AAR & AAS without the tiles? Help!

[monalua]

I know there have been threads about this in the past, but I need an update! Do you think AAR and AAS are effective without the tiles? If so, how do you use them without the tiles? I am just starting AAR 2 and AAS 1 with my son. We are really liking it, but we don't like the tiles.Either they fall off our white board, or my tornado toddler gets to them. Will writing on a white board be just as effective? Paper? Helpful apps? Advice? Thank you! I am now doubting my decision to purchase this curriculum, even though I do like it!

Edited May 22, 2017 by monalua

[SevenDaisies]

I use the tiles to teach the lessons - at least in the early levels. My kids almost never touch the tiles unless we are working on syllable division where I find them to be quite effective. Otherwise writing on the board works just fine.

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, you can still make it work (and honestly, when students get older, they often "age out" of the tiles in spelling anyway--when writing becomes faster and easier they often want to just write. You can read about this in their FAQs, under Letter Tiles. Try and see what works for you!

[Jess4879]

We seldom use the tiles. I just write the new "tile" on the white board.  I even put a box around it. ;)  I also underline sounds chunks in words when I write them on the white board.  *If* a kiddo is struggling with a word/concept, then we pull out the board and they spell with the tiles.  We did use the syllable tags to start, but now the kids just tell me what tile they'd use to label with and we move on.

[coastalfam]

A white board and different colors of markers would work fine, IMO. I read on the website a tile app is in the works.

[EKT]

We often use the tiles, but sometimes it's just easier not to! You can definitely get by without them. When we don't use the tiles, we use blue and red dry erase markers on our white board. (Same colors as the tiles: blue for the consonants and red for the vowels.)