SWR questions

[Beth in SW WA]

What is your routine for early elementary?

 

I apologize if this has been covered already. I searched this board and found great photos & resources of how many of you implement the program. I'm visual so that really helped to see the photos of binders, lists, etc.

 

Forty words per week as directed in second grade? What are your enrichment activities? Readers? Grammar supplements? Magnets? Bingo?

 

Do you do teach all the rules? Markings? Finger spelling?

 

How are the results for spelling? For reading?

 

Basically, I'd love to see how it really looks in the real world at a home school. (My frame of reference is private school.)

 

What is a typical daily lesson like? I love details. :001_smile:

 

 

Monday:

Tuesday:

etc.

 

You get the idea.

 

Does anyone blend the AAS approach with SWR?

 

Did anyone switch to AAS for the script?

 

Thanks a million!

[SonshineLearner]

Hey Beth,

Living over here, you have the possibility of going to one of her seminars. :) They aren't too expensive, either. Also, the Classical Conversations Practicum in Tigard, is having her as one of the afternoon speakers. (Only a bit of each of the 3 days, but I think it will be interesting.) At the practicum, she'll be talking about the importance of English Grammar for the Christian. (perhaps about her program, too??)

 

:)

[Beth in SW WA]

Hey Beth,

Living over here, you have the possibility of going to one of her seminars. :) They aren't too expensive, either. Also, the Classical Conversations Practicum in Tigard, is having her as one of the afternoon speakers. (Only a bit of each of the 3 days, but I think it will be interesting.) At the practicum, she'll be talking about the importance of English Grammar for the Christian. (perhaps about her program, too??)

 

:)

 

Thanks, Carrie. Yes, it is convenient that Wanda lives 20 minutes from here. I'm going to her August class. When is she doing the practicum? Thanks!!

[Aloha2U]

Hey Beth,

Living over here, you have the possibility of going to one of her seminars. :) They aren't too expensive, either. Also, the Classical Conversations Practicum in Tigard, is having her as one of the afternoon speakers. (Only a bit of each of the 3 days, but I think it will be interesting.) At the practicum, she'll be talking about the importance of English Grammar for the Christian. (perhaps about her program, too??)

 

:)

 

:w00t:

 

Ohhh mann... the practicum in Tigard was one of my initial options for attending, but I didn't know that she was going to be a guest speaker!!! I wonder if she'll be at any of the other ones. :tongue_smilie:

[SonshineLearner]

She will be in Salem, if everything works out for us... (But she doesn't know... it's depending on when she's back from other travels) Pm me with your name, k? I'm the Oregon Practicum coordinator.... so... I'm just curious what your name is... and make sure to say "Hi" to me. I'll be at the Salem one... which is the one I'm assuming you're coming to....

Beth... I've thought of going to an SWR Seminar... just with you going... makes me wanna go more!! We have to have an Oregon get together... (which you would pop over for... right?? :)

[Closeacademy]

I do things very differently from how you are directed to use SWR. Before they are reading my children got very frustrated working through the lists and dictating 5 words would take up to a half an hour. I loved the phonograms and rules of SWR but the spelling and enrichments were not working with my non-readers.

 

So I adapted in a way that is not recommended but I have found works.

 

In K, we just focus on the phonograms and their sounds. We play games like those found on the AAS site. We do a letter a week, I have a picture and a word to go with each sound for each phonogram. In K we usually just do the basic A to Z.

 

In 1st, we focus on the phonograms & sounds again. But I have a story to go with each in addition to the words and pictures. I also add in physical movements. Again we concentrate on 1-2 phonograms a week but go beyond Z into several multi-letter phonograms and some of the rules. I also have sentences to go with each phonogram for copywork.

 

In 2nd, we cover the phonograms at the rate of 1-4 per week, and we use Aesop's fables. I have copywork and we spend more time dictating and decoding.

 

By 3rd they are reading well and in 4th I start using the SWR at the rate of 1 list per week. We notebook the phonograms, do worksheets that I created from the enrichment ideas and focus on learning the skills needed to spell.

 

Again, I've adapted it to my own children and their needs. I have a hands-on learner who didn't want to learn to read and a VSL who had trouble learning to read.:001_smile:

[Beth in SW WA]

Thank you. Lots to think about.

