LynnG in Arizona Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I know there must be some WTM'ers who have already received AAR Pre-Reading and have started using it. I would love some detailed feedback on what you and your student think of the program so far! :) I had planned to get this for my youngest when he turned 4 this summer, but he is now actively asking me to "teach him to read". Do you think I could jump into it now? He was born July 2007 and is your typical active, exasperating 3.5 year old boy. But he has been watching me teach his 5 yo sister to read, and now he wants a piece of that! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aquiverfull Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Hi Lynn, We love AAR here. I'm using it with my 4 year old and 6 year old. The six year old is way past it, but she still thinks it is so much fun and I didn't want to exclude her. It begins by teaching all the capital letter and then the lowercase ones. Each day we sing the Alphabet song with Ziggy using the uppercase Alphabet poster. After we sing and point to letters, I read from the ZigZag Zebra Rhyming Alphabet book. Then there is an activity page for each letter to complete. There is also usually a rhyming game to play with the cards each day. There are also suggestions of other activities you can do if you desire. My kids look forward to playing with Ziggy every day, and they play with him even when we are not doing AAR. It is a very enjoyable program and lays a solid foundation for phonological and reading awareness. Have you tried the two sample ebooks with your son? We used those first and that is one thing that sold me on the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I like it. I am using it with my just-turned-4yo. I think you could go ahead and do it with your 3.5yo. Trust me, they don't come much more wiggly than mine, and he actually enjoys it. Every night we hang that day's activity sheet on the wall and review the past ones. He likes having something that is *his* that he can feel good about. I am anxious to see level 1 this summer to see how she teaches blending, etc. I fully intend to purchase it as soon as it comes out, whether we've finished prelevel or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Hi Lynn, We love AAR here. I'm using it with my 4 year old and 6 year old. The six year old is way past it, but she still thinks it is so much fun and I didn't want to exclude her. It begins by teaching all the capital letter and then the lowercase ones. Each day we sing the Alphabet song with Ziggy using the uppercase Alphabet poster. After we sing and point to letters, I read from the ZigZag Zebra Rhyming Alphabet book. Then there is an activity page for each letter to complete. There is also usually a rhyming game to play with the cards each day. There are also suggestions of other activities you can do if you desire. My kids look forward to playing with Ziggy every day, and they play with him even when we are not doing AAR. It is a very enjoyable program and lays a solid foundation for phonological and reading awareness. Have you tried the two sample ebooks with your son? We used those first and that is one thing that sold me on the program. Thank you, Kelli! I'm glad it is working out so well with your 4 yo - and even your 6 yo. I'm sure that my 5 yo will enjoy Ziggy as well; they're less than two years apart in age. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 I like it. I am using it with my just-turned-4yo. I think you could go ahead and do it with your 3.5yo. Trust me, they don't come much more wiggly than mine, and he actually enjoys it. Every night we hang that day's activity sheet on the wall and review the past ones. He likes having something that is *his* that he can feel good about. I am anxious to see level 1 this summer to see how she teaches blending, etc. I fully intend to purchase it as soon as it comes out, whether we've finished prelevel or not! Thank you for the feedback! I know what you mean - I think my little guy also wants a little something of his own to feel good about!! ;) I'm anxious to see AAR Level 1 as well. I have been so impressed with AAS - and we're just at the beginning of Level 1 - that I anticipate very good things from the AAR program! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aquiverfull Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Thank you, Kelli! I'm glad it is working out so well with your 4 yo - and even your 6 yo. I'm sure that my 5 yo will enjoy Ziggy as well; they're less than two years apart in age. :) You're welcome Lynn. Yep, mine are 16 months apart, so one just recently made six and the other will be five in June. Since they are so close, they want to do everything the other is doing. :) I've found that to be both good and bad at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 You're welcome Lynn. Yep, mine are 16 months apart, so one just recently made six and the other will be five in June. Since they are so close, they want to do everything the other is doing. :) I've found that to be both good and bad at times. I totally hear you. It's been a rough year as we've started kindergarten for DD-5. DS-3 is just old enough to be interested in what she is doing, but still young enough to be a little cretin incapable of learning much or not destroying whatever we're doing. And if I come up with something great to keep DS-3 busy, then DD-5 is usually interested as well and gets distracted from school. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 You're welcome Lynn. Yep, mine are 16 months apart, so one just recently made six and the other will be five in June. Since they are so close, they want to do everything the other is doing. :) I've found that to be both good and bad at times. I totally hear you. It's been a rough year as we've started kindergarten for DD-5. DS-3 is just old enough to be interested in what she is doing, but still young enough to be a little cretin incapable of learning much or not destroying whatever we're doing. And if I come up with something great to keep DS-3 busy, then DD-5 is usually interested as well and gets distracted from school. :glare: Mine are almost exactly 2 yrs apart... and they want to do everything the other does, as well. But the 2yo just isn't ready yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I did a detailed review after our first lesson here http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253124 we are still rreally enjoying it. My dd turns 4 next week, and my 8 year old ds likes to take part sometimes when we do games with ziggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnG in Arizona Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 I did a detailed review after our first lesson here http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253124 we are still rreally enjoying it. My dd turns 4 next week, and my 8 year old ds likes to take part sometimes when we do games with ziggy Thank you, Dolphin. . . I didn't see your previous review. Very helpful! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 We are still waiting for ours to arrive, but hopefully it will be here today!! We have been doing the sample activities with our almost 5-year-old, and she LOVES it. She knows almost all of her short phonograms, but isn't really 'getting' blending yet. This is a great fill in for her. She'll feel like she's doing 'school' (which she is desperate to do), and work on those phonological awareness skills that will help move towards blending. That's why we ordered it in any case! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto3innc Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Thanks for the info. I've been looking it over, but I think I need to wait for level 1 for it to be a fit for us. We love All About Spelling though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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