AAS/AAR questions

[Robin's Song]

I can't get the captcha right to register for their forums, so I thought I would ask here. :D

 

I have a k'er who taught himself to read when he was 4. He needs more phonics work but despises OPGTR so I think I am going to start him in AAS 1. I also have a little one who is ready for phonics instruction so I am considering AAR pre-1 and AAR1. Finally, I have a second grader who never did any phonics work beyond OPGTR. She is a terrific reader and I sometimes have her read through McGuffey's for fluency, but I would like to help her with the skills to decode words she has never encountered before. Her spelling is fantastic (she uses Rod and Staff) so I'm not even sure if AAS is what she needs.

 

What do I need to order? I'm so confused between the items that are used in every level, how many of each because of multiple students...just finding the program difficult to wrap my mind around...:confused:

[3peasinapod]

I can't get the captcha right to register for their forums' date=' so I thought I would ask here. :D

 

I have a k'er who taught himself to read when he was 4. He needs more phonics work but despises OPGTR so I think I am going to start him in AAS 1. I also have a little one who is ready for phonics instruction so I am considering AAR pre-1 and AAR1. Finally, I have a second grader who never did any phonics work beyond OPGTR. She is a terrific reader and I sometimes have her read through McGuffey's for fluency, but I would like to help her with the skills to decode words she has never encountered before. Her spelling is fantastic (she uses Rod and Staff) so I'm not even sure if AAS is what she needs.

 

What do I need to order? I'm so confused between the items that are used in every level, how many of each because of multiple students...just finding the program difficult to wrap my mind around...:confused:[/quote']

 

OK, for the K'er, I think starting him in AAS1 will be great. For the little one who's ready, AAR pre-1 is for reading readiness skills (rhyming, etc.), alphabet recognition upper and lower case, and letter sounds. Depending on how old he is and what he already knows, you could get just the pre-1 level to start with and work on it.

 

The 2nd grader is trickier. I'm not even sure. It is recommended that AAS be started in the beginning and build from there, but you could go through several levels quickly if she is a natural speller. You could just get the AAS1 as above and let her start there too, but work through it more quickly than the K'er. You might want to go ahead and get level 2 unless you just want to check AAS out without buying too many levels.

 

I hope I've helped.

[Dana]

I started my son with AAS when he was almost done with second grade. Spelling Workout was not a good fit here! We did start AAS at Level 1 and that was the best for him.

 

So I would go with Level 1 of AAS and then move as quickly as you are comfortable. We're actually going pretty slowly, but he'd never done any phonics since he's a self-taught reader. I've been very pleased with AAS.

[nukeswife]

For AAS you would need one TM and a student packet for each child that will be using the level. For the older one you'll probably go through it pretty quickly, so I'd buy level 2 (TM and student packet) right away as well. I know some share cards but that would never work for me, it would be to much to try to keep straight. You'll need one set of divider cards per child using AAS, these will last through all levels and will be kept in each child's review box. The review box is up to you, sterile boxes from Walmart (in the storage section not the office supply section) work well too. I like the AAS made boxes but that a personal preference thing.

 

For AAR you'll need one TM/student kit for the child using it.

 

As for the kits. You'll only need one kit that come with the tiles so I would get the basic reading kit then you'll get the dividers needed for AAR. Again the box for AAR is optional and you could use one from Walmart.

 

I hope this wasn't too confusing.