[Dinsfamily]

Wow, I'm a little jealous of all your PNW'ers. I was born and raised there, but God brought me to Texas. I miss it. My parents still live there, but it's easier for them to visit us here.

 

Back to SWR...

 

I use the program as the book directs. We do all of the finger spelling, marking, and reference pages as they are described in the book. My ds loves marking words. He asks me not to finger spell some of the easier words because he wants to do it himself. Finger spelling is a great tool during the week when he's stuck on a harder word so that I can help him without writing out the word or telling him how to spell it.

 

I did 10 words/week with my K'er and am upping it to 20 in 1st when we start next month. I plan on doing 40 words in 2nd, but I wouldn't have a problems keeping it to 20-30 if my ds can't handle it two full lists. That would just mean it would take us longer to finish the program and I don't really care about that. That'll be his 3rd year in the program so I'm betting 40 words won't be a problem for him.

 

Here's our typical week:

 

Monday: Quick phonogram/rule review and dictation of new words

Tuesday: Quiz words, review phonograms or reference page

Wednesday: Write words in word bank, enrichments from WISE guide

Thursday: Original sentences with new words, write words on index cards

Friday: Test new words plus previous missed/review words

 

We settled into this routine last year and it works for us. I found that my ds needs to write the words at least 3 times during the week. He's a strong visual learner and needs to see them written. He mastered all but three phonograms this year in K and is working steadily on the rules. I have a recipe box for all of the words written on index cards and it serves as a visual reminder of what he's done throughout the year. It seems simple, but he loves his word box. He pulled it out yesterday and asked when we are starting our words again.

 

I also use a separate reading schedule (SL's) so ds gets some reading practice everyday and am adding copywork from our read-alouds this upcoming year.

 

I work at the beginning of the year to put together a schedule so that SWR will essentially be open and go. Now that I know more about my ds's learning style, I even specified which enrichments I wanted to do for this upcoming year. I have the schedules for K and 1st available to download on my blog. You can download them in word to modify them as much as you need.

[kalanamak]

 

Does anyone blend the AAS approach with SWR?

 

Did anyone switch to AAS for the script?

 

Thanks a million!

 

I used the AAS tiles and the word lists, at times, but I don't like the script so much.

I started SWR flash cards at age 5. Kiddo has enjoyed these, and still asks to do the whole stack. He went through a phase of being excited about the cursive on the back. He gets a kick out of seeing the sample words in his reading (like bough for the 5th sound of -ough). Now he is having fun with the grammar cards.

But....I used SWR to learn to read, not do spelling. It jumps around a great deal and is a bit arbitrary in progression for spelling, for my kid at least. We learned very good habits from it, and he will take finger hints at times, but for spelling spelling we have moved over to SWO. We just do SWR refresher days here and there.

I followed the instructions in SWR fairly closely. We didn't do all the enrichment games at the bottom of the page, but we reviewed the cards at the top, and while we are reading books now, and he stumbles, I'll cue him "it's the second sound of -ea". Or if he's writing out a summary of a passage in WWE, e.g. I'll give him a heads up "foreign" is one of the -ie exceptions. So, we learned a language of working on the rest of our work via SWR. I did it 4 days a week, 20-30 minutes.

HTH

[Beth in SW WA]

Beth... I've thought of going to an SWR Seminar... just with you going... makes me wanna go more!! We have to have an Oregon get together... (which you would pop over for... right?? :)

 

Carrie, yes! I'm always in PDX. :001_smile:

 

CMama, your blog is delightful. Wow. Just, wow.

 

Closeacademy, your blog is awesome. I remember it from years ago.

 

And thank you to the others for the input. This is so helpful!!

Edited April 27, 2010 by Beth in SW WA

[Aloha2U]

Our SWR lessons are much like Taira's (Dinsfamily), but with a few variances since we only school 4 days per week. We're only doing ten words per week for K5, so it takes us two weeks to get through a list, but like Taira... we'll up it to 20 words for G1 in the fall and 40 words for G2 the following year (staying @ 4 days per week). Here's a rough outline of our SWR/WISE Guide lessons.

