Other resources/curricula similar to AAR Pre-reading?

[Elfknitter.#]

I like the look of AAR 0, but I'm not to keen on the cost (or using the puppet, honestly.) Does anyone know of a curriculum and/or resources similar to it?

[mathmarm]

I've never used AAR, but it looks like PreReading is VERY generic in what it teaches. As far as I can tell, you need a library card. If you don't want to use free resources from the internet then maybe buy something like Hooked on Phonics PreKindergarten Level 2 and/or Kindergarten.

 

Letter Knowledge

Learn to recognize capital letters
Learn to recognize lowercase letters              ---- Hooked on Phonics PreKindergarten Level 2 + Leap Frog Letter Factory will take care of these 3.
Learn to recite the alphabet song

Phonological Awareness

 Learn to blend sounds orally to make a word -- Playing the Say if FAST game is free.
Learn to clap syllables -- Singing a syllable song, playing hand games, talking about syllables and counting syllables is free.
Learn rhyming and word boundaries -- HOP Kindergarten + Poetry + Dr. Suess
Identify the beginning and ending sounds in a word --- HOP Kindergarten

Print Awareness

Understand that the words on the page can be read
Understand that books are read from cover to back, and sentences are read from left to right
                                                                                              Simply reading with your child will do this, using your finger and occassionally making a "mistake" and holding the book the wrong way and then correcting it while the child is watching you. We place 3 books on the floor, one of them upside down, one of them back-cover facing up and the last one the correct way up and my son can pick the "right one" almost all of the time.

Listening Comprehension

Answer simple questions about a story
Learn to retell a story in his own words                                                  You can do these things by reading simple-->complex stories and making observations and asking questions as you go. Sometimes you might read several versions of the same story and after the first few versions we ask him to anticipate what will happen next in the current version, ask him how he know. Compare/contrast the versions.
Ask pertinent questions about a story

Motivation to Read

Cultivate an enthusiasm for learning
Instill a delight for books and reading
Observe situations in which reading is beneficial
Establish a desire to learn to read and write
                                                                                          We do all of these things by reading a lot of picture books and by pointing out words in the environment, sometimes I make a show of reading a sign on a door or of comparing labels for my son. He has definitely picked up on the fact that reading is not just for books and he will find print in the environment and ask what it says.
 

 

[ExcitedMama]

I'm not sure what age child you're talking about but check out Memoria Press First Start Reading. I will say though that DS at 4 loved AAR pre-reading and really would cooperate to work with Ziggy. It introduced rhyming and DS still makes up silly rhymes now, but I knew I would reuse it with DD since it is pricy. It really is more than just introducing letters and I do recommend it.

[SilverMoon]

Based on the list in the previous post, I'd say you could pretty much accomplish the same thing with the Leapfrog DVDs. Play Alphabet Factory once a day for a couple weeks, and point out the sounds in the world around you. When they have the letters and sounds memorized start Word Factory (blending). Code Capers covers long vowels. Storybook Factory works on sentences and reading orally.

 

A super inexpensive way to get them going beyond that is to pick up a 4th edition of Writing Road to Reading (usually a penny plus shipping on Amazon), and spend 10-15 minutes a day working on just the phonogram cards. Review old ones, add new ones. Slowly work your way through the whole deck. While he's working on just the cards you can read the rest of the book to see what the next step is. My 5th DC used WRTR in K, and just working through the cards and practicing in easy readers daily really launched her into the reading world. We loosely started on the word lists after that, but ended up transitioning to a rules based spelling course instead (Rod and Staff).

[Elfknitter.#]

Ds will be 4 in November.

 

I tried WRTR with one of my older children. It found the system too convoluted.

 

HOP is something I am considering for later down the road. I looked at some of the Pre-K materials, but like AAR, felt there were probably other materials on the internet or at the library I could use.

 

I did check out Letter Factory from the library yesterday because I remembered so many recommended it.

 

I think what I really want are resources to help me with phonological awareness phoneme awareness. Letter sounds were something that, looking back, I should have done more work on with one of my older children.

 

 

[SilverMoon]

WRTR can seem convaluted. What I was trying to point out was just working on the phonogram cards has value and is plenty for this age. Skip the rest of it.  Assuming you'd be working on emergent/early readers with him so he's using the sounds too. The WRTR cards and daily reading practice were all DD/7 needed. We started with BOB Books and worked our way up from there.