what level to start AAS with?

[jgoodal08]

he's supposed to be going into 3rd grade...spelling isn't that good but is prob close to grade

level. what would you recommend?

thanks

[black_midori]

Level 1, but you will go through it very quickly.

No later than Level 2 - it covers the majority of the things from Level 1 (just not in as great detail) in the first few lessons then moves on to more rules.

 

AAS is very rule based, not grade-level based - you pretty much have to start at or near the beginning no matter what grade they are.

 

I have gone through level 3 with my now-3rd grader, but this semester we have a 3rd grader who hasn't done it before and I started again at Level 1 with him. We went through it SUPER fast, though - finished in less than a month and moved to level 2. We will go through level 2 much slower, but I still anticipate finishing both level 2 and level 3 during the next 9 months.

 

If the money is a problem buying 1 & 2, or you won't be able to re-use 1, you could start with 2 - but you'll have to teach the extra letter sounds and a few of the rules on your own. If you are able to re-use with another student, I'd definitely just buy 1.

[Kathryn]

Level 1, but you will go through it very quickly.

No later than Level 2 - it covers the majority of the things from Level 1 (just not in as great detail) in the first few lessons then moves on to more rules.

 

AAS is very rule based, not grade-level based - you pretty much have to start at or near the beginning no matter what grade they are.

 

I have gone through level 3 with my now-3rd grader, but this semester we have a 3rd grader who hasn't done it before and I started again at Level 1 with him. We went through it SUPER fast, though - finished in less than a month and moved to level 2. We will go through level 2 much slower, but I still anticipate finishing both level 2 and level 3 during the next 9 months.

 

If the money is a problem buying 1 & 2, or you won't be able to re-use 1, you could start with 2 - but you'll have to teach the extra letter sounds and a few of the rules on your own. If you are able to re-use with another student, I'd definitely just buy 1.

 

:iagree:

[Maverick_Mom]

Agreeing here (and I think that the recommendation of Marie, the author, is to start with Level 1). It may be easy, but in our case this has two advantages:

1. Instant confidence in spelling

2. Extra time to practice the rules and sounds at that level.

[TracyR]

Always start with level one. Its easy in the beginning , but it does begin to teach spelling rules. Level 2 gets a little more meatier. If your able to buy 1 and 2. Go for it.

Starting at level 2 , your child will have some disadvantage but it is doable. You would just have to linger on the first few lessons for a while before moving on.

[MerryAtHope]

I agree, most of the time you want to start with 1. It does have easy words, but it teaches segmenting, the multiple sounds of the phonograms (there are 4 sounds for O, 3 for CH, etc...), and basic rules (when to use C and when to use K, etc...). There is a quick FAQ article that can help you decide whether you'd be ok starting with 2 though. HTH some! Merry :-)

[SnMomof7]

I started even my DH with level 1 and he has learned a lot of things he didn't know (heck, so did I when I taught it, I'm a natural speller, not rules based, so it helped me teach better).

[aprilleigh]

I agree - my DS is actually a pretty decent speller and the only reason we switched from our original spelling program is I didn't feel like he was actually learning anything from the original even though he was not having problems. AAS Level 1 was essentially a phonics review for him, demonstrating specifically the connection between phonics and spelling, and most of Level 2 was also review before we hit something that made him think for a minute. The big difference between what we were doing before and what we're doing now is he can explain why a word is spelled the way it is instead of just remembering it from his list. Two thumbs up!!