LLATL Question--Blue or Red?

[m0mmaBuck]

I was thinking about using LLATL for my rising 1st grader once she finishes CLE Learn to Read. It looks like Blue (1st grade) LLATL is a learning to read program as well. Should I just put her in Red (2nd grade) or are there other benefits to Blue?

 

Or should I just go with GWG, WWW, and Spelling Power after we finish CLE LTR?

 

Ack!

[Susie in MS]

If you child has done CLE LTR I would go with the Red. Yes, Blue is a LTR program. Red will start introducing gentle grammar, reading comprehension, writing skills, etc. Phonics is still reviewed, but can be skipped if your child doesn't need it. There are fun activities scattered in the program as well. Keeps the monotony at bay. The stories in the readers teach morals, yet are still interesting.

 

My dd was a considerable way through Phonics Pathways, and we started with the Red. It has been very fun for her and she has learned a good deal.

 

If you don't want to do ALL of the cut and paste (as there are several activities that involve small strips of paper) you can just use them as matching by having the child draw a line to the correct answer. This doesn't always work but it does sometimes. An example would be the strips that have the contractions and the strips that have the matching words (don't = do not). I just let my dd draw lines to the correct match instead of cutting them all. Other cut and paste activities are more enjoyable and don't involve small strips.

 

A few days ago the fun activity was for the child to draw a map of either their bedroom or the yard. It was based off of the map in the reader that showed a farm yard and all the buildings, fields, etc. My dd had so much fun with this and it taught her some mapping skills.

 

I cut my binding off of the student book (a copy shop can do this for you) so that I could just let my dd handle a sheet instead of a large wkbk.

[JaneP]

I agree - try the red one first. Have you looked at the samples on the common sense press website? There is also a LLATL yahoo group. HTH

[m0mmaBuck]

Thank you. I did look at the samples and was leaning toward Red before I posted. Do I need to buy the "kit" with the readers or will the student and teacher's books and the "real books" listed be adequate?

[Susie in MS]

Thank you. I did look at the samples and was leaning toward Red before I posted. Do I need to buy the "kit" with the readers or will the student and teacher's books and the "real books" listed be adequate?

 

Personally, I feel that if it is at all possible I would get the readers. They are part of the charm of this particular program. Several of the lessons in the Student book are taken from the readers. For example, lets look at week 5. I think that is the sample posted at CSPress.

 

After reading Will Little Sparrow Fly?

 

~~there is a sentence take from the story that is used to teach how to add *ed* to a word.

~~There are pics and sentence strips to cut out and place in order that they occurred in the story.

~~Another sentence from the story is used to show an example of a homonym.

~~The word sparrow us used to assist in teaching the sounds that ow make: /ow/ and /o/.

~~The hand writing page has a sentence take from the story to trace then copy. And the page to color is from the story.

~~The mapping activity is bounced off of the map in the reader

 

Most of these things are completely taught in the TM and Swkbk, but some rely on having read the story to complete. All are more enjoyable and in context with the reader.

 

Hope this helps! :)

[m0mmaBuck]

Personally, I feel that if it is at all possible I would get the readers. They are part of the charm of this particular program. Several of the lessons in the Student book are taken from the readers. For example, lets look at week 5. I think that is the sample posted at CSPress.

 

After reading Will Little Sparrow Fly?

 

~~there is a sentence take from the story that is used to teach how to add *ed* to a word.

~~There are pics and sentence strips to cut out and place in order that they occurred in the story.

~~Another sentence from the story is used to show an example of a homonym.

~~The word sparrow us used to assist in teaching the sounds that ow make: /ow/ and /o/.

~~The hand writing page has a sentence take from the story to trace then copy. And the page to color is from the story.

~~The mapping activity is bounced off of the map in the reader

 

Most of these things are completely taught in the TM and Swkbk, but some rely on having read the story to complete. All are more enjoyable and in context with the reader.

 

Hope this helps! :)

 

I had suspected as much! Thank you!

[Caribbean Queen]

If her reading and writing skills are on a second grade level, then use red. I tried it with a child on a first grade level and it was a no-go. The reading was too hard and the copywork/dictation passages were too long. The readers are ugly and boring to me. The spelling is lame. We loved the poetry and literature, though.