Questions about AAS...just when I thought I had decided!

[Blessed with seven]

Oh my goodness, I am so frustrated. Now..this may not be a big deal at all, I might be making it more of an issue than it needs to be...entirely possible!! I finally stopped SWR and WRTR because as much as I love it it was not getting done. I NEED more of a step by step instructor's guide, I love all the reveiw cards and spelling box and everything that AAS has. I was looking at samples of the higher levels (only in level 1 right now) and for ance/ence and cal/cle it is not "think to spell". I thought AAS was "think to spell" like spalding but with more instructions for the parents. In the instances of the examples above it was not. I want to get away from the whole "schwa" thing because the think to spell just makes a lot of sense to me personally.

 

As a matter of fact, in AAR I am having a hard time teaching the a as /uh/ and the as /thu/ but...

 

I know this might be a little issue....just bugging me, would like to know what others think. I looked at LOE and just don't know...she adds even more phonograms and it is still pretty new...I do not want to keep switching...geesh! I am loving AAR and AAS for the ease of use for me.

 

I have 4th edition of WRTR but I just have too much in my head to try and figure out what to review with 4 different children, actually 5, that would be using it. The scripted plans of AAS/AAR are so helpful to me.

 

Thanks....just really frustrated, probably need to not worry about how AAS teaches those words as I think it is mostly think to spell isn't it?

 

Kim

[Blessed with seven]

any words of wisdom? I have been looking at LOE, can I skip the grammar part? I think this would work good with my older struggling speller. I can't see doing 4 quick catch up levels of AAS with him.

 

I thought about just doing AAS, using the aspects I love but doing the "think to spell" that I know from WRTR???

[BugsMama]

LOE has think to spell like WRTR. Yes, you can skip grammar (I do). LOE is great!

[MerryAtHope]

If you like how AAS is laid out and scripted for you, then I would just add in think to spell techniques when you think it's helpful and continue on. I don't think it will be a big deal to do that.

 

AAS does teach pronouncing for spelling strategies, and by the time you get to Levels 6 and 7, kids should be VERY used to using them. The program spends a lot of time in levels 4 & up having students analyze words to choose the best spelling strategy for each word. My kids often choose to use pronounce for spelling techniques on words in addition to whatever current strategies are being taught. Effective spellers use more than one strategy when approaching words. (I actually find this helpful, because if I OVER-use pronouncing for spelling, I can out-think myself, LOL!) You might like this article on the various effective strategies. Anyway, by the time you get to cal/cle and ance/ence, the program doesn't re-instruct previously-learned strategies, but kids will use them when they analyze the words by going through the word cards with the Spelling Strategies sheet.

 

There are actually some good clues we can use in choosing ance/ence and many other endings, and AAS walks through each of them. (For example, there are actually 4 lessons on ance and ence, and I don't know if you can see all of those in the online samples to see all that's taught.)

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[RootAnn]

Since you are familiar with SWR/WRTR, can't you just substitute in the 'think to spell' stuff & your pronounciations for the & a when you get to them? (Or is that the whole reason you need AAS so you don't have to think about what to say for each part?)

 

I completely understand the not-getting-it-done part of SWR and I only have two groups (oldest by herself, next two grouped together) to do right now. Then again, my understanding of AAS is it adds even MORE time because of the hands-on & everyone-at-a-different-level. :crying:

 

I recommend AAS for people sometimes on here, but I personally find it REALLY hard to do good spelling programs (WRTR/SWR/LOE/AAS/PR) with multiple levels/kids. I wish I had natural spellers. :gnorsi:

[Blessed with seven]

Thank you for your replies. Maybe I am over thinking this, I can do that..ha! Well..on AAS website it only shows the one lesson on those so maybe I jumped the gun here. I just love so much the think to spell. That is the way I spell a lot of words correctly and it just makes a lot of sense to me!!! I think I have made this too hard, once again. I do love the scripted plans, even if it takes a bit longer because I feel I can skip certain parts. I like for it ALL to be there, I like the extra little hints and stuff but I bet for those words that bug me I can just do it the way I like. I get a bit too strict with myself if using one program...better not use aspects of another..ha! Always feel like I am going to mess something up.

 

Thank you Merry for your comments. I am really overwhelmed, my 7th grade son has been doing IEW Spelling Zoo (He needs and wants more independent school work)...well...I tested him, randomly, yesterday on a few words from each list and it was not good. I couldn't learn that way but thought he had been doing well with that. He needs more repetition.

 

Now...do I fly through AAS levels or just get LOE for him and stick with AAR/AAS for my younger ones?

[Sahamamama]

Since you are familiar with SWR/WRTR, can't you just substitute in the 'think to spell' stuff & your pronounciations for the & a when you get to them? (Or is that the whole reason you need AAS so you don't have to think about what to say for each part?)

 

I completely understand the not-getting-it-done part of SWR and I only have two groups (oldest by herself, next two grouped together) to do right now. Then again, my understanding of AAS is it adds even MORE time because of the hands-on & everyone-at-a-different-level. :crying:

 

I recommend AAS for people sometimes on here, but I personally find it REALLY hard to do good spelling programs (WRTR/SWR/LOE/AAS/PR) with multiple levels/kids. I wish I had natural spellers. :gnorsi:

 

 

This is a bit off-topic to the OP's post, :blush: but it sort of relates to taking time to do spelling. I have been going around and around with this myself lately, and I've decided to say to myself, "What is the rush?"

 

Now, I do have natural spellers, so I don't personally know the pain of having a 12 or 15 year old who still struggles to spell "kitchen." BUT, I did tutor those boys (5th grade boys) for years, and what I always kept in mind was to begin where they were and go on from there.

 

AAS feels slow to me, at times, because my natural spellers -- young as they are -- have already moved themselves beyond so much of the instruction. Then I realized that it was the same scenario when I "taught" them to read. Whoosh! All three went from cat, sat, mat to The Mouse and the Motorcycle overnight. We still plodded through (and with the twin K'ers are plodding through) our phonics primer (OPG). And, you know? There were gaps that got filled in from doing that.

 

So with spelling, if they are natural spellers, who cares how long it takes to plod through AAS? And if they are not natural spellers, again, who cares if they are still studying spelling in high school? Absolutely! That is as it should be, I think. Take the time it takes to lay a good foundation.

 

With regard to "think to spell," use whatever strategy or strategies will work to get there -- correctly spelled words are the goal. We haven't done any higher levels of AAS yet (5, 6, 7), so I have no idea what they're like. We have found the lower levels to be adaptable. HTH.

[Blessed with seven]

Helps very much, thank you!!!

[rachelpants]

I think LOE teaches schwa as well. You could probably use the Spalding scripts to get around it.