Jame Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 We've tried All About Spelling and are currently doing Spelling Workout. Is there a spelling program out there that is between the two? I like AAS, because it teaches the rules. I like Spelling Workout because of the way each day is laid out; crossword puzzle, fill in the blank, etc. My son is currently working his way (very quickly) through SW B. I'm looking for next year, 3rd grade. Thank you in advance for your replies :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountains27 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Maybe look at Megawords? I find that it teaches rules but I don't know how it compares to AAS b/c I've never looked at that program. My daughter did Spelling Workout and when I wanted something a little more I went to MW. She only started book 1 this year though as an older 4th grader so I'm not sure if it would be at the level you are looking for or not? my 3rd grader this year is doing explode the code as his spelling/phonics and that has worked well for him. He is a great speller and I like how the workbook is organized and is easy to assign, he does 1-2 pages of it daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoose Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 The Phonics Guide for Reading and Spelling that is produced by Memoria Press follows spelling workout, and uses Core Skills Phonics to solidify the rules. It also covers reading if you purchase the literature...it really works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jame Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Maybe look at Megawords? I find that it teaches rules but I don't know how it compares to AAS b/c I've never looked at that program. My daughter did Spelling Workout and when I wanted something a little more I went to MW. She only started book 1 this year though as an older 4th grader so I'm not sure if it would be at the level you are looking for or not? my 3rd grader this year is doing explode the code as his spelling/phonics and that has worked well for him. He is a great speller and I like how the workbook is organized and is easy to assign, he does 1-2 pages of it daily. I looked into Megawords and that led me to Spellwell. Both look like something we'd be interested in. Is MW set up like SW? Where it's a workbook and you fill in the spelling word? SW doesn't teach many rules, but I love the layout. My son loves the layout much better than AAS, so I don't really want to go back to AAS. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jame Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 The Phonics Guide for Reading and Spelling that is produced by Memoria Press follows spelling workout, and uses Core Skills Phonics to solidify the rules. It also covers reading if you purchase the literature...it really works well. So it teaches the rules as you go along in Spelling Workout? (Sorry if that sounds like a silly question. I haven't heard of it yet, but am very intersted!!) We use All About Reading, so I wouldn't need the reading part. So I would keep purchasing Spelling Workout along with The Phonics Guide for Reading and Spelling? If so, that might be what we do! Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fralala Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Have you looked at either the Spelling Workout teacher's guides? I looked at them but didn't end up buying them, although they're very inexpensive and could be helpful if you're wondering how to make this a complete spelling program. I haven't used AAS so I'm not 100% on what its "teaching the rules" looks like, but the SW lessons I do with my kids often involve a more thorough discussion of the "TIP" and brainstorming as many words as we can come up with that include the target sound, which I organize on a whiteboard according to the spellings. This helps show patterns and also gives a fairly accurate rendering of which spellings are most common. Without this, I would agree with you that SW workbook doesn't teach the rules, but it is supposed to be only part of the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountains27 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 I looked into Megawords and that led me to Spellwell. Both look like something we'd be interested in. Is MW set up like SW? Where it's a workbook and you fill in the spelling word? SW doesn't teach many rules, but I love the layout. My son loves the layout much better than AAS, so I don't really want to go back to AAS. Thank you! I had Spellwell once too. I can't really remember the exact reason we stopped using that but we did. Megawords is all exercises and they vary lesson to lesson. Each lesson (or list) starts with a piece about a the rule that will be covered in the the list and reinforces it throughout the section. Then there are about 10-12 worksheets in each list that is full of fill in the blanks, crosswords, vocabulary work, etc. basically a lot of different activities that make the kids write the different spelling words over and over without making it feel really repetitive. The list of words at the beginning of each section is long but I just have my daughter pick 10-12 words that she will be responsible for knowing how to spell at the end of the section. It takes her 1-2 weeks to finish a section depending on how much school work we are getting to in a given week. I have been really happy with this book overall but my daughter is getting a little grumpy about it, she's a 10 year old girl though so lots of things make her grumpy! I might let her take a break when she finishes this book and have her do ETC 6 or 7 as review, her brother does ETC so she seems to think she would like that better :/ I will be buying the second book anyway and will probably be buying the first book again for my son to use eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Apples and Pears has rules and also includes some games (Bingo, crossword puzzle). It's scripted so needs your attention, but it really works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Spelling by Sound and Structure (Rod and Staff Publishers) does, but second and third grade polish up phonics; fourth grade and above does more rules for spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jame Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Have you looked at either the Spelling Workout teacher's guides? I looked at them but didn't