 

Day 1

- review/quiz phonograms and spelling rules

- dictate 10 new words from a WISE Guide list (into Primary Learning Log), then immediately quiz new words on index cards (got the idea from Dinsfamily)

- timed reading from PLL

 

Day 2

- review/quiz phonograms and spelling rules (optional)

- quiz words, any misspelled words are then written in his Spelling Word Bank

- enrichment activity from SWR and/or an enrichment activity from My Wise Grammar Book

- timed reading from PLL

 

Day 3

- review/quiz phonograms and spelling rules (optional)

- quiz words, any additionally misspelled words are then written in his Spelling Word Bank (usually once is all it takes for him)

- enrichment activity from SWR and/or an enrichment activity from My Wise Grammar Book

- timed reading from PLL

 

Day 4

- review/quiz phonograms and spelling rules

- quiz the first 10 words from WG List (if in the first week), or test all 20 words of WG list (if in the second week) and/or just any previously missed words

- enrichment activity from SWR and/or an enrichment activity from My Wise Grammar Book

- timed reading from PLL

 

HTH!

 

:001_smile: Melissa

[Beth in SW WA]

 

- timed reading from PLL

 

HTH!

 

:001_smile: Melissa

 

Melissa,

 

Thank you!

 

So you treat PLL timed reading like Victory Drill for fluency?

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

[kgreenaz]

Hi Beth - I wrote this LONG response and then the WTM server was too busy and I lost it all.... So this won't be so long.

 

I just started five weeks ago. I do the schedule according to trainer Mary Tanksley's instruction. You'll learn it at the seminar.

 

I teach two boys in 2nd grade. I use every supplement, finger spellings, My Grammar book, Easy Grammar 2, Explode the Code, ETC online and Spectrum Li'l Critter comprehension. As well as McCall Crabbs. We do about 1.5-2 hrs LA a day which is total overkill but I love language and was an English major. I want my boys to love to read and learn and be able to speak and write well.

 

They have each started a journal where they must write at least one sentence a day and illustrate the story that they are writing. We play tons of games like musical phonograms, the memory game, hopscotch with phonograms and bingo.

 

We only do the 20 words per week as it works well for my boys. I can't imagine doing 40 well! I also joined spellingcity.com with a membership so that I can input all the Wise Guide spelling lists. Then my boys can take the week and practice that week's spelling words with games. You can also print out handwriting practice sheets using THEIR spelling words! It's worth $25/yr. Plus I used it last Friday to test them on their words and it was great. Even corrected their tests and gave them a score, which they did not see.

 

We LOVE SWR so far and even my 4yo is spelling well when I finger spell and he "thinks to spell!"

 

Warm regards, Kim

[Aloha2U]

Melissa,

 

Thank you!

 

So you treat PLL timed reading like Victory Drill for fluency?

 

EXACTLY... but also to help solidify the words he's learned. ;)

 

BTW, I forgot to add this additional info about grammar supplements, readers, etc. to my previous post...

 

We're currently supplementing the grammar portion of our language arts program with First Language Lessons 1/2 (1 lesson per day, 4 days per week) which works great w/SWR... and we're using Writing With Ease 1 right now too (also 1 lesson per day, 4 days per week) for copywork/narrations, which we'll most likely continue using in G1-G3.

 

My long term plan w/grammar includes using Shurley English levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 (same grades as Veritas Press), but that may or may not change as we're doing Classical Conversations (Foundations right now and possibly Essentials later on too). As for our long term writing plans, I'm not sure where we'll go w/this, but it's looking like we'll use IEW whether we're in CC Essentials or not.

 

Our readers, if you will, include many from the Suggested Book List by Wanda Sanseri and really anything I read aloud to him that's more difficult as we'll take turns with the passages.

 

All of this combined has resulted in an amazing reader (when he wants to, that is), handwriter (used Cursive First w/SWR) and speller thus far, IMHO. We do play phonogram games and such (here and there just to change things up a bit), but I honestly believe it's our consistent SWR routine that's influenced his success.

 

This may be more info than you want, but I hope it helps too!

 

:001_smile: Melissa

Edited April 27, 2010 by CMama

[Beth in SW WA]

Very helpful, Melissa.

 

My girls did Cursive First. Love it. Now I'm looking for a font program to make our own copywork in Modern Cursive. What do you use?

