Does anyone use AAS to teach reading?

[lovinmomma]

If you do, could you please share your thoughts with me about doing so? Anything you care to share would be helpful. Thanks!

[newlifemom]

:lurk5::bigear:

[HiddenJewel]

I tried and the first 10 or so steps were great. But then the phonogram introduction moved too slowly. I switched to Spell to Write and Read and it is going well.

Edited October 24, 2009 by HiddenJewel

[Amber in AUS]

I am not using it as my entire method of teaching reading, but am using it in part. My DS is working through 100EZ which we love and used for DD too. I have also started him in AAS1 because it provides all the sounds for each of the phonograms and helps him to hear the different sounds in a word in isolation, i guess it is building phonetic awareness. We are only on to step 2 at this point but i don't expect to whizz through. We will do it as written.

 

I have heard of other people speeding through when using it for learning to read and just having the kids read everything, and not spell at all. Then coming back and spelling later. So the child would be working ahead in reading and following up behind in spelling as the reading and writing thing progresses at different times for most kids.

 

HTH

[ondreeuh]

I agree with the PP - the first several steps of Level 1 are GREAT for making sure your child has a strong foundation in the basic phonograms and can segment a word into sounds, and blend sounds into words.

 

After that, the program really moves too slowly to effectively teach reading. A proficient reader will be able to race through the steps of Level 1 and probably into Level 2 before having to pause, but a very beginning reader will quickly get bogged down in rules that seem to come out of nowhere. Learning rules such as "c says /s/ before e, i and y" and "ck is used after a short vowel" are just not an efficient way to teach reading.

 

AAS doesn't teach about silent-e until Level 2, step 7 and I obviously had to teach my son about it way before we got there. We're currently held back by my son not knowing the r-controlled vowels or all of the vowel digraphs, which AAS doesn't teach until the end of Level 2. From a spelling standpoint, the scope & sequence makes sense, but not from a reading standpoint as even easy readers use vowel digraphs and r-controlled vowels.

 

Since my son is an emerging reader, I have gone slowly on AAS (some steps took us weeks, others just a day depending on how intuitive it seemed) but have moved along with reading instruction. I've been using Progressive Phonics, Explode the Code and Evan Moor Basic Phonics worksheets (word families) to build a word bank, because honestly, reading is more important to me than spelling at this point.

[Lovedtodeath]

:bigear:

[Sue G in PA]

My son has trouble reading from books. I started to use the tiles from AAS to drill his CVC words. It worked like a charm. We also used The Phonics Road b/c it introduces the r controlled words right after the letter sounds. Makes more sense for reading. He is doing well. He loves to make words with the tiles. I'll put out say, 'at' and ask him to spell various words ending in 'at'. Or I'll spell the word myself and ask him what it is. He loves it. Hoping we can move back to the book soon.

[Lovedtodeath]

I agree with the PP - the first several steps of Level 1 are GREAT for making sure your child has a strong foundation in the basic phonograms and can segment a word into sounds, and blend sounds into words.

 

After that, the program really moves too slowly to effectively teach reading. A proficient reader will be able to race through the steps of Level 1 and probably into Level 2 before having to pause, but a very beginning reader will quickly get bogged down in rules that seem to come out of nowhere. Learning rules such as "c says /s/ before e, i and y" and "ck is used after a short vowel" are just not an efficient way to teach reading.

 

AAS doesn't teach about silent-e until Level 2, step 7 and I obviously had to teach my son about it way before we got there. We're currently held back by my son not knowing the r-controlled vowels or all of the vowel digraphs, which AAS doesn't teach until the end of Level 2. From a spelling standpoint, the scope & sequence makes sense, but not from a reading standpoint as even easy readers use vowel digraphs and r-controlled vowels.

 

Since my son is an emerging reader, I have gone slowly on AAS (some steps took us weeks, others just a day depending on how intuitive it seemed) but have moved along with reading instruction. I've been using Progressive Phonics, Explode the Code and Evan Moor Basic Phonics worksheets (word families) to build a word bank, because honestly, reading is more important to me than spelling at this point.

Great points Andrea! I am getting frustrated with it for spelling, to tell you the truth, because there are only short vowel words in level one. I went ahead and started using silent e, and it is very hard to use ETC for review because they do a variety of vowels before getting to consenant blends.

[siloam]

If you do, could you please share your thoughts with me about doing so? Anything you care to share would be helpful. Thanks!

 

 

I am not using it as our sole program but am using it with the ETC and OLD SL LA that I already own. My ds also uses LiPS for speech therapy, which also covers phonics.

 

AAS covers close to the same sequence as SL LA and ETC. First short vowels, then blends then long vowels in the last step of level 1.

 

I probably am just a lot more relaxed than a lot of people. My oldest was doing SL LA 1 phonics in 1st grade, yet had figured out enough to read at a 3rd grade level. It didn't bother me that the program didn't move at her pace. I just let her read on her own at what ever level was comfortable, and had our instruction at the easier level and figured it just built fluency. By the time we finished 2nd grade phonics (for SL/ETC it was syllable division, suffixes & prefixes) she was reading at a 7th grade level.

 

But I don't think I would enjoy just using AAS alone to teach how to read. There are not enough reading material, and I really like the ETC books, because it helps me gauge how confident they fell. For example I had my ds do the Pre-ETC books twice because the first time through I had to walk him through each page. He just didn't hear the differences in the sounds without me mispronouncing the words (is that a bird or a ferd?). This time through he hears the sounds on his own without my sitting there helping him, so I know he has reached another milestone in learning to read. With AAS there is really no independent work where I can see how confident the child is in applying what they have learned without me.

 

Heather