Phonics Road or Sing to Spell Write and Read

[Guest IdealGirlie]

I'm a mom to two girls that I'm going to teach kindergarten next year, they both know how to read bob books to level 3/4 from starting 100 EZ lessons. I'm wonder which will work better for our family PR or SSWR, One daughter now 4 hates worksheets that make her do something more than 4 times but loves writing and drawing stories, My other daughter 3 loves worksheets/busywork and HATES to think up anything creatively. Thanks for all the opinions :)

[ksr5377]

Just bumping up as I'm looking at these programs as well.

[heritagelearningacademy]

I would suggest looking at All About Reading. We are doing it this year with Kindergarten daughter and she loves it! Her reading has exploded!

[besroma]

I'm a mom to two girls that I'm going to teach kindergarten next year, they both know how to read bob books to level 3/4 from starting 100 EZ lessons. I'm wonder which will work better for our family PR or SSWR, One daughter now 4 hates worksheets that make her do something more than 4 times but loves writing and drawing stories, My other daughter 3 loves worksheets/busywork and HATES to think up anything creatively. Thanks for all the opinions :)

I have not used SSWR, so I will just share a few thoughts that might help as you decide.

 

Daughter number 1 would love PR's approach of drawing illustrations show that she understands what she is reading.

 

Daughter number 2 would enjoy the worksheets and fun activities in AAR.

 

Both programs are very thorough. Phonics Road includes the dvds you watch to learn how to teach the material. Some people like this step, some do not.

 

AAR is more open and go. I love the AAR readers. The illustrations are beautiful.

 

If you feel you have time, you might want to read "Uncovering the Logic of English," and watch some of the LOE videos.

 

An important part of this is what you will enjoy teaching. It often makes the difference in whether or not it gets done. PR is very different from the others.

[Guest IdealGirlie]

With Phonics road I think I would enjoy watching the dvds, I'm a person who likes learning just for the sake of learning and I'm positive I've never learned any of the rules of phonics or spelling. I more learned everything from just reading, so it would be great to learn the rules with Phonics Road, I think I would try to stay away from the worksheets (they bore me to facilitate). I am definately interested in a program that i could lead, don't really care about the open and go part. I'm really interested in the singing part of SSWR because my husband is musical, im not, and I would think it would make boring stuff fun, I don't know. More my dilemma is I'm interested in Phonics Road for me and my teaching style but I think SSWR would be more fun but i'm not sure they would learn the same amount with SSWR as they would with phonics road. Its a Fun vs Learning debate in my head. I've been told I think too much by my husband :)

[Mona]

I just started using PR this month with my dc. All the spelling rules are set to song using familiar tunes. In the teacher's binder, all the spelling lists have music notes next to the words that have a rule tune to remind you to sing the song that goes with the rule being applied. PR fits my style of teaching, too. The dvds are very helpful.

[Irishmommy]

We used SSRW and my son remembers almost NO spelling rules, plus he absolutely hated all the writing which is significant. I am now using WRTR and wish I had started with that.

[bluemongoose]

I have used both programs. Honestly, PR is more thorough with less writing and busywork. Everything you do in that program as a more obvious reason for doing it. With SSWR it was so boring. The games were basically bingo and memory type that you can make yourself. The songs teach you some things, but the songs in PR teach you much much more.

[ItoLina]

I will go ahead and chime in and say that my son and I really enjoy SSRW. We are about 2/3 of the way through level1. I DO NOT require him to do all the writing, it is a lot. We do a lot of the worksheets orally, and we do other things to practice the word lists. He reads them all, but sometimes he stamps them, or spells them with the tiles, or writes them big on another paper with smelly markers, etc. we really don't ever just write them in the work book. The songs and games have really helped him a lot as well and he enjoys them. I also, move a bit slower than the program suggests to make sure he has really understood the rule before we move on. He is only 5, so I figure we have lots of time to get through it. I really like the readers and so does my son. He is way more motivated to read those than the BOB books or any others we tried. Also, because we practice with the word lists so much first, then the readers are based on those words, he is successful at reading the book, which is very motivating. He also LOVES the race car track and moving his car along each time he finishes a step. We like it a lot and it is definately working.