she is able to go but at the same time struggling through the words is not improving her confidence :( I have a full set of the level 1 cards that someone sent me when I bought their level 2 set so maybe I should just go through those. Any thoughts on that?

What books do you have your kids read as practice? I sit with her and read the words I know she doesn't know but she is really frustrated that she can't get the satisfaction of reading a book she considers an "actual" book on her own (she doesn't consider bob books real books, we have a ton of early reader books like the "I can read" and henry and mudge and whatnot but those still contain a lot of words she needs help with, and I feel like having her read those leads to her guessing).

[TheAttachedMama]

You could just buy the level AAR 1 books and read those as practice.  We read each story 3 times as a way of building fluency.  We put a little check next to the title when they have read it.   So, if you did that with the AAR 1 stories, it would give you a ton of practice.   Those stories might be too easy for her---but sometimes cycling between easy and more challenging stories helps build confidence and at least remind her that reading can be fun too.  Plus, it would give you practice with the level 1 words.   (BUT I would look at the samples to see if they would be too easy.)

 

BUT--it is hard to fine pure phonetic readers that follow the exact introduction patter as AAR.  And many early readers have a ton of sight words in them. 

SO, we do a lot of shared reading.  I explain that I am going to read a book to them and they can help.  I read the text with my fingers under the words and stop at every word they should know and they read it.  y favorite series are the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Williams.  I also like the classic P.D. Eastman books or Doctor Seuss books (search under the "I can read it all by myself".  And I also like the step into reading step 1 books.)  But really, you can read ANY high interest book this way and turn it into reading practice. 

[ItoLina]

I have our board hung low on the wall so my kids can stand in front of it and use it. Luckily for me, my little one never was too messy and has always been pretty good about staying away from things I tell her she can't touch. Honestly, we mostly use the board when learning a new rule, after that my son prefers to use paper or a white board or the cards, etc.

 

As for the cards, I don't move them behind the mastered divider until they can read them fluently....meaning without salunding out each letter. I don't review all the cards every day though, maybe about 10-15. The AAR games with Ziggy book has some really good games for practice with whichever word cards you are using. It officially goes with level 1, but I still use the games with level 2 and my kids like them. If the review words are piling up we may take a break for a few days and just play games with the cards until we dwindle it down a bit.

 

The fluency pages in level 2 are long, and some of the stories, especially in the second book are too. I would just set the timer on days you are doing those and take as many days as it takes to get through it. With the fluency sheets, my son liked it if I gave him something to do while reading them, like highlight the vowel teams, or underline the consonant teams. If he was really resistant sometimes we would make a game of it. For example, pretend you are a ninja and to save the emperor you must defeat the enemy army...each word is an enemy soldier and once you have read it and crossed it off then you have defeated that soldier, lol....my son loves that type of stuff, so it has helped a lot...it does make the lessons go a bit longer though, because I usually end up getting a lot of dialogue about the back story. Also, I always copied the fluency sheets so he could write on them, but we could reuse them if needed.

 

I definately reccomend rereading past stories. This has helped my son a lot with fluency and confidence in his reading. The first time through there is usually more sounding out going on, but by the second or third read through it's much easier. Someone else mentioned getting the AAR level 1 readers for fluency practice, and I agree that would be a great idea.

 

I hope that helps.

[Meg429]

I didn't read the other comments so hopefully I'm not repeating - but we are just finishing level 1.  

 

First of all, I have given up on the word tiles for now.  My 3 year old loves to mess them up and we have lost several.  I have a handheld white board with handwriting lines (I think I got it at Target in the dollar section).  I just write out the lessons.

 

My daughter was overwhelmed by the fluency practice and the stories, so now we just write them out on the white board as well, She then uses the marker to underline the words as she goes.  This has helped SO much and her confidence and fluency has skyrocketed.  I have her hold the book while I write one page at a time on the whiteboard and I hear her quietly sounding out the words ahead of time, but she doesn't know I'm listening and doesn't feel so on the spot.  Then when I hand her the whiteboard she already knows the first few words and is so proud of herself.

