Anyone used AAS to teach a child to read?

[Esse Quam Videri]

Or anone used AAS with a 4 or 5 yo? I'd love to hear about it!

[Five More Minutes]

I used AAS with my now then 4yo (now turning 6 in a couple of weeks).

 

I had previously started her with the same phonics program I'd used with her sister (Jolly Phonics) because she begged me to teach her to read. It went beautifully until we hit a wall with sh and th.

 

So I started using AAS (in conjunction with the AAS readers) with her to reinforce the phonics she had already used without her feeling like we weren't progressing toward her goal of reading. We went slllloooooowwwwwly through Level 1 and the AAS readers last year, and eventually finished Jolly Phonics with ease. This year we are going slowly through Level 2, sometimes pausing for several weeks on a single lesson so that we can review previous lessons.

 

FWIW, she's now reading at a very advanced level for her age. She was determined!

[Esse Quam Videri]

I had previously started her with the same phonics program I'd used with her sister (Jolly Phonics) because she begged me to teach her to read. It went beautifully until we hit a wall with sh and th.- Funny! We are using The Reading Lesson, but DD is having some difficulty with th. She can read the sound in "the" and other simple words at times, but at other times she wants to sound the t and h out individually.

 

So I started using AAS (in conjunction with the AAS readers) with her to reinforce the phonics she had already used without her feeling like we weren't progressing toward her goal of reading. We went slllloooooowwwwwly through Level 1 and the AAS readers last year, and eventually finished Jolly Phonics with ease. This year we are going slowly through Level 2, sometimes pausing for several weeks on a single lesson so that we can review previous lessons. Do you mean the AAR readers? Do you think it is worth just investing the the whole AAR program?

 

FWIW, she's now reading at a very advanced level for her age. She was determined! Wonderful! DD blends really well, so I know she is ready to read but she's not super motivated to do The Reading Lesson. She loves when we build the words with the AAS tiles, though.

[Five More Minutes]

You're right -- I used the AAR readers. For this child, the format of the books was perfect. They look like "real books" (being hardcover), are easy to hold, progress in reading difficulty in a natural way, and have simple black-and-white illustrations adding appeal without distraction. They are of excellent quality.

 

I didn't invest in the whole AAR program (mostly because it was being released just behind where my dd was at in reading). In retrospect, I'm glad I saved that money -- the AAS / reader combo was sufficient to get her on her way. I would think that if you already have readers that appeal to your student and work to increase reading level, even the AAR readers aren't necessary.

 

The tiles really did work for my dd, too -- she enjoys manipulatives in all subjects. I also used plasticine to make models of letter combinations (th / ch / sh) that she found exceptionally difficult. She'd play with them, reorganize them, point to them when I'd say a word with one of those phonograms in it, and so on.

[KristenR]

I started my first child on AAS when she was 4 years old and when she was about halfway through the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. It was a perfect fit for her and I did a few blog posts about it. You can see one here.

 

That being said, my middle daughter is now 4 but not ready for it. We're still playing around with Nora Gaydos books but we'll hold off until things click a bit more for her. In the meantime, we add in loads of games, Leap Frog cartoons, and Starfall.com

[Arboreal TJ]

We nearly finished 100 EZ Lessons, my guys could decode but were no where near fluent. I tried AAS hoping it would help. My boys loved it so much I started them all over with AAR Level 1. For us AAR has been well worth the investment. My boys have gone from screaming of protests to declaring Reading their favorite subject!

[blondeviolin]

I've not used it, but entertained the idea since we already own levels 1-3. I found this old thread which outlines how Marie Rippel would go about doing it. It basically involves teaching the levels at a faster pace for reading, requiring the child to read the dictation sentences and extra words for fluency.

[Esse Quam Videri]

Wow, thank you all for the helpful responses! I love the way Marie Rippel explains it! For spelling, I almost never use the cards for my olders, but it makes perfect sense to use the cards for reading, reinforcing and blending with the tiles.

Just to clarify, though, you all are using the program strictly for reading and going back teaching spelling as a review?

[silver]

My son has always had an easier time spelling than reading. Which apparently is not the norm. But here's my experience with using AAS for reading instruction:

 

I started out my son's kindergarten year with AAS level 1. He was already able to spell CVC words and knew all the sounds of the alphabet (the first 26 phonograms) when we started, so he flew through the first level and we move don to level 2.

 

My son was then at a point where he was beyond CVC words like what is found in Bob books, but didn't know enough phonograms to read any of the other readers available. I bought the AAR level 2 activity book to give my son more practice with words he could decode (using the fluency sheets and games in the book). At about half-way through we got to a point where it wasn't working well for my son. The limited phonograms he knew closed off a lot of books from other programs and the AAR level 2 books were more challenging than he was ready for. He needed more practice with reading, but it wasn't easy to find things for him to read.

 

 

At that point I switched to LOE Foundations (the Kindergarten/First grade program being developed--should be released this spring). It introduces the phonograms much quicker and spends more time on one syllable and simple two syllable words. He's been able to progress comfortably through that program so far. I'll probably go back to AAS once we're done with Foundations.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Yup to both questions. I used AAS with my oldest dd at 4yo. About half way through she jumped into reading, from slowly sounding out words one day to reading a whole easy reader (but NOT Bob book style) the next.

 

We used AAS as a spelling program. Until dd jumped into reading, spelling was easier for her than reading. Then the next day it flipped. She progressed rapidly in the next 5 months or so while we took a long break until the start of Kindergarten. She began Kindergarten being able to read any picture book she picked up. We did go through all of OPGTR to get through everything quickly, as opposed to the one level a year we were doing in spelling. All of OPGTR ended up being review though, because she got the foundation she needed from AAS and she just went with it.

 

DS has gone through the same thing, but he was older when he started AAS (just turned 6yo) and older when he jumped into reading (6.5yo). His first book was Green Eggs and Ham. Just like dd, he just picked up a book one day and read it. Very little reading, other than single words or a few phrases, beforehand.

 

Just turned 5yo dd is about ready for word building with wooden letters, which is what I do for a little while before starting AAS. We're working on the last few lower case letters and letter sounds she doesn't know and then she'll be ready to go. She has already sounded out and spelled a few words (with upper case letters) on her own.

[SevenDaisies]

I used AAS for reading and spelling when dd was 5. We worked out of two different places in the book - we were always further ahead in reading. We used it with the readers. It worked great for her, but she was a natural reader and speller. Ds needed AAR. Reading hasn't come as easily or with as much enthusiasm as it did with dd. He needs the extra practice and the games to make it more fun.

 

So, you don't necessarily need the whole AAR program. The spelling with readers will work fine for some children. I think it just depends on the child.