AngelaR Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) My 2nd grade daughter is sooooo bored with AAS. She did AAR level 1 last year for 1st grade, and then we switched to LOE B & C—bc *I* was bored and the word lists in AAR were killing both of us. I didn’t love the way LOE taught spelling. For the beginning of 2nd grade, she started with Spelling Workout, which she enjoyed, but she didn’t actually seem to be retaining anything. Also, I’ve noticed some gaps in her reading, even though she’s very good at reading. I thought maybe we’d try AAS bc I read on this forum how great it is for teaching phonics and spelling both. We’re finished with level 1, which she flew through and said was too easy; but she hates spelling with tiles, writing the spelling words and dictation. How can I make it more interesting ? Also, I’m starting my son on Rooted In Language’s Pinwheel, and they have a level that would be appropriate for my 2nd grader, and I’m SOOO tempted to switch to it for her, BUT, I’ve already got AAS 2 and I’m aware that switching curriculum too often in one year could be more counterproductive than helpful for something like spelling. Advice? Edited January 11, 2022 by AngelaR Spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 One thing you can do is look up spelling activities for the Orton Gillingham approach. Since AAS is based on OG, a quick google search or look on TPT may bring up different mats and games to extend the program in other directions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 I have always thought that AAS's pace is way too slow for avg+ students. (I have dyslexic kids and I think the word lists are too easy and slow.) It is likely that AAS is just not a match for you and your student, so it is not a problem to move on. Sell what you have to help fund your new purchase. 🙂 How to Teach Spelling is an OG spelling program (one of my personal preferences). Spalding is OG (Sanseri has a program Spell to Write to Read). There are lots of decent spelling programs out there. Just find one that you think will work and give it a try. Don't make your decision based on others. (I have owned a laundry list of programs that have been "highly recommended" trying to find an approach to help my dyslexics spell correctly. 😉 ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 The beginning of AAS level 1 is ridiculously easy. We don't start spelling until my kids are easily writing words with initial and final blends, so we just jump right to Step 16 in AAS 1 and move as fast or slow as the child is ready for. We never use the tiles or any of the flashcards. I just teach from the instructor guide and they write in a notebook. I keep the sessions to under 10 minutes. When my kids are young, their handwriting is so slow and laborious that they might only write 6-10 words in one spelling session. So I usually spend one session teaching the new concept while taking "notes" on it in their notebook that they can refer back to later. The next session we review and they write as many of the "Spell with Tiles" words as they get through. We repeat this for as many sessions as necessary (continuing on to the "More Words" list) until they can spell the new pattern easily. In level 1, the dictations are still phrases which are boring. (I forget if it is right at the beginning of level 2, but pretty soon they start giving sentences which are more interesting and sometimes quite funny.) So in level 1, I make up sentences for them. This has the added benefit of giving them practice with capitalization and punctuation. I normally just build off the word lists and dictation phrases. ie "Did Kim send his crab a kiss at camp?" which practices 4 initial /k/ sounds plus reviews the FLOSS rule and utilizes a question mark all while making us laugh envisioning sending a crab a kiss...because clearly you would want to kiss a crab long distance so you don't get pinched. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El... Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 We also accelerated the first level, because it was so easy. My daughter used the tiles, and I think the biggest thing she got out of them was a lot of practice alphabetizing when she put them away after each lesson. My son despised the tiles and used a whiteboard instead. He's not as good at alphabetizing. Maybe I should have insisted. Oh well. It's always ok, imo, to go as fast as your kid can. You certainly don't have to do every sentence or worksheet, in any program. If they get it, and are solid, why mess around? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 Some ideas: Skip the letter tiles exercises for spelling if they are not needed. Do not skip the phonemes/instruction bits. Consider doing all the spelling on a white board. Do it for only 10-15 minutes a day max. Natural spellers will whip through a level very quickly--possibly in months. Remember you only have to repeat the older missed words (tricky words list) every so often. Don't review it every day if that helps. We probably reviewed it every two or three days. Once they had spelled a tricky word correctly three or four times, I dropped it from the list. Most of the people I see complaining about AAS are spending way too much time on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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