[avazquez24]

We use one of the boards below from Lakeshore Learning for our tiles (we use AAR and AAS). We use the 18x24 size and it sits one of our bookshelves (shorter one) when it's not used. When we need to use it for a lesson, I just move it right over to our school table (right next to it). I have a 2.5 yr old, so I also need the board up otherwise the tiles will be mixed all over within seconds lol.  The whiteboard has the removable holders on the side so it's propped up too. I keep them on though...We have another one in the same size that is stored on the side part of our table (against  the wall). When I need to use a whiteboard larger than our lap size ones, I simply pull it out and then put the side holders on. 

 

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C895%2C814&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1397610551049

[kerilynn]

I admit I only read through about 2/3 of the responses, so I apologize in advance if my post is just a repeat of what others have already said. First, I want to say that we use LoE as our main program, but I already had AAR when we found that, and so we use the AAR tiles and went ahead and completed AAR 1. I have AAR 2, but really love LoE, so I'm not sure if we'll ditch AAR2 or continue using it as a supplement. But, here's what we did for AAR1 w/ DS 5:

 

HOW WE USE THE BOARD:

 

When we first set up the board, I remember getting tttttthe measuring tape out and thinking, 2' x 3'? That's huge! I decided to just try using a magnetic white erase board we already ahd which is much smaller, but has worked just fine and I think makes it more manageable for DS. We keep the board hung up on a wall by our kitchen (which is where it lived in its former life as a chore board). When we are done for a lesson, I deviate from what AAR says, and I just leave the letters in disarray on the board, so that at the start of the next lesson I can ask DS to put them all in order (alphabetical and by groups). This gives me time to prepare that lesson right then (cutting the activity sheets, getting all the phonogram and word cards in order, etc.).

 

WHERE WE PUT THE BOARD:

 

I struggled with this just like you did/are, lol. First, I tried to use it on the couch. I tried having DS put it on his lap, then I tried propping it up easel-style in front of the couch, but couldn't find a way to make it steady. One day DS asked if we could just do it on the floor, so that's where we did it from then on. I like that our board is smaller becaues it is easier for DS to navigate. We do have the same 'wiggle issues' as a pp, but we mAnaged. (This is one reason i love LOE for us).

 

PACE:

 

I also struggled a little to find our groove with pacing. Long story that I often struggle to keep short, but DS is in public school and while I intended to try to let go and just go with the flow of his Kindergarten instruction at school, I quickly saw that was not going to work, and so I picked up reading instruction at home with him later in the year. Before Kindergarten he was in a private montessori pre-k and I had started some vertical phonics with him at home. He had forgotten most of it, so he needed a lot of review. I decided to start at the beginning. Even though the first lessons were extremely easy for him, it built his confidence, and it wasn't long before we were in new territory.

 

I suggest not trying to stick to the 'one lesson per day' every day, and just follow the pace of your daughter. If she seems to move through the word cards and reading instruction lessons easily,,,,, but then seems bogged down when it's time to move to reading a story, maybe you could try doing one day of instruction with the board and the word cards, followed by a couple of days on each story. For example, you cold do a lesson introducing a phonogram or rule, and then instead of reading a story the next time, you could pull out the word cards just for that story the next day along with the fluency practice and just work on that for the day. Then, the day after that, maybe just work on the fluency practice, and depending on how it goes, move on to the story that day, or, put the story off for another day depending on how fatigued she seems or how much more practice might help her.

 

WORD CARD REVIEW:

 

Like others have said, I don't put a word card into the mastered section until DS can read it quickly without having to first sound out each individual phonogram. I also did what you do and often separated out the word card practice for earlier in the day (for us, breakfast time), so our afternoon lesson didn't last so long.

