kristi26 Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 This year, DD did EtC books 3-5 for first grade. She did fine with them but had a love/hate relationship with the program. Some days, she loved it...other days, she couldn't stand it. Up to this point, she has had no formal spelling instruction as she is just learning to read. She can read Mr. Putter and Tabby books pretty well on her own, for reference to her reading ability. She would like to be done with phonics forever, but I was thinking she should do one more year with EtC books 6-8. But now I'm also looking at starting Sequential Spelling with her. So do I do both in 2nd grade? Drop EtC? Drop Sequential Spelling and do that in 3rd? What does the hive think about this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Well I love Sequential Spelling. I started it in 1st with my oldest. The words get advanced fast and so I stretched the book into 2nd as well. I think that you could keep up with any phonics instruction as well in 2nd. The combined phonics plus SeqSpell will help reinforce the work on patterns and prefix and suffix work. Maybe stagger the work? On days you do ETC, skip SS, and on other days just work on the spelling lesson. ETC moves fast so you may be done with it rather quickly and just doing spelling the rest of the time. But if your dd is a strong reader, you may be able to drop ETC. My oldest didn't really have to finish all those workbooks. Spelling (and other lang arts activities) were enough for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 Thanks! I like that idea, staggering them and doing both...she is not a strong reader and I think she'd benefit from finishing the program honestly. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Thanks! I like that idea, staggering them and doing both...she is not a strong reader and I think she'd benefit from finishing the program honestly. :) If you feel she's not a strong reader, than I would expect to take SeqSpell slowly. I would start it. It's meant to be started in 2nd I think. But I would slow down the lessons. You'll see that there are 180 day lessons. Don't let that freak you out. Nothing terrible will happen if you don't finish it in that time frame. SeqSpell is an advanced spelling program. So you may repeat some lessons. When we first started SS, we repeated or went back to review some lessons, and took it slow. Now we're nearly done with the 3rd book and my ds can complete 2-3 lessons in one sitting quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3monkeys Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 My 3rd grader only did 2 books a year in ETC. So he just finished 7-8 this year. We do SS along with it. I look at them as two different programs (spelling and phonics). Also, I agree with poster above that you don't have to do level 1 all in one year. We take it slow and steady because that is how my ds needs to be taught. He loves SS! I prefer AAS and still make him learn the phonograms with that program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegeyser Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Sequential Spelling is recommended for kids grades 3rd and above. Their rep at convention was adamant about that- anyone younger would be overwhelmed very quickly. Having tried it with younger children and failed, I think that is very good advice. I do love the AVKO resources though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 Sequential Spelling is recommended for kids grades 3rd and above. Their rep at convention was adamant about that- anyone younger would be overwhelmed very quickly. Having tried it with younger children and failed, I think that is very good advice. I do love the AVKO resources though! Really? I was looking at their website and it said to start it in second grade...how confusing. I'm going to a convention soon so I'll ask them about it and see what they think. If that's true, then I can finish EtC this coming year with her and start her at level one the next year. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3monkeys Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 It does say grade 2 which is the time I started it. However, that is why we're still in level 1 in grade 3. It was too much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Sequential Spelling is recommended for kids grades 3rd and above. Their rep at convention was adamant about that- anyone younger would be overwhelmed very quickly. Having tried it with younger children and failed, I think that is very good advice. I do love the AVKO resources though! I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. Results for different kids could be different, but like I said above I started SS in 1st grade and it wasn't overwhelming. We actually have been extremely successful with SS. We're nearly done with level 3 in 4th grade so I wouldn't over generalize that it would be true for all kids. I just pulled out my ds's old 1st grade spelling. The Day 1 lesson is in, pin, sin, spin. Day 2 is I, pins, spins, kin, skin, win, twin. The 180th lesson is banding, sanding, spending, saving, haven't, poking, ruling, tracing, chasing and so on.....so.... I wouldn't necessarily call that overwhelming for a 1st or 2nd grader generally. The OPs dd has encountered words like that in ETC at this point. Also I'd like to add that a pp being in Level 1 in 3rd grade is a moot issue if they started in 2nd. Those books are not "graded" they are "leveled" so if you take it easy and slow then you could still be in the same level the next year. It doesn't mean that the spelling is too much, but that possibly doing a list every day might be too much. Like I said above you shouldn't feel pressure to finish a book in a year. It doesn't mean your child is "behind" in spelling because those books are advanced and leveled, not graded. So I'm just trying to clarify what is considered "overwhelming"...the spelling words? or the daily lesson format? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3monkeys Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 I didn't mean for my post to sound like it wasn't doable. My son was just overwhelmed with 25 words everyday in 2nd grade. He was not a writer...allergic to the pencil. :tongue_smilie: So I should clarify that it was the amount of writing and not the words that were overwhelming for my ds. We also did not do it everyday, hence why we are so behind. I will say now in 3rd grade he is breezing through level 1 and we will finally finish it and move on to level 2. Sometimes it's just a matter of waiting until they're ready. I prefer no tears everyday if I can help it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 I suspect that if we start it next year, that I will stretch it out over the course of two years. :) Thanks for all your help, everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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