For those who have finshed AAS...

[golfcartmama]

Can you tell me if you have done all of the available levels of AAS with your child (who presumably wasn't a good speller prior to starting the program) if your child's spelling grew by leaps and bounds? We're into level 4 and began at level 1. It is slow going b/c I have built in extra review, which he needs. He does great with the words given, but not transferring them to other words not given with the same rule. At this point, I don't really want to abandon this great program. I believe in the process, I am just wondering how to continue when I don't see the transfer to writing across the other subjects...or even birthday cards, notes, etc. in everyday life.

 

I'm trying to decide if I should switch to something else, stick it out as is, or stick with it, but add SWO or something to it for more reinforcement and different words. FYI, this is for a 9yo soon to be 4th grader.

[Mommy7]

:bigear: I have the same questions. I, too, had thought about adding a workbook. I don't want to if it's not necessary, though.

[Carrie12345]

I haven't finished it, so I can't answer to that extent, but...

 

We're in level 3, started at 1. I've noticed my dds don't always transfer the rules to other writing right away, but are much more quick to recognize where they went wrong when I point an error out. The other day, one dd wrote "runing" several times. When I asked her to pronounce it, she immediately recognized the lack of a doubled n and fixed them all.

 

So, no, it hasn't been an immediate thing for them, but they are improving by leaps and bounds with a lot of practice across our curriculum.

 

Are you using the program verbatim? I've found that when I slack on the cards and tiles, we run into some set backs.

[MerryAtHope]

My 9th grader is on the last lesson in Level 6, and his spelling has grown by leaps and bounds! A few things I would suggest to you:

 

1, 9 is young for some kids to see a lot of progress in their writing yet. They haven't been reading and writing for that many years, won't have seen a lot of words that many times (visual recognition which is a part of spelling), and they are still working hard to put a lot of new skills together--ie, handwriting, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, organizing their ideas, coming up with correct answers and so on. That's a lot different than having to *only* focus on spelling, and many young writers simply aren't ready to put this many new skills together very well. Julie Bogart has a great article on what to expect from writers in grade K to age 12 old called the Unscope and Sequence.

 

2, In order for spelling skills to translate into writing, you will need to teach editing skills and provide time for editing. The analysis skills that are taught in AAS are where you are really going to see progress made as you get into Levels 5 and 6, but you need to use them a lot. The AAS TM teaches you how to do this through the scripted lessons, and then you can further use these skills when you are going over dictation and the writing station exercises. When your child is ready, start applying them to writing outside of AAS. Here's an article on my blog with more info and ideas. But that's where you will start walking him through how to apply what he knows to other words he wants to spell.

 

3, At Level 4, you haven't covered all of the phonograms yet--that will come in Level 5, and then you begin to see things come together more.

 

With my kids the process was something like this:

 

After levels 1-3, they went from spelling most words wrong (in an informal note to me) to spelling 50-60% of words correctly.

 

It's gone up from there to where I now see notes with all or almost all words spelled correctly.

 

As you noted, it's a lot of work and it's slow-going. Spelling is easy for some kids, but for lots of them it's work, and for some of them it is a LOT of work. For the "lot of work" kids, I think you will have to spend more time using what AAS is teaching you to do--walking your child through how to analyze the words and then gradually teaching him to own that process. I'll have to go back and look, but I think it's in Levels 5 and 6 when the book starts asking the child to read through the word cards and decide which strategies to use to remember each word. Some kids want to just whip through that part, read the words and move on. If your son tries that, don't let him. This is an incredibly important skill. This is where you transition from the book and mom telling him how to approach a word to him owning the process. He may or may not be ready to start owning the process at age 9. But making that transition is what will affect his writing, what will make him be able to really succeed there.

