That is a good idea.... ...though we may actually go this route. I have quite a few of the books already, so I may start with those. Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

:iagree: Um...we finished R&S Kindergarten book C. I won't even list all the things we started and didn't finish (or even START)...:blink::blush:

Anyone do this? Use the stories/poems from WWE for your read-aloud list? If so, how did it go? Did you feel like you had to rush to get through any (my worry). We'll be doing WWE1 this fall and I'm thinking about this... I don't like the idea of presenting excerpts for copywork/etc. in isolation...especially if they're works we'd like to read eventually.

Haha, I was going to say that. But I will say that I've made big changes this year and now feel like we are finally on a path (instead of randomly hopping from place to place with no real purpose or plan).

I was thinking of purchasing AAR for my K'er but realized that I could put together a comparable program pretty easily. I'm sure AAR is a quality program...but having just purchased AAS for my rising 1st grader, I couldn't justify the 2nd purchase from them. If you look at the lesson index in the Teacher's Guide sample, they basically teach some letters, read a phonics story, teach some letters, read a phonics story (...repeat). After looking in their Student materials sample, it seems that much of their practice is phonics games and cut-and-paste word practice. I figure I could do that with OPGTR + Bob books/readers + ETC (and add in lots of tactile activities to make it more multi-sensory). All you need are letter tiles or ABC magnets (easy to make), phonics games, a white board... For me, while it's a little more work initially, I won't have to question whether levels will be out, etc. We'll just go straight into AAS when we're ready, sometime this fall. ETA: I have *nothing* against AAR, LOL...and some people may need it all ready-to-go and are willing to pay for it. I had the time to pull things together & I liked knowing OPGTR goes up to 4th grade level. I can go as quickly or slowly as needed (no worry about future levels not being ready when needed) and I can turn it into a similar multi-sensory program. And my way was cheaper. :)

Glad to hear the list was helpful! I stick by my original assessment, these are good for 3 and 4 yos. My (older) 3 yr old is able to do much of the About 3 series independently.

Glad to help. :D (I didn't realize there were all those things back there either....until I just now picked up my book to have a look.)

In the back of OPGTR (pg. 363, I think) is an index to all the lessons. Lessons 1-40 cover vowels, consonants and CVC words (as well as a few sight words). Check that out to see where she'd comfortably jump in. As far as using ETC along with it, we do but we're starting with ETC book 1 and OPGTR at the beginning of the CVC words, so it matches up fairly well that way.

I have the Treadwell readers. Here's my reply from other thread: I like them. I have the Primer and 1st reader. I have the 2nd and 3rd readers on my wishlist. I think they're pretty good (I prefer to them to the McGuffey Readers, actually, as they're retellings of fables, literature, etc). Bought mine from Amazon. I don't have a guide, just use them for reading practice.

I like them. I have the Primer and 1st reader. I have the 2nd and 3rd readers on my wishlist. I think they're pretty good (I prefer to them to the McGuffey Readers, actually, as they're retellings of fables, literature, etc). Bought mine from Amazon.

I think the 2 are different enough that if you kiddo likes workbooks, this would be a good K year following R&S. Actually, I think they have samples up now. Well, here is a sampling of the math in the 5th workbook (so the last and, I assume, most difficult math of the program): counting by 10s to 100 10s and 1s blocks very basic (with pictures) addition and subtraction counting, dot-to-dot numbers, fill in missing number with larger #s (for example, the very last page is a dot-to-dot starting at 40 and going to 59. A sample reading page near the end of the 5th workbook is: matching the words sun, jug, bug, mug, bus to their pictures This sentence: The fat pig ran.

Here is a basic breakdown of the first books for those that want to see the scope/sequence of material taught... (this was just copied from the table of contents). Workbook 1 Intro listening to sounds, tracing lines/circles, writing #1, recognize & count 1-3 Intro letter Dd /d/, write #2, write letter d, recognize/count 1-4 Intro Ss /s/, writing #3, writing letter s, recognize and count 1-5 Review /d/ /s/ /m/, write #5, match capital & lowercase d, s, m Intro Aa /a/, write letter A, introduce patterns, recognize & count 1-7 Activity Book 1 Recognize word "red", same/different, maze, cut-out things that belong recognize "red", same/different, listening skills activities, cut-out duck picture Recognize word "yellow", dot maps, listening skills, cut out activity for /m/ distinguish between word "red" and "yellow", same/different, maze, cut-out activity for number order review color words/dot maps, same/different, listening skills, cut-out left and right So you can see the basic idea. The workbook covers letters/numbers...the activity book is other basic skills. Oh, and there is a Teacher's Guide. I think you *could* do without it....but I'm glad I went ahead and got it. There are a few pages in each week that are just a picture; the teacher's guide tells you what to do/look for. But you could probably come up with your own activity pretty easily (i.e. "find the pictures that begin with /d/") if money is tight.

