choirfarm Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 My daughter is reading VERY well now. She has just discovered the Mandie books and has been buying the collections. She reads one a day. She loves the Trailblazer books. I had not had her read aloud to me for awhile and then she had to go to a youth function with me. We watched The Ultimate Gift and then had a Bible study that went with it. It was a small group and so they would take turns reading . She wanted a turn, so I gave her the Bible. It had several huge words in it, so I was prepared to help her... She read it flawlessly and with expression. She was better than most of the kids there. ( HUGE praise!! I mean to think that 2 years ago she struggled with cat and just couldn't sound it out though she knew all the sounds) I've been concentrating on math and although she can do complicated problems and word problems are no trouble, I cannot get her to memorize her subtraction or multiplication facts... Sigh But now I know I need to concentrate on spelling. It is really frustrating her and making her feel embarrassed at AWANA and other places as her friends all know how to spell all of the words when she has things to write. ( She is in 3rd grade.) I had stopped WWE 2 but we picked it back up but in this dictation sentence: The little monkey was dressed in blue pants, yellow jacket, and a white straw hat. She couldn't spell monkey, dressed, yellow, white or straw. She put the commas exactly where they went. She knew that. She has a pen pal and I have to help her spell everything. In Latin and some of her other workbooks, she knows the material but she cannot spell. Now it is hard because she gets upset if she misses anything. On her Latin quiz, out of the 20 vocabulary words and the chart of endings and other fill in the blank, she only missed one word and she is crying. So part of her just panics if she has to spell anything as she doesn't want to do it wrong. She cries if she misses anything on her math. With spelled, like the word dressed. She was panicked... I said Ok.. lets look. Remember that if it is a short vowel how many s should there be? Oh yeah 2. ( She had spelled it drest) Ok, it is a verb, right? OOH..yeah. So if it happens in the past, what do you add? ed. We are doing Spelling Workout level C and she gets mostly 100 with maybe one wrong ( which once again she hates.) But it just isn't transfering to real life. Her spelling is atrocious. So is All About Spelling what I need??? Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I vote 'yes'. My 2nd and 3rd graders are fabulous readers, horrible spellers. They did alright with several different spelling workbooks, but it didn't transfer over to real writing at all. Since doing AAS level 1, they've both made huge improvements. Even the one who may be dyslexic. We just started level 2, and the girls were excited when it arrived. Technically, I suppose they're still "behind", but I feel they're FINALLY getting the solid foundation they need, and it'll be fully worth the backtracking we've done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 my daughter is 9 & in 3rd grade as well. we had very similar issues (in fact, i have typed exact posts, even down to my daughter's writing lacking in sunday school, etc). my daughter can memorize lists and regurgitate them for spelling tests, but it wasn't transferring into her daily writing. we did use AAS 1&2, and that did help her some for sure. it's a great program. this year, however, we switched to spelling plus & dictation plus. it is for grades 1-6 and covers the 1,000 most frequently spelled words (which supposedly account for 90% of written words). the spelling book does include the lists & spelling rules, etc. however, the dictation book is what i consider to be key. i honestly use that more than the spelling book. the dictation book gives sentences and paragraphs corresponding to each list & allows opportunity for the student to use the words in everyday writing situations. it also recycles words from previous lists, so the review is constant. i have notice a HUGE improvement with my daughter. she still makes mistakes, BUT she is definitely at grade level now & can hold her own with her PS peers now. some people feel the lists are too elementary, but for a child that struggles with basic spelling, i think it is awesome! i also use apples daily spelling drills. she does one page a day. apples is really for older students in middle & high school that need basic spelling & phonics review, but my little girl is doing fine with it so far. here are links. hope this helps. spelling plus: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Spelling+Plus%3A+1000+Words+Toward+Spelling+Suc/014528/1296916926-1830998 Dictation Book: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Spelling+Dictation+Resource+Book/004554/1296916926-1830998 Apples Daily Spelling Drills: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Apples%3A+Daily+Spelling+Drills+for+Secondary+Students/017131/1296916926-1830998 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 It can take time either way, but AAS is great at not only teaching why, but constantly reviewing till it becomes 2nd nature. Remind her, when she gets one wrong, that the point is to find words she doesn't know and master them so she doesn't continue to get them wrong. It is a good thing. For math facts I love the Right Start Games, which can be used with any math program. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 We are very much in a similar boat with ds9, so I started AAS with him. It does seem to be a fit and already is working to answer some of his "why" questions, even though we are only two weeks into it. I'm hoping it will be our last spelling program. I had the same experience that you are having with SW. :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 interesting... my daughter is 9 & in 3rd grade as well. we had very similar issues (in fact, i have typed exact posts, even down to my daughter's writing lacking in sunday school, etc). my daughter can memorize lists and regurgitate them for spelling tests, but it wasn't transferring into her daily writing. we did use AAS 1&2, and that did help her some for sure. it's a great program. this year, however, we switched to spelling plus & dictation plus. it is for grades 1-6 and covers the 1,000 most frequently spelled words (which supposedly account for 90% of written words). the spelling book does include the lists & spelling rules, etc. however, the dictation book is what i consider to be key. i honestly use that more than the spelling book. the dictation book gives sentences and paragraphs corresponding to each list & allows opportunity for the student to use the words in everyday writing situations. it also recycles words from previous lists, so the review is constant. i have notice a HUGE improvement with my daughter. she still makes mistakes, BUT she is definitely at grade level now & can hold her own with her PS peers now. some people feel the lists are too elementary, but for a child that struggles with basic spelling, i think it is awesome! i also use apples daily spelling drills. she does one page a day. apples is really for older students in middle & high school that need basic spelling & phonics review, but my little girl is doing fine with it so far. here are links. hope this helps. spelling plus: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Spelling+Plus%3A+1000+Words+Toward+Spelling+Suc/014528/1296916926-1830998 Dictation Book: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Spelling+Dictation+Resource+Book/004554/1296916926-1830998 Apples Daily Spelling Drills: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/Apples%3A+Daily+Spelling+Drills+for+Secondary+Students/017131/1296916926-1830998 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekymama Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 My dd is also a very good reader but constantly asked me how to spell words. Dd did not learn to read via a phonics program but we did do some phonics workbooks before starting AAS 1 in 2nd grade. She loves the tiles and writing on the white board. The lessons are short, teach the spelling rules and also goes over phonics. No matter what grade they recommend starting with level 1 and go at the speed that is right for your child. We are now in book 4 and loving it! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 interesting... Though just to clarify, AAS also bases its spelling lists on the 1000 most used words, as does SWR and most spelling programs. I think SS would be one of the only programs that don't. AAS also has dictation, maybe not as much, but each list generally has 12 sentences of dictation. In level 3 you also have the silent e book and homonym list. You use these to highlight homonyms and which words are using which silent e rules. In level 3 you also start the writing station where you give the child words they have had in their spelling lists, but add suffixes and after spelling them correctly, the child uses the words to come up with their own sentence. They like to also use homonyms here too. In level 4 you also start the plural book, again looking at what rules for making a word plural apply to specific words. Books 1 & 2 seem so light now in comparison to everything that is going on in the later books. Not that the other resources aren't good too, because I am sure they are, but just to give you a bigger picture of where AAS is going. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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