Starting WWE in K?

[2007mama]

I picked up a copy of WWE with the thought of using it eventually. I've read through it and tend to agree with the philosophy of practicing copywork/narration to break down writing into the 2 steps of forming an idea into a sentence, and then putting the sentence on paper. I have been volunteering in DS's classroom and have been floored by the amount of writing they are expected to do. Yesterday the teacher gave each kid 3 pictures showing a sequence and they had to write a set of three sentences starting with "First/Next/Last". No kidding, there was a girl crying by the end of this, nothing on her paper. only about half the kids managed to write anything at all. Since they haven't taught the kids how to write ANYTHING as far as I can tell, this seems like putting the cart before the horse, to put it mildly. I was reading through the curriculum (Write's workshop) and they encourage the teacher to NOT HELP AT ALL and let the kids work it out even if it takes a long time. Obviously I don't love this curriculum. Fortunately, DS seemed to be able to do it, although with poor spelling (unsurprising).

 

Anyway, I have been trying to keep the afterschooling light, but it gets harder and harder. We are doing math and science, because he misses those by not going in the afternoon. And we are doing phonics (ETC and phonics pathways) because they are not teaching that either. Now I'm thinking of starting WWE just to start developing good writing habits instead of the craziness they have at school. But is it too much? It will mean dropping back on the other subjects, because he will only do so much on any given day. He already had to write 4 sentences for homework, so I don't think we can add a lot more. Would you start this with a kindergartener?

[Uff Da!]

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[Uff Da!]

It won't let me edit from my phone but wanted to add that you could try it and tweak everything until you find a path that works. WWE looks like a nibble method and nibbling works well for squeezing in when you have time. In your case, it might not be too much. It would be here for reasons already listed.

[Nart]

I decided not to start WWE until the summer or first grade for my kindergarten student. Instead I am having him do All About Spelling. He is halfway through level 2 and there are plenty of dictation sentences to work on. I didn't want to overload him with the copywork in WWE in addition to AAS. They really push inventive spelling at his school so I feel that learning to spell correctly is more important at this point. Since we afterschool I decided prioritize fitting in AAS and Singapore Math (he uses Everyday Math at school). Additionally, I have him read out loud to me. That is all we can fit in right now.

[2007mama]

Thanks for the ideas! I have to admit I hadn't thought about FLL or AAS, thinking that both formal language arts and spelling were more first-grade level, but it's true that they just tell them to "write whatever" and try to get the beginning sound right...aaarrrrgh. I guess my biggest problem is I feel like they are pushing first-grade level work on kids who are too young. I was hoping by afterschooling to keep DS a little ahead of the game, but it's hard when they jump right in to very advanced stuff. DS is the youngest kid in his class and I debated even sending him or redshirting him...

 

Right now we do a little of ETC (we are on book 3) every day. He loves it and I call it handwriting practice, since we finished HWT and he needs the handwriting practice. From that I would say he can spell short-vowel sound words pretty well...would AAS level 1 be too easy, or is it worth going through? We are doing Nancy Larson science, but we are almost done. I do like having a formal program. What can I say, I am (or rather, I was) a science teacher! We finished MUS Primer and have been doing Singapore Math, the Essential Math Kindergarten B, but I don't love it and honestly we don't do it every day. I just ordered MUS Alpha instead. (They also do EM at school and it makes me want to cry.Fortunately he is not there for math, since he does half-day.) Then we read through a little of Phonics pathways and he reads me a book. He also has school homework, so we don't do all the subjects every day. He's tired after lunch and protests if I push too much. I figure he needs downtime too, but we do this while his little brother naps, so we need to be doing something quiet anyway. We can usually do any 3 topics a day, more is too much. It's less than an hour total, I'd say.

 

I'm going to look into both of these more, but I'm thinking he might enjoy the spelling the most. How long do the AAS lessons take? Maybe I should just be happy he can come up with a sentence on his own and leave the formal instruction till later....I wish there were more hours in the day!