 

Thanks!

[johnandtinagilbert]

Hi Beth - I wrote this LONG response and then the WTM server was too busy and I lost it all.... So this won't be so long.

 

 

Warm regards, Kim

Try the back button :) You should get back everything next time....then keep trying to submit!

[SonshineLearner]

Modern Cursive is good for Startwrite. $40 and you have it for life :)

[Beth in SW WA]

Hi Beth - I wrote this LONG response and then the WTM server was too busy and I lost it all.... So this won't be so long.

 

I just started five weeks ago. I do the schedule according to trainer Mary Tanksley's instruction. You'll learn it at the seminar.

 

I teach two boys in 2nd grade. I use every supplement, finger spellings, My Grammar book, Easy Grammar 2, Explode the Code, ETC online and Spectrum Li'l Critter comprehension. As well as McCall Crabbs. We do about 1.5-2 hrs LA a day which is total overkill but I love language and was an English major. I want my boys to love to read and learn and be able to speak and write well.

 

They have each started a journal where they must write at least one sentence a day and illustrate the story that they are writing. We play tons of games like musical phonograms, the memory game, hopscotch with phonograms and bingo.

 

We only do the 20 words per week as it works well for my boys. I can't imagine doing 40 well! I also joined spellingcity.com with a membership so that I can input all the Wise Guide spelling lists. Then my boys can take the week and practice that week's spelling words with games. You can also print out handwriting practice sheets using THEIR spelling words! It's worth $25/yr. Plus I used it last Friday to test them on their words and it was great. Even corrected their tests and gave them a score, which they did not see.

 

We LOVE SWR so far and even my 4yo is spelling well when I finger spell and he "thinks to spell!"

 

Warm regards, Kim

 

Kim, Thanks for taking the time to re-write this!! Lots of great info. SpellingCity looks intriguing. Does it print out the handwriting practice sheets in cursive?

 

Carrie, I can't decide between Startwrite & EF. Hmmmm.....

[Amy Jo]

I'm not familiar with Modern Cursive, but this page from Donna Young has a font that is similar to the Cursive First font (the "o" is different). She explains on the page how to get the leading stroke.

 

HTH!

Amy

[Debbie in OR]

I am trying to remember what we did for 2nd grade and I think this is what it looked like (we attempted all the enrichments at first but it got to be overwhelming for me so we dropped everything and did just the spelling lists and phonograms):

 

 

MONDAY: teach words 1-10 with finger spelling, red markings, syllables and record in red log; quiz all phonograms (30 mins.)

 

TUESDAY: quiz on words 1-10 (10 mins.)

 

WEDNESDAY: teach words 11-20 as above; quiz phonograms of missed spelling words from Tuesday (30 mins.)

 

THURSDAY: quiz on words 11-20 (10 mins.)

 

FRIDAY: quiz words 1-20; review phonograms of missed spelling words (20 mins.)

 

I think the genius of her program lies in the spelling by syllables and markings plus knowing the phonograms forwards and backwards (for reading).

 

Now that dc are in 3rd and 5th, we are using Spelling Wisdom but we still review all the phonograms, learn one spelling rule and do word analysis ala SWR once a week.

 

That schedule looks like this:

 

MONDAY: Dictate spelling lesson ala SW (5 mins.)

TUESDAY: Learn a spelling rule and review any phonograms that were used in the dictation from Monday. (10 mins.)

WEDNESDAY: Analyze 10 words from Monday's dictation (syllables, red markings, alphabetize); apply spelling rule we learned on Tuesday to any words on the list (if we learned the spelling rule about how to drop the "y" from a word before adding a suffix, I will have them do that to any words on their list that end in "y". Or if we learned how to make words plural, I will have them to that with several of their words on the list, etc.) (20 mins.)

THURSDAY: quiz phonograms (5 mins.)

FRIDAY: Spelling Bee from all past SW dictations (dc love doing this!) (10-30 mins.)

 

We will continue to use this SWR/Spelling Wisdom method for as long as we do spelling.

[Beth in SW WA]

Debbie, This is awesome! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this out!

[Lovedtodeath]

Does anyone blend the AAS approach with SWR?

 

Did anyone switch to AAS for the script?

