old

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Suzybearybake]

All About Spelling is only available through its site. You will defintely need the letter titles and magnets as the are an essencial part of the program. I would highly reccommend purchasing a large magnetic dry erase board. Keeping the titles organized on the board dramatically reduces the amount of prep time before each lesson . It also reduces the chance that a piece might get lost. I wouldn't worry about the CD unless you really have alot of trouble breaking down the sounds individually. I sent mine back. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.

[arcara]

:iagree:

[mamaof2andtwins]

Yes, you need the letter tiles as they are part of the program. While the magnets are not essential, I would recommend them. We have been using the program without the magnetic tiles, and it is the worst part of the week for my girls. They hate laying out the tiles. If we had the magnets (just ordered them today), we could leave them stuck on an old cookie sheet or something all the time. I could have gone out long ago and purchases some magnetic tape, but I kept forgetting. Oh, well, a few extra dollars spent on the convenience of having it show up on my doorstep.

 

Best wishes,

Jennie

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I just wanted to add: the set that is sold for each level includes the teacher's manual and one student packet. So you only need to buy an extra student packet if you are teaching two students. Another note, we did get the magnets and use them, but I am still having dd alphabetize the tiles at the start of each lesson. She needs the practice!

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Oh, and you'll need an index card holder. I still need to get one of those. :tongue_smilie:

[Jenn in Mo]

Yup, tiles and magnets. I had hoped to use them on an old cookie sheet (I have a HUGE one that won't fit in my oven,) mine isn't stainless like i thought it was....it's aluminum! Oops! I'm going to call our local heating&cooling repair shop. They have a die cutter and supplies and can cut me a sheet of metal rather cheaply. I'll tape off the edges or frame it. I think I can probably fit it into an old bulletin board frame.

 

We've never used the pronunciation cd.

 

All About Spelling is planning on switching over to perforated letter tiles soon! This would have been nice. I have a little $15.00 paper cutter that helped a lot, but it still took a long time to cut out each tile.

[Tree House Academy]

The "Level One Kit" includes the materials packet and TM, so don't order the extra materials kit...I made that mistake myself. The tiles are essential. The CD is optional (depends a lot on whether or not you think you can correctly pronounce the words. The letter tiles are essential - the magnets are helpful, but useless unless you have a magnetic whiteboard or something to put them on. I bought the magnets and ended up laying them on a wood table instead.

[MerryAtHope]

Oh, and you'll need an index card holder. I still need to get one of those. :tongue_smilie:

 

I found an expandable recipe file with a larger front compartment for "supplies," that is working really well in place of an index card holder. I found it hard to fit all of the cards & get them in & out of the box easily--they fit but it gets a bit tight! So I like my expandable file.

 

As for the tiles--I found a magnetic whiteboard (the 2' X 3' size they recommend) at Walmart for $15 & we use that. It's handy to be able to write on the board too. Before that we used a smaller magnet board that came with a toy set one time. That was "ok" but hard to organize & no room to work. But a person could try using the refrigerator or a metal door if one was handy.

 

I find having my kids replace the tiles after every lesson gives them lots of practice in alphabetizing too. Both of mine need this!

 

Merry :-)

[Sandy in Indy]

A magnetic board is a definate must for us. Otherwise all those tiles would be history...and not the good kind! I bought mine at Costco for about $20.

 

Personally I like the CD. We haven't used it yet...but I know there are a few phonograms that I just don't remember all the sounds for. I like that you can click on the letter or letter combination and get just the correct sound(s). Much better than having to wade through the whole thing to reach the one or two that you need to hear.

 

I currently have 3 index boxes (because they were cheap) but I'm thinking about investing in a larger box (around $10). Merry's idea of the expandable file is great, and I just might check into that!

 

You will love AAS. It's so easy to implement!

[mommy25]

I just purchased AAS too~! I will be using it with a 1st grader but I think I am going to involve all of my children because none of them learned this way.

 

Do I need to buy a different level for my 4th and 7th grader? I am worried they are going to look at me and laugh when I include them in on level 1! :D

[mamaof2andtwins]

I didn't use it with my 7th grader. I started AAS with my twins at the tail end of last yer when they were in 3rd grade. One of them is still in level 1. She is a struggling speller. At first they did give me a few looks about starting at the beginning of level 1, but I just told them that they needed to learn the "program". I told them to bear with it. We would get to something they didn't know soon.