 

Also, children benefit greatly from reading books slightly under their reading level--it helps build their fluency and confidence. I wouldn't worry about boring her. (I like a previous poster's idea of purchasing the AAR1 readers). Slowing down a bit or backing up might just help relieve some of the frustration you are feeling at the moment. I know how you feel, and I remember having to force myself to start DS at the very beginning, even though he was a little beyond that, because in my mind he seemed ready to be so much further ahead, but had just the instruction he had needed. He seemed behind most of the other K-ers in public school in reading level, but cognitively capable of so much more than just the beginning steps. I feared keeping him back by starting at the beginning (especially because we had already covered it the year before), but I am so glad I did.

 

Not sure if any of this is helpful to you or not, but I can empathize with your feelings of frustration and not sure how to proceed. Just listen to your gut--Mommies really do know best.

[MerryAtHope]

For the word cards

 

You don't have to get through the whole stack each day. Just rotate through a portion for 2-3 minutes each day. Eventually she'll know them better. This is how you track which ones she reads fluently, so do keep them in review when she still needs to sound them out. For days you want to do extra review (and I'd count it as your lesson time), here's more ideas:

 

Use games to review the word cards. Pull out favorite family board games like Sorry or Candy Land, and have each player read a word before his or her turn. You might enjoy Bake the Cookies as a way of reviewing. There's also a bunch of other free games--Over Easy, Word Flippers with F/L/S, A Flock of Ducks for L1, and Feed The Anteater, Be a Lumberjack, and Wake the Sheep for L2.

 

For compound words, there's Banana Splits.

 

If your dd enjoys games, consider getting the Ziggy Supplement for some folder game options you can use for review. (These were designed to go with level 1, but can be used with cards from any level.) 

 

You may also want to check out: Rhyming with Candy Hearts, which has words you can use with levels 1-3 of AAR.

 

Use the word cards to make up phrases and sentences for your child to read. Let your child also make up funny or silly ones for you (or a reading buddy) to read as well. Some kids really like that!

 

Here’s an idea for kids who like to color: take coloring pages with big spaces and write review words or phrases in blanks. When the child reads the word, they get to color that space until the picture is complete.

 

Do the activities from the activity book more than once during the current lesson, and also bring back activities from previous lessons

 

 

For the fluency pages–sometimes students do get overwhelmed by the amount of words on the fluency pages. So adjust those as needed. A lot of these ideas will work for readers too:

 

Take a piece or two of blank paper and cover all of the words on the page except for one or two lines (whatever won’t overwhelm your dd to see). 

 

Use the viewfinder bookmark to read them.
 

Let your child highlight each line as she reads, or use a sticker to mark her progress. Some kids like to see their progress in a concrete way.

Use Sticker Dots to mark the beginning and ending of where you want him to read. These are removable, so they could work for readers or fluency pages.

Take turns reading lines with your dd (or let a puppet, stuffed animal, or favorite toy take turns). Many kids enjoy having a “reading buddy.†You can also use buddy reading with her readers: You can alternate lines or pages in a reader (and you can do a reader 3 times this way–one time your child reads even pages and you read odds, another time you switch, and a third time your child might try it all by him or herself). Reading the story extra times will help your child's familiarity with the words to increase both fluency and comprehension.

Use the page for your reference only and write the words, phrases, or sentences one at a time on a white board.  When your child can read one line well, try writing two lines at a time.

Make the words/phrases/sentences with tiles for your dd to read.

Mix up the exercises a bit more–do something from the next step and then just a bit of the fluency reading from the previous step. This will stretch the next step out a bit more, and give a bit more fluency practice, without having the practice be all together in one chunk.

Use the words, phrases, and sentences to come up with a little book together that your child can read.  Put one phrase or sentence on each page, and let your child draw a picture, or cut and paste pictures from a magazine on each page.  My kids used to really enjoy making up little books like this.

 

For the magnet board--I tried different methods with AAS (wall, table, leaning...). The one that worked best for us was sitting on the floor with the board leaning against a table--we sat against the couch. There wasn't really room for rolling around where we sat--so maybe that helped!

 

HTH some! Merry :-)