fraidycat Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Until I opened up my HTTS and HTS workbooks. :confused: I even read this old thread (and many others): http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160113 And I'm still utterly confused on how to get started with this program, and thinking about jumping ship for AAS so it can teach me how to teach spelling...because "How To Teach Spelling" can't teach me how to teach spelling. Ironic, no? Can anyone break it down "Barney style" for me, step by tiny little step? Also, I have a question about the thread I linked: What is the difference between a sound and phonogram? The one post says to make three sets of cards: rules, sounds, phonograms. I thought a phonogram WAS a sound. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 A phonogram can make more than one sound. For e.g., "ch" says /ch/ as in church, /k/ as in Christmas and /sh/ as in Charlotte. And one sound can be made by more than one phonogram. For e.g., the sound /A/ can be made by the phonograms: a, ey, ei, ai, ay, eigh, aigh. For how to use the HTTS books, well, I have it and am not using it because I decided I liked the Spalding/SWR method more. However, you just start from lesson 1 in the TG, read the instructions, get the student to complete any workbook page if referenced in that lesson, then dicate the words and sentences. I don't have my books with me now, but I can refer to them and come back with more info if you need. You can also search for posts by '8FillTheHeart' on how she taught spelling from the HTTS TG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAutumnOak Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 This reminds me of Spell to Write and Read :tongue_smilie:...I am reading through that now and plan to start in two weeks... My suggestion is to read through it casually and if you don't understand, go back and look over sections you had a hard time with...Lots of times it will make more sense once you have more information (the info you get from reading ahead)...Don't try to take notes or anything like that the first time you read material that is confusing to you... This is working for me and SWR...When I first opened the book, I was like :001_huh:...But lots of the earlier sections of the manual make sense to me now that I have read later sections, and I am fine with it now (until it is time to implement, then I will be like :001_huh: again!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratford Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 It's not you, I do think that book is confusing. I kept the book as a resource but moved on to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warneral Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I felt the same way about it. I went with all about spelling after getting it. It is so gentle plus open and go. Once I finish level 4 I might go back and see if I can figure it out. A mama here posted a review about it last week on her blog - maybe that could help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandty Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I have no help! It looks wonderful! I just didn't have the time to make my own lesson plans. I returned it. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 :bigear: I'm in the same boat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I have no help! It looks wonderful! I just didn't have the time to make my own lesson plans. I returned it. :glare: I think that's the key to it. Look at the workbook book then the TM and create your own lesson plan. Not having the time to create lessons plans, it sits on my shelf for now. I'm considering adding it into our work plans in the coming weeks once I purchase a Level 1 workbook for ds. FWIW, I purchased it last year, read it, tried to implement it but dd and I were both :001_huh:. I just revisited it and for some reason it made more sense this time around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Also, I have a question about the thread I linked: What is the difference between a sound and phonogram? The one post says to make three sets of cards: rules, sounds, phonograms. I thought a phonogram WAS a sound. :confused: In AAS, a phonogram card would be a card that has one phonogram on it. The child reads that phonogram and says all of the sounds that the phonogram can say. For example, the letter O, and the child would say 4 sounds, "o, O, oo, uh" (short, long, /oo/ as in do, and /uh/ as in love--hard to type the correct markings!). A sound card would be one of two things. The most common sound card would be the reverse of a phonogram card--you read 4 sounds, and the child writes the phonogram. (Ie, you read, "o, O, oo, uh," child writes "o.") Another type of sound card would be, "What are 4 ways to spell the sound of /O/?" Eventually there are more ways, but they are taught gradually so the child can master each one. I looked at HTTS early on but really wanted everything laid out for me (as I had already experimented with making up my own spelling lesson plans!). HTH! Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim.4dogs Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I agree with you! I got it last week and I haven't done anything with it yet. I'm glad I'm not the only one! :001_unsure: I do have AAS for my ds6, but I didn't want to go all the way back to level 1 of AAS with my dd8. HTTS seemed like a good option, but now I'm not so sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I also have this sitting on my shelf. Along with two brand new workbooks. There needs to be a "How to Teach How to Teach Spelling" book. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I agree with you! I got it last week and I haven't done anything with it yet. I'm glad I'm not the only one! :001_unsure: I do have AAS for my ds6, but I didn't want to go all the way back to level 1 of AAS with my dd8. HTTS seemed like a good option, but now I'm not so sure. It's really fast to take an older student through 1 though--I took my kids through at 9 & 11 and it took about 3 weeks (and that only because they needed to memorize the additional sounds). You don't have to make your 8 yo spell all of the words, just teach the concepts & have your 8 yo teach them back to you on some sample words, then move on until you hit harder words. We got through 1, 2, and part of 3 that first year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Thanks for the help. I will try to read through the book a little more. I find that if I'm trying to read it and it doesn't make sense, I tend to space out. It's not that huge of a deal right now, because spelling is not the highest priority of subjects I want to add in to our days, so I've got some time to try to digest it in bite size chunks and try to make it make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PookieMama Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I have a review of HTTS on my blog: http://dougcarla.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/how-to-teach-spelling-review/ In my review I didn't go into much detail about how we use it. I, too, find the TM pretty confusing on its own. I basically follow the instructions in the workbook. For my natural speller (ds9) I skipped quite a few pages, but have not done much of that w/ my dd7. I haven't made or used sound cards or even spent much time on having them memorize the sound sheets at the beginning of the book. It just hasn't seemed necessary. Maybe I'm not using it "correctly", but it seems to be working out so far. :) I made a spreadsheet to help me keep track of what pages to do in the workbook and when I would be needed to dictate (some days are workbook-only days so the dc is totally independent unless they have a question). I also threw in a couple of lessons and homemade worksheets on things I thought the dc in question could handle and benefit from. I guess this could be thought of as a "lesson plan" but I really just used the workbook as a guide. This program is pretty open-and-go now for us. I see that you are using level 3 and level 1. I haven't mapped out level 3, but I can try and post my level 1 plan for you to see. It's nothing fancy but it might help you get a better feel for how I use it. We only do 1 workbook page per day, and on dictation days I do ~10 phrases or 5-6 sentences. If the dc obviously has the rule down, I only do 1 day of dictation. If there is any hesitation or problem, I do another day or 2. The only exception to this is when I am dictating sentences to test the mastery of sight words. I make sure I hit all the sight words in the sentences, which means it may take 3-4 days of dictation. OK, I uploaded my level 1 and level 2 plan to my blog: http://dougcarla.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/httspellingplan.xlsx For the column that says HTS 1 Dictation, it means I used the words from the actual workbook for the dictation. I also have something about circled phrases/sentences. In the workbooks, it sometimes tells you to dictate specific phrases/sentences. I went thru my TM and circled those so I wouldn't need to look at the workbook when I was dictating. I also made a note of which level those circles were for. I hope this wasn't confusing. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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