 

 

Try the back button :) You should get back everything next time....then keep trying to submit!

Tina! :eek: I am surprised and disappointed in you. Do I have to tell her to look at Phonics Road?:lol: Beth, look at Phonics Road. Daily lesson plans. Almost identical to SWR but very easy! (Easier than AAS in my opinion, I switched.)

 

Has anyone gone from SWR to Phonics Road?

Edited May 7, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Beth in SW WA]

I'm reviving this thread because I'm curious how you all do dictation with SWR. Do you dictate sentences from the Wise Guide? Or do you just read the sample sentence but only dictate the word?

 

I have read and re-read your replies as I'm gearing up to teach SWR soon. Although the girls have been in school, we drill the phonogram cards daily and write spelling words daily.

 

This is the routine my girls have done at classical school (and what I plan to continue). Thankfully, I know the phonograms and many of the rules:

 

Monday: Teacher 'blind' dictates new spelling list with finger spelling, syllables, red markings in PLL. This 'think to spell' method takes about 40+ minutes for 20 words. Students listen to teacher dictate and attempt to spell on her/his own. Student tells teacher what letters/phonograms to write on white board, and what markings to use. Teacher & students analyze each word. Rules are noted to the right of the word. Students correct PLL, if needed. Review phonograms.

 

Tuesday: Review/Quiz phonograms, students write out each new spelling word, phonogram bingo/enrichment activity

 

Wed: Same

 

Thursday: Same

 

Friday: Spelling Test

 

----------------------

 

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you all taking the time to respond. I love the ideas you have shared (index card word box, spelling bee, spelling city, etc.)

 

Thank you!

[Dinsfamily]

I'm reviving this thread because I'm curious how you all do dictation with SWR. Do you dictate sentences from the Wise Guide? Or do you just read the sample sentence but only dictate the word?

 

I have read and re-read your replies as I'm gearing up to teach SWR soon. Although the girls have been in school, we drill the phonogram cards daily and write spelling words daily.

 

This is the routine my girls have done at classical school (and what I plan to continue). Thankfully, I know the phonograms and many of the rules:

 

Monday: Teacher 'blind' dictates new spelling list with finger spelling, syllables, red markings in PLL. This 'think to spell' method takes about 40+ minutes for 20 words. Students listen to teacher dictate and attempt to spell on her/his own. Student tells teacher what letters/phonograms to write on white board, and what markings to use. Teacher & students analyze each word. Rules are noted to the right of the word. Students correct PLL, if needed. Review phonograms.

 

Tuesday: Review/Quiz phonograms, students write out each new spelling word, phonogram bingo/enrichment activity

 

Wed: Same

 

Thursday: Same

 

Friday: Spelling Test

 

----------------------

 

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you all taking the time to respond. I love the ideas you have shared (index card word box, spelling bee, spelling city, etc.)

 

Thank you!

 

I only dicate the word and use the sentences as an example of the word being used in a sentence. My ds found out how important it is when we learned the words 'to,' 'its,' and 'it's.'

 

For the ages of your girls, I would imagine that most of the WISE Guide sentences would be too long and complex for dictation. I used the examples in the enrichment section for my 5yo (like "I can do it.") when we did a dictation enrichment. After that, it was easy to make my own simple sentences using spelling words. We're backing off of sentence dictation this year in favor of WWE style writing which means more copywork for 1-2nd graders.

[Beth in SW WA]

Thank you!

 

I'll make 2 -3 of my own dictation sentences per week using our Wise Guide spelling lists. We also do WWE & copywork -- so I shouldn't overload them on too much writing at this age. (I also have a first & second grader.) :001_smile:

 

Again, I really appreciate your help.

[Kuovonne]

Here's an old blog post of mine where I describe how I used SWR and came up with dictation sentences.

 

http://lettersandcorrespondence.blogspot.com/2009/02/spell-to-write-and-read.html

[Beth in SW WA]

Here's an old blog post of mine where I describe how I used SWR and came up with dictation sentences.

 

http://lettersandcorrespondence.blogspot.com/2009/02/spell-to-write-and-read.html

 

Thanks, Kuovonne. I enjoyed snooping through your blog! Great job, Mom! :001_smile: