ETC, AAS, and Readers

[Guest]

My younger two are still working on learning to read.  They can read cvc words, blends, a few digraphs, and a few words with long vowels.  Do you think Explode the Code, All About Spelling, and Sonlight Readers 1 would would be enough to finish teaching them to read?  I think I have previously read that some people used AAS alone to teach reading, but I just want to make sure I don't be missing something by not using AAR or OPGTR.  Neither of them are struggling readers, and we really don't need any games or extra's.

[TheAttachedMama]

Are you talking about the Sonlight "I Can Read" books?    Because, honestly, the Sonlight I Can Read it books are not great.   If you are buying materials, there are so many other better readers on the market.  

 

Normally, Sonlight includes great books in their reader packages.   HOWEVER, in general, be wary of any of their "self-published" resources.   (Look for anything published by "Avyx" or "John Holtzman"   Avyx is their family run publishing company that they use to publish things John Holtzman writes.).   Those tend to be weaker resources IMHO.    

 

Probably the most effective readers IMHO are the "I See Sam" readers.   You can see samples of them here by clicking on products and ordering.   However, if you want to purchase them, you have to go here or amazon.   (The first couple of books are also available for free online.)   At first glance, they will look like any other beginner reader.   I dismissed them for a long time even though I kept hearing people RAVING about these books.    However, after using the books, I now know they are nothing short of amazing.   They very, very, slowly spoon-feed the alphabetic code to the child.   Then, they review, review, review the material until the child is reading fluently.    They are well written and well researched.  They also include a lot of self-checks to make sure the child is not reading by sight but instead sounding through the word.   (Example:  The words spot and stop might be on the same page to make sure the child isn't guessing or reading by sight.)      AAR or OPGTR are complete phonics programs too.   I think OPGTR is REALLY, REALLY dry.   AAR is great and more fun...however, the fluency sheets are very dry and almost painful for children.   I feel like learning to read through stories and books is much more fun and effective personally.   That is why I recommend it. 

 

 

To answer your question about AAS being used to teach reading:   Yes, AAS is a complete phonics instruction program.   It is VERY, VERY thorough and goes through everything one could possibly want to know about phonics.   HOWEVER, keep in mind two things:  1)   AAS is teaching phonics from the point of view of spelling (encoding), not reading (decoding).  For that reason, the complete phonetic code is introduced very slowly over the course of 7 levels.   Your child would have to go through all 7 levels before they would have been taught all of this phonics.   2)    AAS is a mastery based approach.  Meaning, you aren't supposed to move on until you have completely mastered the concepts and spelling of the words that are taught at each step and level.   So you might go through levels 1 and 2 fairly quickly, but most kids slow down once you start introducing all of the vowel teams, etc.   So it is conceivable and likely, that you might complete a level each year...and you probably don't want to spread your reading instruction over 7 years.   You want to get the child reading as quickly as possible and not tie it to how long it takes to spell.    Long story short, my advice would be to use AAS to teach spelling, but not count on it being your reading instruction.  It might improve reading as you go through it, but I wouldn't count on using it to teach reading. (They do have a program called AAR that goes through the same phonics concepts through a reading stand point.   So it goes through them much quicker in only 4 levels.)   And I think the phonics instruction in AAS and AAR is much, much, much more sound than what is taught in ETC!   :) :)   

 

To answer your question about AAR and OPGTR:   They are both great and very complete phonics programs.   I think their phonics instruction is much more sound than ETC personally.   OPGTR is great if you are on a budget.   The downside is that it can be a little dull.   AAR is more exciting, but also more expensive.   However, the fluency sheets are downright painful for many children.   (That is why I liked teaching fluency through story as opposed to sheets.  Learn to read by reading and all of that.)   If you want free, you could even go through something like blend phonics.   It is complete and available for free online.   Again, not exciting, but very complete and effective.  

 

To sum things up:

If I were you, I would use the "I See Sam" books to teach reading.   Follow the instruction on how to use them here....ignore the instruction in the newly published books.   These instructions were written by some of the original researchers.   (They also have placement advice on this same page.) 

 

Once your child has been reading for about a year (at about a first-grade level...they may be there now), start All About Spelling.   But use it as a spelling program.   It will do a fantastic job reviewing the phonics concepts taught when learning to read.   Go through it slowly and make sure each skill is mastered before moving on.   (Then, continue to review.)   

 

I would skip the ETC work personally.   If your child really wants a workbook (some kids do!), maybe start them in handwriting without tears or a critical thinking book.  The reason I suggest skipping ETC is because the phonics instruction is not that great IMHO.   It also won't exactly line up with the readers, and might cause confusion.    

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by TheAttachedMama

[Guest]

Are you talking about the Sonlight "I Can Read" books?    Because, honestly, the Sonlight I Can Read it books are not great.   If you are buying materials, there are so many other better readers on the market.  

 

Normally, Sonlight includes great books in their reader packages.   HOWEVER, in general, be wary of any of their "self-published" resources.   (Look for anything published by "Avyx" or "John Holtzman"   Avyx is their family run publishing company that they use to publish things John Holtzman writes.).   Those tend to be weaker resources IMHO.    

 

Probably the most effective readers IMHO are the "I See Sam" readers.   You can see samples of them here by clicking on products and ordering.   However, if you want to purchase them, you have to go here or amazon.   (The first couple of books are also available for free online.)   At first glance, they will look like any other beginner reader.   I dismissed them for a long time even though I kept hearing people RAVING about these books.    However, after using the books, I now know they are nothing short of amazing.   They very, very, slowly spoon-feed the alphabetic code to the child.   Then, they review, review, review the material until the child is reading fluently.    They are well written and well researched.  They also include a lot of self-checks to make sure the child is not reading by sight but instead sounding through the word.   (Example:  The words spot and stop might be on the same page to make sure the child isn't guessing or reading by sight.)      AAR or OPGTR are complete phonics programs too.   I think OPGTR is REALLY, REALLY dry.   AAR is great and more fun...however, the fluency sheets are very dry and almost painful for children.   I feel like learning to read through stories and books is much more fun and effective personally.   That is why I recommend it. 

 

 

To answer your question about AAS being used to teach reading:   Yes, AAS is a complete phonics instruction program.   It is VERY, VERY thorough and goes through everything one could possibly want to know about phonics.   HOWEVER, keep in mind two things:  1)   AAS is teaching phonics from the point of view of spelling (encoding), not reading (decoding).  For that reason, the complete phonetic code is introduced very slowly over the course of 7 levels.   Your child would have to go through all 7 levels before they would have been taught all of this phonics.   2)    AAS is a mastery based approach.  Meaning, you aren't supposed to move on until you have completely mastered the concepts and spelling of the words that are taught at each step and level.   So you might go through levels 1 and 2 fairly quickly, but most kids slow down once you start introducing all of the vowel teams, etc.   So it is conceivable and likely, that you might complete a level each year...and you probably don't want to spread your reading instruction over 7 years.   You want to get the child reading as quickly as possible and not tie it to how long it takes to spell.    Long story short, my advice would be to use AAS to teach spelling, but not count on it being your reading instruction.  It might improve reading as you go through it, but I wouldn't count on using it to teach reading. (They do have a program called AAR that goes through the same phonics concepts through a reading stand point.   So it goes through them much quicker in only 4 levels.)   And I think the phonics instruction in AAS and AAR is much, much, much more sound than what is taught in ETC!   :) :)   

 

To answer your question about AAR and OPGTR:   They are both great and very complete phonics programs.   I think their phonics instruction is much more sound than ETC personally.   OPGTR is great if you are on a budget.   The downside is that it can be a little dull.   AAR is more exciting, but also more expensive.   However, the fluency sheets are downright painful for many children.   (That is why I liked teaching fluency through story as opposed to sheets.  Learn to read by reading and all of that.)   If you want free, you could even go through something like blend phonics.   It is complete and available for free online.   Again, not exciting, but very complete and effective.  

 

To sum things up:

If I were you, I would use the "I See Sam" books to teach reading.   Follow the instruction on how to use them here....ignore the instruction in the newly published books.   These instructions were written by some of the original researchers.   (They also have placement advice on this same page.) 

 

Once your child has been reading for about a year (at about a first-grade level...they may be there now), start All About Spelling.   But use it as a spelling program.   It will do a fantastic job reviewing the phonics concepts taught when learning to read.   Go through it slowly and make sure each skill is mastered before moving on.   (Then, continue to review.)   

 

I would skip the ETC work personally.   If your child really wants a workbook (some kids do!), maybe start them in handwriting without tears or a critical thinking book.  The reason I suggest skipping ETC is because the phonics instruction is not that great IMHO.   It also won't exactly line up with the readers, and might cause confusion.    

 

 

Thanks!  I just decided to go with AAR for now to make sure we don't miss anything. 

[ExcitedMama]

AAS and AAR are very different. How comfortable are you with creating your own phonics program? Plenty of people can put it together themselves but I would think having OPGTR would help you do it more systematically. I agree with AttachedMama that OPGTR is dry and AAR is great. It might help if you have your children take the AAR placement test to get an idea of where they are with reading. From there you could decide if you want an open and go phonics program to help you further like OPGTR or if you want something a little more complete like AAR. The readers are great with AAR too but I'm not sure how helpful they would be without the program because AAR tends to teach phonograms in an unusual order. You absolutely can't go wrong with AAR.