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AAR and AAS--advice needed


swarmie
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Hello,

 

I have questions for those of you who have utilized AAR (All About Reading) and/or AAS (All about Spelling). But first, let me prefice my questions with some background information.

 

I have an 8-year-old dd who essentially learned how to read via Phonics Road. She has successfully completed PR-1, PR-2, and if all goes well, PR-3 in a couple of months. Simply put, PR works for my dd.

 

I also have a brand new 6-year-old ds. He is what I will call a "slow developer." I don't believe he has any special needs; he just isn't quite ready developmentally for...say, PR-1. Throughout the past school year I have been working diligently with him to learn how to read (mostly just CVC words) and write (primarily via HWOT and Explode the Code). His writing is coming along nicely, but his learning to read is slow. In a nutshell, I don't think my ds is ready for PR 1. In fact, I don't think Ms. Beers' approach to reading is going to work well at all with my ds (that is, to be uploaded with ALL of the phonograms at once).

 

So, I'm wondering if AAR would be more suitable for his particular learning needs. My questions are these:

 

1. Do I need AAR to teach reading or could I simply adapt AAS to teach my ds both reading and spelling?

2. Would it be overkill to use AAR and AAS at the same time?

3. After my ds completed AAR-1, could he then do AAS-1 and AAR-2 at the same time?

 

The nice thing about AAS is that if my ds were to complete the first 3 levels, he could, theoretically, jump ship and launch into PR-2 with smooth sailing. Or...I could just stick with AAS, depending on his particular needs at the time.

 

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I want to do what is best for my ds, and I believe with your input I can come up with a tentative plan that I feel good about.

 

Thank you,

Susan

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Your son sounds like my boys. AAR is our 4th try at a reading curriculum and it's working! We tried osmosis :-p and Bob Books, 100 EZ Lessons and Funnix before biting the bullet for AAR. I actually started with AAS, my boys loved it so much I started them over at day 1 with AAR 1 with no regrets.

 

We are currently on AAR2 doing AAS1, it is working well. I have my boys spell with the letter tiles, handwriting is an issue in our house too.

 

To answer your questions

1. You could adapt AAS to teach reading but I wouldn't try with a slow learner, AAR has been perfect for my slow guys.

2. It would not be overkill to use both at the same time. If we aren't covering new material in AAR I use that day to review the AAR fluency sheet and do AAS. We review AAS key cards everyday but we only work on new spelling material on light AAR days.

3. Yes, if I had it to do all over again I would finish AAR1 then do AAR2 with AAS1.

 

Hope that helps.

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Yes AAR/AAS sounds like it would be perfect. I have tried to adapt AAS in the past, and it was somewhat difficult but that could be because I'm teaching 3 kids here.

 

The progression recommended by the author is to do AAR1 and then once it's finished use AAR2 and AAS1 concurrently, so in answer to your last question, Yes, that's just how you're supposed to do it. That way AAS1 reinforces what was taught in AAR1.

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