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Can a 2nd grader use R&S Spelling without their LA?


allisonknits
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We have been using Spelling Workout all along for my rising 4th and 2nd graders, but I haven't been very happy with it. She never misses a word on her pre-tests and tests with SW even though she doesn't study the words, but misspells words fairly often when writing in other subjects (history narrations, etc). I've decided to switch my 4th grader to R&S spelling this year.

 

My 2nd grader does pretty well with spelling but is not confident yet and often asks how to spell words. I was planning to switch him over to R&S also, but then read an old thread that said the 2nd grade spelling assumes you are using R&S for all LA, and ties in with the phonics program. We use all PHP materials for LA - will this be a problem? Should I keep him in SW until 3rd grade, then make the switch to R&S? I don't feel confident enough in my own knowledge of the spelling rules to know which ones to teach him and when, if the teacher manual doesn't specify.

 

Thanks!

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Yes, you can easily just use the spelling. The spelling 2 book just doesn't explicitly teach the rules, because they're already covered in the phonics book. The words are grouped by a common rule or two and it's easy to see what they're working on though. The TM does briefly state what the focus of each lesson is, and has teaching tips in a section near the front.

 

They don't have a phonics 3, so it's gently included in the 3 book. In the 4 book it ramps up and gets serious. 4-6 are pretty meaty, and it won't really matter what you did in 2nd grade by then. (7-8 are root based vocab.)

 

Fwiw, I'm on my third kid to use R&S spelling 2 without using any of their phonics/reading materials. Even though 2 doesn't aggressively teach the rules the exercises they do in the book have value, and it's a gentle approach that's great for the typical 2nd grader. On the first day DD/7 reads the words to me, we talk about how they're spelled, and she does the first worksheet herself. Day 2 she does the second worksheet. Day 3-4 she writes the words on a whiteboard or a Boogie Board as I call them. Easy peasy. If she doesn't completely master all the rules in this book it's okay; they'll be repeated enough throughout the 2-6 course.

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I haven't used any of their phonics/ reading products, but do use their spelling.  Personally, I prefer their exercises over those in SWO because they make the student interact more with how the word is spelled (thinking about its syllables, pronunciation, etc.).  The rules covered each week are not as explicitly stated as in SWO, but the teacher manual can help with that.  I don't really use the TM at all except for test sentences.

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