 

Some of the analyzing skills may be too much for him yet, or he may not be ready to think about all of that at the same time that he writes. Even my 15 year-old sometimes struggles to remember everything at once, though it's easy to remember any one thing in isolation for him. But this again is where editing skills come in, where you can break down the process as much as needed to help him learn to apply what he knows so far.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[TracyR]

I haven't gone through the whole program yet either. But in the first level on page 71 it states this:

" When your student misspells a word outside of spelling lessons, such as when he is doing his own personal writing or completing assignments for another class, hold him responsible for spelling the word correctly if it includes concepts already covered in spelling class.

 

If the word, or a word with a similar pattern, has been taught , ask the student to segment the word. As he segments the word aloud he should write down the phonogramfor each sound.

 

Here is another technique: have student segment the word aloud and draw one blank line for each sound he hears in the word. Then he should go back and fill in the blanks with the letters. If the word is west, for example, he would draw four blank lines, then fill them in with the letters W,E,S,T.

 

If a student asks how to spell a word that he has not yet learned, tell him the spelling. Do not encourage "invented spelling" because it only reinforces incorrect spelling that will later have to be relearned. "

 

With all that said I would take those words that he's misspelling and write them down on paper and go over them again. Have him practice writing more sentences with those words too. Another thing that has worked really well was having my daughters practice the words making word pyramids on paper. Say for example the word is :Bump

they start with the B at the top

then BU

then BUM

then BUMP

 

Sometimes my daughters will draw pictures and put the word inside it. For example last week my 8yr old drew wagons and she put her words for ow and ou in them on a piece of paper. Sometimes children just need that little extra umph to help solidify those words so they remember how to spell them.

Don't be afraid to try some different things too to help out. But seeing them transfer that knowledge I haven't seen in my daughters until they are a little bit older.

Edited April 4, 2012 by TracyR

[MerryAtHope]

I haven't finished it, so I can't answer to that extent, but...

 

We're in level 3, started at 1. I've noticed my dds don't always transfer the rules to other writing right away, but are much more quick to recognize where they went wrong when I point an error out. The other day, one dd wrote "runing" several times. When I asked her to pronounce it, she immediately recognized the lack of a doubled n and fixed them all.

 

YES! This is exactly the kind of thing to be doing. Don't tell the child what is wrong with the word--lead them to discovering what's wrong by asking them to apply something they have already learned. Gradually you'll give fewer clues about what to apply as you transition ownership to them.

 

So, no, it hasn't been an immediate thing for them, but they are improving by leaps and bounds with a lot of practice across our curriculum.

 

Are you using the program verbatim? I've found that when I slack on the cards and tiles, we run into some set backs.

 

Yes. And add in additional review if needed. I do weekly and monthly reviews of some types of cards because that's what it takes to solidify things for my kids.

 

It sounds like you are probably doing this, but for others reading who might not, here are some ways to use the cards a step further:

 

From the example above--let's say the child didn't recognize on her own that runing should be running. You would not only put that word card back into daily review, but any related sound, phonogram, and key cards that you felt would be helpful. (key cards about open and closed syllables and about the doubling rule might be helpful ones in this instance).

 

If she was able to correct it, praise her, then ask the student to tell you how she knew it should be corrected. If there is a rule and the student doesn't say it, you can give a hint and get her to say it. In other words--if she had just said, "it didn't look right," you might ask her to divide it into syllables and then tell you. If a child is not solid on the rules in this process even though she corrected the word, then put the key cards back in daily review.

 

If the needed correction was about understanding a phonogram or sound card, you would put those back in review as well.

 

Of course, not everything we have our kids do has to be edited, especially if you have a student who struggles with spelling. Sometimes you have to be careful not to overwhelm them in this process, but this is what you are working toward. It takes time to show them how to transition what they know in spelling over to other subject areas, as they gain experience in writing.

 

Merry :-)

[golfcartmama]

Thank all for your responses!

 

Merry--I appreciate the time you took to respond in detail as well. I believe it was you who convinced me to stick with it earlier this year by adding in the extra weekly and monthly review. I guess I just needed to hear it would all come together as we keep on moving through! I has definitely slowed down how fast we move through the program, which is ok with me as long as the end result is excellent.