All About Spelling questions

[Julie Kirkwood]

I am a little confused about what I need to order. Starting out with a 2nd grader who is a new reader. Do I need the interactive kit? The student and teachers manual? Extra stuff? Or can I just do the student material packet and some letter tiles? If your budget was limited, what would you buy just to begin introducing spelling and covering the basics?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Aurelia]

Level 1 teacher manual and student material packet and the letter tiles. I recommend the magnets, too, because you can use any magnetic surface to keep the tiles from sliding around. The rest is nice to have, but not necessary.

[boscopup]

For limited funds, I'd get the letter tiles/magnets, and the teacher/student kit for that level. You don't need the CD, and you can supposedly get a box to hold the cards from Walmart.

[MerryAtHope]

For limited funds, I'd get the letter tiles/magnets, and the teacher/student kit for that level. You don't need the CD, and you can supposedly get a box to hold the cards from Walmart.

 

I'd add divider cards to this list because they organize the cards. The Phonogram CD-ROM is nice, but not necessary if you are confident in pronouncing the phonograms. Those 3 items (tiles, magnets, divider cards) separately will save you a bit over buying the basic kit. If you want the CD-ROM, then the kit is the better deal.

 

The student materials packet won't make any sense without the Teacher's Guide--The Teacher's Guide is where all the instructions are, and where your lessons are organized and all set up for you. Without that you'd have to make up all your own lessons. Have you seen the samples? You can see some on this page (it has links for samples from levels 1-3).

 

Storage box--for a couple of years I just used a flip-top sterilite box from stuff-mart, that only cost $1. Don't use a regular small 3X5 index card box though--it's not deep enough for the cards and your fingers to fit in, plus the tabs get bent over because the lid isn't high enough.

 

HTH! Merry :-)

[SnMomof7]

I agree with the other posters. You really don't need the audio CD, or the box, or the bag. The student and teacher materials, tiles and magnets, and yes, Merry is right, it is great to have the divider cards!