renmew Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 (edited) I have downloaded Webster's Speller and am curious how some of you have used the program. The first few lists are short enough, but soon the lists get long long long. How long does it take you to get through some of those? Do you teach a certain number each day? Do you mix vocabulary lessons with it for the difficult or longer words that come pretty early in the program? I am actually considering using the resource for 3 different purposes: 1. My 11 year old stepson who spells like an ill-prepared first grader 2. My 4 year old who is beginning to read 3. The small handful of students (like 3) in my 2nd grade class who need to go back to basics with spelling, seriously. I am too used to teacher's manuals, and even though I make up a lot as I go along, I'm still stumped this time. Thank you. Edited February 21, 2011 by renmew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 If you go to Don Potter's site, he has retyped the 1908 edition for modern schools. The 1908 edition has more consistent table lengths (25-50 words so far, and the number of words is already written in). Elizabeth has preferences for one over the other, hopefully she will chime in. I'm using the 1908 for now with my older two (they don't guess and I like that sentences start sooner, my oldest needs them). For your 4 year old, check out this thread (you might have to click page 1). I'm going to take her advice and use the older version with my coming 5 year old (we are starting letter sounds in March). We are going to spell a LOT of words too, I prefer the spelling approach. When I teach my oldest together, we will use the whiteboard for spelling/reading words. I plan to re-print the sentences in larger type and use them for fluency (mainly for my eldest). The whiteboard seems easier for the kids and holds their attention better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylw Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 OH! so glad to hear others have bad, bad spellers!:tongue_smilie:My ds10 is the same way. I had started using it with the intension for my ds9 who is struggling in reading..under advice from Don Potter I am going back to use Blend Phonics first and then come back to the Webster. I also want to use it for ds10 (the bad speller) but haven't got very far. I was impressed with how my boys picked up on the syllabary rather quickly...ds9 struggles a little with some of the blends. I have thought about using it for spelling too. I would also like to hear how others use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 (edited) 1. My 11 year old stepson who spells like an ill-prepared first grader 2. My 4 year old who is beginning to read 3. The small handful of students (like 3) in my 2nd grade class who need to go back to basics with spelling, seriously. I am too used to teacher's manuals, and even though I make up a lot as I go along, I'm still stumped this time. The link Amy provided should help for your 4 year old. For your others, I would recommend the program on my how to tutor page, you start with Blend Phonics and some correlated spelling and syllable division rules, but add in syllables to Blend Phonics. Everything you need is linked at the end. The Guide, #4, has directions for exactly what to say and what to do when. When you finish, you should be ready for Webster's Speller for the older students, but you will just review the syllabary and then move directly to the 2 syllable words, you will have covered all the 1 syllable words in Blend Phonics. Depending on the number of 2nd graders, you may just need the Blend Phonics Reader and not both the original Blend Phonics and the Blend Phonics Reader, I used both with large groups of students just to have enough word variety available. For 2 or 3 students, I would just use the Blend Phonics Reader. The concentration game is also very helpful--I reserve it for the end so I can sneak in a bit of extra work after they get tired of reading and spelling lists of words. Edited February 22, 2011 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&MsMom Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 ElizabethB -- About how fast can you move through the Blend Phonics Unit Lessons? I am tutoring a 1st grader two times per week. How many units would I teach each session? I also e-mailed you this question via your website, but thought I'd ask it here too. Thanks for all the help...your insight has been invaluable! Mindy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 About how fast can you move through the Blend Phonics Unit Lessons? I am tutoring a 1st grader two times per week. How many units would I teach each session? It depends. I have students who are very bright and only have a bit of a guessing habit to overcome. When they stop guessing (after a few rounds of my concentration game), they can breeze through the basics in Blend Phonics in a few hours. A very bright student will only need to read a line or two and spell a few words from each unit. Someone who needs more repetition will need to do more words. Students with very bad guessing habits will take longer to get through Blend Phonics, and will have to be reminded to sound out words from left to right. When they start guessing, I make them sound out every sound and/or spell the word before reading the word. One of my students had a fairly low IQ, he took about 30 hours and a ton of repetition to get through the basics. He actually didn't have that much of a guessing habit, he just needed a huge amount of repetition. As they stop guessing and start getting into the habit of sounding out words from left to right, they will get faster and you should accomplish a bit more each time. I like to save my concentration game for the end to eke a bit more work out of them when they are starting to get a bit tired. Also, I generally like to take a break after 25 minutes and then do a bit more, then switch up a bit to something different--my syllable division exercises or a bit of Webster's Speller. Then, I end with the game. So: 25 minutes: Blend Phonics 10 minute: break 5 minutes: Blend Phonics 10 minutes: Webster's/syllable division worksheets 10 minutes: concentration game A typical first grader is pretty much done after this. An older student can do a bit more after an additional break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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