end up buying them, although they're very inexpensive and could be helpful if you're wondering how to make this a complete spelling program. I haven't used AAS so I'm not 100% on what its "teaching the rules" looks like, but the SW lessons I do with my kids often involve a more thorough discussion of the "TIP" and brainstorming as many words as we can come up with that include the target sound, which I organize on a whiteboard according to the spellings. This helps show patterns and also gives a fairly accurate rendering of which spellings are most common. Without this, I would agree with you that SW workbook doesn't teach the rules, but it is supposed to be only part of the program. AAS gives more information; c sounds like "s" when followed by e, i, and y, ck comes after a short vowel sound in a one syllable word. I really like the way they explain the rules, but we didn't like the layout. I like when there is a workbook with activities better. Actually, my son prefers them, which makes me like them better :) I had Spellwell once too. I can't really remember the exact reason we stopped using that but we did. Megawords is all exercises and they vary lesson to lesson. Each lesson (or list) starts with a piece about a the rule that will be covered in the the list and reinforces it throughout the section. Then there are about 10-12 worksheets in each list that is full of fill in the blanks, crosswords, vocabulary work, etc. basically a lot of different activities that make the kids write the different spelling words over and over without making it feel really repetitive. The list of words at the beginning of each section is long but I just have my daughter pick 10-12 words that she will be responsible for knowing how to spell at the end of the section. It takes her 1-2 weeks to finish a section depending on how much school work we are getting to in a given week. I have been really happy with this book overall but my daughter is getting a little grumpy about it, she's a 10 year old girl though so lots of things make her grumpy! I might let her take a break when she finishes this book and have her do ETC 6 or 7 as review, her brother does ETC so she seems to think she would like that better :/ I will be buying the second book anyway and will probably be buying the first book again for my son to use eventually. I'm seriously considering Megawords. Sounds a lot like what we're looking for. If you remember why you changed from Spellwell, let me know :) Apples and Pears has rules and also includes some games (Bingo, crossword puzzle). It's scripted so needs your attention, but it really works. I'll look into AandP. Thank you! Spelling by Sound and Structure (Rod and Staff Publishers) does, but second and third grade polish up phonics; fourth grade and above does more rules for spelling. I'll look into them, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I haven't used AAS so I'm not 100% on what its "teaching the rules" looks like, but the SW lessons I do with my kids often involve a more thorough discussion of the "TIP" and brainstorming as many words as we can come up with that include the target sound, which I organize on a whiteboard according to the spellings. This helps show patterns and also gives a fairly accurate rendering of which spellings are most common. Without this, I would agree with you that SW workbook doesn't teach the rules, but it is supposed to be only part of the program. AAS (and several others) has its roots in Spalding, which teaches spelling (and reading; children learn to read by learning to spell) very specifically. A rule in Spalding, however, further explains the sounds a phonogram makes or when it is used. For example, that a, e, i, o, and u have specific sounds is not a rule; that they may say their second (or "long") sounds at the end of a short word or syllable is a Rule 4. F, s, l, and g are often doubled at the end of a short word with a single vowel; that's Rule 17. They learn the five reasons for final silent e (Rule 7). Children do not learn all the different ways to make a specific sound; rather, they learn all the sounds made by each phonogram, then learn to spell the most-often-occurring words. To teach Spalding, you need only the manual (Writing Road to Reading) and a set of phonogram cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKWAcademy Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I'd like to find something for Spelling, too. It is our most challenging subject. We started with AAS then tried A&P and SW. Now we're back to AAS. The two workbook styles just didn't teach the kids anything. The jury is still out on whether they are retaining anything in AAS but we're giving it a lot of effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoose Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 So it teaches the rules as you go along in Spelling Workout? (Sorry if that sounds like a silly question. I haven't heard of it yet, but am very intersted!!) We use All About Reading, so I wouldn't need the reading part. So I would keep purchasing Spelling Workout along with The Phonics Guide for Reading and Spelling? If so, that might be what we do! Thanks!! Well it's not like AAS as far as rules go but yes, and they schedule the Phonics workbook to go along with the spelling words--so when the spelling words focus on "bossy R" the pages done in the Phonics book are "bossy R" too. It goes lesson to lesson in spelling but jumps around in Phonics but it's all laid out for you. You can also buy their flash cards and we did and used them to start with but not so much anymor. They also have a book called "classical Phonics" which has lists of words to read and you can time them, which my kids think is fun--trying to beat old times! But those aren't necessary to use the spelling and Phonics. It's not scripted but it's laid out in front of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I posted nearly the same question not that long ago for my second grader. He's a much more natural speller, but I still wanted him to know the rules around spelling. AAS just seemed like overkill and my day is so full already. If there was an independent AAS, I'd be in heaven! Here's the thread. What I've decided to do is stick with AAS until he's finished level 3 (he starts next week) then switch to Megawords. Although I still plan on checking out phonics zoo more closely . . . Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.