 

What kind of speller is your 7th grader? your 4th grader? That might determine what you chose to do.

 

Jennie

[MerryAtHope]

Do I need to buy a different level for my 4th and 7th grader? I am worried they are going to look at me and laugh when I include them in on level 1! :D

 

Depends. There is an article that can help you decide if they should just start with level 2 here. But what a lot of people do is go ahead and start their older kids in level 1 but go through it quickly (you won't want to keep your olders together with your youngest, and you may also need to split up your 4th & 7th graders. My kids are 4th & 6th, and the 6th can move through faster.)

 

The beauty of AAS is that you can customize it to fit your child’s needs, whether you need to slow things down or speed them up. Looking at it section by section:

 

·Review Cards: If your child has mastered the cards, you won’t need to do this section. When the book says to review mastered cards, choose 10 or so of the most difficult patterns for your child to review. You can do more if needed, but if not, move on.

 

·Review Concepts: If your child didn’t struggle with those concepts and already has them mastered, again, there’s no need to review. If the concept hasn’t come up for awhile, you might want to touch on it quickly to make sure it’s not forgotten, but you get to be the judge of whether your child needs this part.

 

·New Teaching: If your child is catching on quickly to the new sound presented, there’s no need to do all of the word cards. Pick a few to make sure your child can demonstrate the concept. If there’s a word that has a combination of sounds that’s trickier for your child, choose that as one of the words. A child who catches on quickly might almost be insulted by reviewing easier words, while a child who has to work hard at spelling builds confidence on those easier words. So you can choose what’s helpful to your child. When you are satisfied that your child understands the concept being taught, move on.

 

·Reinforcement concepts: These provide additional practice with the concept. Unless you think one of the words might be a challenge for your child, feel free to skip this section.

 

·Dictation: This section incorporates both the new teaching and patterns previously learned. If you don’t think your child needs much review, you might choose just a few phrases and sentences that use patterns you would like to review. Do at least a couple of sentences to make sure that your child isn’t just memorizing a pattern for a word list, but that she can choose the patterns to use for each word when they are in a more natural context.

 

I've heard people say that they breezed through some of the early books in just a few weeks. Use the books to fill in any holes and to make sure that your child hasn’t simply memorized the easiest patterns, but understands how they are used. Later when they get to more advanced words, this knowledge will help them.

 

 

HTH! Merry :-)

[Jenn in Mo]

I've heard people say that they breezed through some of the early books in just a few weeks. Use the books to fill in any holes and to make sure that your child hasn’t simply memorized the easiest patterns, but understands how they are used. Later when they get to more advanced words, this knowledge will help them.

 

 

HTH! Merry :-)

 

Yes, this is what we did. The author suggests beginning with level 1 and progressing as rapidly as is comfortable. It took about 2 weeks to get through the first book, but we hit a sudden slow-down about halfway through the 2nd book.

[mommy25]

Depends. There is an article that can help you decide if they should just start with level 2 here. But what a lot of people do is go ahead and start their older kids in level 1 but go through it quickly (you won't want to keep your olders together with your youngest, and you may also need to split up your 4th & 7th graders. My kids are 4th & 6th, and the 6th can move through faster.)

 

The beauty of AAS is that you can customize it to fit your child’s needs, whether you need to slow things down or speed them up. Looking at it section by section:

 

·Review Cards: If your child has mastered the cards, you won’t need to do this section. When the book says to review mastered cards, choose 10 or so of the most difficult patterns for your child to review. You can do more if needed, but if not, move on.

 

·Review Concepts: If your child didn’t struggle with those concepts and already has them mastered, again, there’s no need to review. If the concept hasn’t come up for awhile, you might want to touch on it quickly to make sure it’s not forgotten, but you get to be the judge of whether your child needs this part.

 

·New Teaching: If your child is catching on quickly to the new sound presented, there’s no need to do all of the word cards. Pick a few to make sure your child can demonstrate the concept. If there’s a word that has a combination of sounds that’s trickier for your child, choose that as one of the words. A child who catches on quickly might almost be insulted by reviewing easier words, while a child who has to work hard at spelling builds confidence on those easier words. So you can choose what’s helpful to your child. When you are satisfied that your child understands the concept being taught, move on.

