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!

[scoutingmom]

I made a folder-office using folders and magnetic sheets for our tiles. It folds away and sits in a box (aling with the books etc). So they don't get messed up.

 

I know people do just use a white board with the coloured markers.

 

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[MerryAtHope]

I just answered your other thread, but I also made a mini-office for the tiles one year--here's a link to it on my blog. I like the regular board better, but this might work too. Amazon has folding boards you can put away, or some people use stacking trays.

[scoutingmom]

I just answered your other thread, but I also made a mini-office for the tiles one year--here's a link to it on my blog. I like the regular board better, but this might work too. Amazon has folding boards you can put away, or some people use stacking trays.

Oh, It was your post that gave me the idea! If I was on the computer I would post mine.... I just used 8.5x11 magnetic adhesive sheets for mine. I love it!

 

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[Guest]

Oh my word that is GENIUS! I can use this idea for so many things!!

[Farrar]

We did it on the whiteboard.

 

I LOATHE the design on the tiles - they just fall off all the time and are not well made. I don't feel like it's AAS's fault for sure. They're limited in what they can do and they did the best they could... but oy, they're really annoying.

 

I retained some of the tiles to use, but did most of it on the whiteboard. So, for example, when we were using the syllable types, I kept using those tiles. And when we had a new phonogram, we'd use that. If we were doing something where it was all about choosing between different spellings of the same sound, I would pull out the tiles and they'd write the word but use the tiles for the part where they choose.

 

I think it was mostly the same without the tiles. Especially as kids get older and are more fluent with writing, the tiles are less key, IMHO.

 

We never did this, but you could also look at that app - what was it called? It was an O-G app with tile-like squares, just on the tablet. It was called Sound somethingorother...

[Lecka]

If your son doesn't like them, I don't think you are missing anything.

 

They are helpful for kids who like them, who do better with them, and especially (imo) resistant writers or kids who are concentrating so hard on letter formation that they can't also focus on spelling.

 

If none of this applies to your son -- the benefits don't apply to him so much.

 

Edit: for perspective -- I added the tiles to all kinds of things because I saw that they were really helpful. but what helps my son isn't necessary to help your son if he doesn't find them helpful.

 

And I felt free to adapt or skip other methods (mostly writing) if I thought tiles would be better. It goes both ways.

 

When the tiles are helpful ----- you will know it!!!!!

Edited May 23, 2017 by Lecka

[Tawlas]

I just have a mini white board that I write on as we sit on the table.  I even have all the tiles on the whiteboard mounted on the wall behind us, but I only pull down a tile or two if we're introducing something new or have a particular tile to practice that day, for reference sake.  Of course, my kids are older? I remember I used to use the tiles a bit more, especially for word analysis in AAS.  I just finished AAR4 with my ds10 and I also do AAS 4 with both 10 year olds as well as a 7 year old.  I dunno.  We just write, so do they.

[MeaganS]

I spent the $20 and got the tile app. It isn't from AAS but you make your own tiles on it. You can make all the tiles they use and even color them the same. And it's all on the iPad so they are never lost. Our real tiles lasted a month with the toddler. And they were very cumbersome to use. In the app, I can even make profiles for my different children so it has the exact tiles they are using in any given level. It was expensive for an app but not so much when I realized it would make my life simpler for many years and several children. It really made all the difference in my ability to use the program. I would have given up otherwise.

 

The app I got is called Sound Literacy. http://soundliteracy.com

Edited May 24, 2017 by Meagan S

[ExcitedMama]

You can definitely drop the tiles if they are not helpful to your son. My DS was always trying to read the teacher's manual for AAR as I was trying to read the script to him. At first I fought it and insisted on doing it step by step as outlined but eventually I just had him read the bolded parts in my TM and didn't bother building the words with the tiles. You could try it that way and see if he gets it. You could always bring out the tiles if a phonogram is giving him trouble and breaking it up would be helpful.

 

I think AAS is even better without the tiles because it's extra handwriting practice which was great when DS was younger and needed more practice. Instead of using the tiles I had him write everything. Given that he had never written much before he didn't have much stamina so we broke up each lesson over a few days depending on how many words there were. Since there were often a lot of similar words and DS is a natural speller I also let him spell a lot of them out loud too.

 

Honestly it was great to drop the tiles. It saved a lot of time in the lessons and in the clean up.

[MeaganS]

Yeah, even with the app, I only use the tiles for the teaching part of the lesson. The word lists and whatnot they write.

[vaquitita]

I use a small white board and only the syllable type tiles (and after a little bit my kid would just look at those for reference and tell me the syllable types). I do not color code the vowels/consonants. But I do underline letter teams, so that there's a visual reminder that those two letters need to stay together.

[tdbates78]

We use the syllable tags but often skip the actual tiles. I just use the whiteboard and write the words out and the girls will put the syllable tags over the words. They prefer to write out the words as opposed to using the tiles.

[calihil]

I never use the tiles. We just build words with a marker and white board.

 

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