Anyone else order CLE's new Kindergarten II program? I got it for my youngest DD. At first glance, I was kicking myself ("Bah, more workbooks? What was I thinking?!") But after having a thorough look-through, I'm excited to use them! They are quite similar to R&S's ABC series in content. There are 5 workbooks that focus on letters, letter sounds, numbers, and there are 5 corresponding activity books that do "fun" stuff like mazes, color recognition, positional words, etc. What I really like is these books are separated into lessons (which is rather helpful for this planner). Just from my quick glance, I think this could easily be a 30-week K program (5 workbooks with around 6 "lessons" in each...each "lesson" is several pages long and could be spread out over a week's span). This looks like a Jr. version of CLE's LTR program (it does mention it's a prep program for that). In fact, by the end of these lessons, the books are presenting 3-letter words (sad, dad). Initially, I'd planned these for DD's preschool year (age 4, this fall) but I feel comfortable saving this for her kinder year (and just adding in read-alouds and science/art w/ big sis). It feels pretty complete to me, but gentle. I may even like the feel of this better (dare I say) than the R&S books. (And I think they're pretty nifty.) I prefer the layout of this, for sure. Easier for my "planning" brain to wrap around. I'll probably have the binding removed and file these by week/lesson. Anyone else buy this new program? What do you think about it?

How much do you want to do? A full-curriculum or...? I've placed an order with them (not yet arrived) but I just ordered the faith-based flash cards. I don't need a complete curriculum, but rather figured we could pick a virtue each week to discuss, look for in our day-to-day interactions, search for mentions of that virtue in the Bible. This will be in addition to our daily Bible reading and devotion....just something to get my girls thinking about these traits. ETA: I also got the $3 coloring book download (I didn't read well and it's not really about a virtue but rather the character from their little stories....cute but not really useful since I just got the flashcards, LOL). There is also a free download that has a "Bible hero" for each virtue. ETA: they have a coupon code listed on their main page for the Teacher cards (which I'm now considering ordering, LOL). virtuemom is also a 15% off.

Yes, and Office Max too. I've seen Mead brand and another. The Mead one has slightly raised/textured lines to help the child know where to start/stop letters...

My kids are obsessed with Gnomeo & Juliet....does that count? :tongue_smilie:

Scholastics Little Leveled Readers seem to be more sight-word based than phonics based (which is why I didn't keep them). There's 60 in the set, which you can get pretty inexpensively on ebay...

Looks good! Looks a lot what we're doing (except our math is CLE 1). We'll be doing Evan Moor Beginning geography/map skills for our Soc. Studies.

I have another game-loving DD (she'll be 6 in June). I was going to suggest the site you linked (fcrr.org).... I find many of the activities quite similar to those I've seen in the AAR samples. My daughter also enjoys Evan Moor's Take it to your Seat Phonics Centers (we have the first 2 books, made into folder games). Amazingly, my DD enjoys doing the "flashcards" on ReadingBear. I also get a lot of fun ideas from Pinterest...

Oh, yay. I was just checking out the Fundanoodle website today! Fingers-crossed my Target has these!

Ooo, I'll be on the lookout next time I head to Target. DD (nearly 6) continues to form letters wrong (from bottom up, etc) and she has a little sis that'll start writing soon....

Here's the lineup for us: 1st DD (will be 6yrs/1st grade): Math: CLE 1 Phonics: OPGTR (+ETC +Starfall/ReadingBear +BOB books +phonics games) Bible: The Beginner's Bible + Growing with Jesus devotional Science: TWTM science recs Grammar: FLL1 Writing: WWE1 Geography: Evan Moor ~ Beginning Geography Art: How To Teach Art to Children AAS 2nd DD (will be 4): CLE Kindergarten II program LOTW 2-day church preschool

I'm still tempted by WWW ... (despite being talked down from the ledge in an earlier thread). I think I may go ahead and cave on both GWG & WWW, just to "check them out"... then I can decide from there... :D

There are a LOT of fun phonics games here.

This is a wonderful resource: http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/studentCenterActivities.shtm I thought about dropping OPGTR, but I'm just going to rethink how I teach it. Maybe alternating teaching from the book with a day of fun phonics games to reinforce the concept (like from the site above). I also typed out all the student parts from the OPG lessons in Pages and printed them out so DD could mark on them (i.e. find the vowel and underline, draw a picture to go with 1 sentence, etc). And -- motivated by looking at AAR -- I made progress charts to go with each section in OPGTR. As we fully master a lesson, I'll let her put a sticker on the chart. (Just thought I'd share, in case someone else was struggling with OPGTR but wanted to keep trying it...) ETA: OPGTR incentive charts are on my blog now (see below).