 

·Reinforcement concepts: These provide additional practice with the concept. Unless you think one of the words might be a challenge for your child, feel free to skip this section.

 

·Dictation: This section incorporates both the new teaching and patterns previously learned. If you don’t think your child needs much review, you might choose just a few phrases and sentences that use patterns you would like to review. Do at least a couple of sentences to make sure that your child isn’t just memorizing a pattern for a word list, but that she can choose the patterns to use for each word when they are in a more natural context.

 

I've heard people say that they breezed through some of the early books in just a few weeks. Use the books to fill in any holes and to make sure that your child hasn’t simply memorized the easiest patterns, but understands how they are used. Later when they get to more advanced words, this knowledge will help them.

 

 

HTH! Merry :-)

 

Thank you, Merry! This helps tremendously! I am going to print your reply so that when my AAS does arrive I can apply the things you have suggested. :)

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[MerryAtHope]

Yes, this is what we did. The author suggests beginning with level 1 and progressing as rapidly as is comfortable. It took about 2 weeks to get through the first book, but we hit a sudden slow-down about halfway through the 2nd book.

 

BTW, Jenn, I love your avatar and siggy quote, :lol:

 

Merry :-)

[hischool]

I have read that there's a lot of cutting with the cards. Can someone tell me just how much cutting really?

 

I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and order now, or hold out for the perforated version in Jan.

 

If the cutting is reasonable, I would like to get it now so I can review it over Christmas.

 

Thanks!

[Jenn in Mo]

BTW, Jenn, I love your avatar and siggy quote, :lol:

 

Merry :-)

 

Awww, thanks! I think my makeup was a bit over-done though.

[Jenn in Mo]

I have read that there's a lot of cutting with the cards. Can someone tell me just how much cutting really?

 

I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and order now, or hold out for the perforated version in Jan.

 

If the cutting is reasonable, I would like to get it now so I can review it over Christmas.

 

Thanks!

 

It's a lot. I would be sure to set aside a couple hours if you have a paper cutter. Much more if you're using just scissors. But, even with perforations, you're still tearing each sheet. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure that will save you a lot of time. It would depend on how deep of a perforation.

 

It's still worth it, even if it starts out with some extra work. If you think though that your child will be progressing very rapidly, I don't think it would be necessary to cut out the word cards, just the rule cards. I think you could skip that part. I cut them out, but never used them with book 1.

[mamaof2andtwins]

I must have speedy scissors because I didn't take me that long to cut out everything. My children are older, and I let them cut a bunch. It probably helped shorten my cutting time.

 

Jennie

[LadyAberlin]

The person I bought my used tiles from just purchased magnetic tape and stuck in on the back of the tiles. I'm sure it would be much cheaper to do that instead of buying the magnets form AAS.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I don't think the cutting took me that long. I just pulled it out while my littles were coloring or using play-doh and it only took a few days of that.

[Jenn in Mo]

I must have speedy scissors because I didn't take me that long to cut out everything. My children are older, and I let them cut a bunch. It probably helped shorten my cutting time.

 

Jennie

 

I've got too much of a perfectionist streak in me to let me kids help - lol! The cards had to be just so.....

[hischool]

I wish they have the cards pre-cut. Even with the perforated version, there's still tearing and I really don't trust my tearing skills LOL.

 

I will probably end up taking it to kinkos :D

[Jenn in Mo]

I've got too much of a perfectionist streak in me to let me kids help - lol! The cards had to be just so.....

 

I just had to laugh at myself after re-reading this......."let me kids help"

 

Yeah. Perfectionist. A perfectionist-Pirate apparently!

[Sandy in Indy]

I have a paper cutter and it didn't take much time at all to cut out the tiles and cards.

 

I don't know if it's really necessary...but I laminated the cards. This is something that I'm saving for my kids to use with their kids. It's that good!

[A home for their hearts]

I just wanted to add that when you buy your index card box make sure you don't get the one they sell at wal mart that has a clear bottom and a colored top, it smashes the index dividers. I found this out the hard way. I can't even close the lid on it all the way without it smashing them. All of my dividers for level one are ruined! I bought another one at our local grocery store, it is solid black and I can close it without it even touching the dividers. Too look at both of boxes you would think they were the same size but the one from wal mart is just a little bit smaller.