[zenjenn]

To start WWE 1, a student should be comfortable writing letters (both capitals and lower case), and words (with spaces), and be able to listen and comprehend longer passages from literature and remember basic details (not just picture books or easy readers.) If your K student can do that, they should be fine with WWE1.

[Nart]

From that I would say he can spell short-vowel sound words pretty well...would AAS level 1 be too easy, or is it worth going through?

 

I would start with AAS 1. It really sets the foundation for spelling. It goes over when to use ck, when to double ff/ss/ll at the end of a short, one syllable vowel, adding s/es, open and closed syllables. Additionally you start writing phrases and then the last step you dictate a sentences. If your child is a really natural speller and money is really tight you might be able to start AAS2. AAS 2 is harder (at least for my son). He usually gets the words in the list all right because he figured out the words have all the same pattern. He makes mistakes when writing sentences because there are so many details to remember (start with capital, end with the correct punctuation, leave spaces between words, check to make sure he didn't miss a word, make sure there is room at the end of the line to fit in a word, check spelling) . He is getting much better at remembering all those details.

 

So the spelling list might not be so hard, but the sentence dictation is harder. As an example, my son is midway through AAS2 and yesterday as part of the 6 sentences of the dictation he wrote he "Winter frost can kill plants." and "Her older sister can dry the dishes." In AAS2 there are 10 words on the list, some additional practice words, 6 phrases and 6 sentences. Usually we practice the words with the tiles, I have him write the 10 words and write 3 phrases. Then the next lesson he writes 3 phrases and the 6 sentences. Those lessons take 10 to 15 minutes. The third lesson is a quick review which takes 5 to 10 minutes. I have him write 18 review words or 8 sentences or some combination of those. Usually we do three lessons a week which covers "one step" (what each section is called). There are around 24 lessons in level 1 and 2. We are averaging a step a week.

 

I get a little frustrated when he brings home things he writes at school. When I pointed out on one paper that he wrote "graps" and asked him to read it he said, "oh, it says graps not grapes because I didn't put the e but it doesn't matter because my teacher tells us that we just have to write the sounds we hear". Since he learned in AAS2 to write the base word of plural words first, I think he knows at home I would make him erase it and correct it but the teacher tells him "good job!" So we will keep working on spelling correctly at home and I am not going to worry about what he writes at school for now.

[The Way of My People]

This is a really helpful thread for me. Thanks for starting it!

 

We ended up redshirting our son, but had the same concerns about how quickly they ramp up writing in our local public school. Invented spelling drives me crazy, and DS hated it when people couldn't understand what he'd written. I decided to start with AAS this year, and plan to add WWE next year, when DS is in K.

 

AAS1 is very basic. My son blew through the first 16 steps in a month, and only that slowly because I won't let him do it every day. I was kind of annoyed at having spent so much money on something he already knew. Now that we're getting into some rules beyond basic, short vowel words, it feels a little more worth it. We take two days to do each step now. First day, we spell the new words with tiles and sometimes write the words on paper (10 minutes). Second day, we write the extra practice words and the dictation phrases (10-15 minutes). We do a quick review of the phoneme/sound/rule cards at the beginning of each lesson. I anticipate slowing down more once we get into AAS2, but for now it's very easy and fun for DS.

 

Your son might be fine starting in AAS2. Level 1 is nice for getting the feel of how the program works and double-checking that your child knows the basics, but probably not 100% necessary for a kid with some prior spelling ability. AAS has a great return program, though, so you might just buy level 1, try it, and return it for level 2 if it's not right for your son.

[2007mama]

After volunteering in his class yesterday and watching him spell fence "phens" I decided spelling is probably the way to go, haha! I ordered AAS level 1. It looks like it gets to a level that he can't do yet, even if the beginning is too easy. I'm also seriously, seriously thinking of pulling DS from the chaos that is his school to allow more time for lessons, and more time for other stuff too.

 

Thanks to all who responded!

[kiwik]

Phens is creative you've got to admit though.