Lovedtodeath Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 (edited) What all should I get? Do I need the phonogram audio CD? The full set of phonogram cards? What do these include? Is it only the front that I see here? (I guess I don't see how they would help, if that is all they are. I want these for two reasons: Our spelling program seems to be giving us decoding rules and expecting encoding as a result. I also would like the tiles because I think DD is still working on forming her letters and that is making the spelling part harder for her. So I will definitely be getting the tiles, I am just not sure if I should get anything else. Thanks for any thoughts. Edited January 6, 2009 by Lovedtodeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 bump! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julieofsardis Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 (edited) Does the program you are using now teach phonograms? as in the 70 basic phonograms? If so, I don't really see a point to obtaining AAS phonogram cards. If your program does not use those and you think you'd like to, there are some that are superior to the ones AAS sells. SWR phonogram cards are great imho, even though I don't use SWR. I agree that the letter tiles would be an enhancement to lots of different spelling programs for the reason you mentioned. I'm wondering though, if you are so intrigued by AAS, why you wouldn't consider doing that program. If it's a money issue -- which I totally understand -- you might consider trying to find it used. I'm just trying to get some clarity so that I or others can answer your question better. You might also want to tell us which program you are using now. If you are familiar with the pronunciations of the phonograms, then you wouldn't need the CD. I'd say that you are probably going to know most of them, and if you have a question about one or two, you could just come here and ask. I wouldn't spend the money on it myself. Edited January 6, 2009 by Julieofsardis Forgot to address audio phonogram CD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Thank you for responding. We are using How to Teach Spelling, which is based on the Spalding method. I did not buy the flashcards. I copied them from WRTR. It is a good program and I can use it just fine, it was very inexpensive. The problem I have is that the cards will have the spelling on them... for example a, then my child is to supply me with "a says /a/ as in apple, /a/ as in baby at the end of an open syllable, and ape with a silent e, /u/ as in all, and after qu's and w's". I do not have it exact, but you get the gist. IMO the flashcards should instead have the sound /a/ and my child should have to respond.. "the long a sound can be spelled a consonant e, a at the end of an open syllable, ai, ay, ea, ei, eigh, and ey." This is in the spelling test... but the flash cards are set up the opposite way. Now that I really think about it, I am sure AAS is the same. I wonder why? As you can see, I can make the flashcards this way myself, and I guess I probably will. I wonder why the cards are phonograms instead. It seems to be drilling decoding in order to teach encoding. I will still get the AAS tiles I think. I do not feel that I need the whole program. And it won't solve my problem anyway. lol. "How to teach spelling" is very thorough and moves faster, but I can tweak it as much as I need. I feel that I would be buying too many levels of AAS the first year at least. I wanted something faster and less expensive. TA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julieofsardis Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 We have used How To Teach Spelling and I really like that program as well as AAS. In fact, I think AAS is just HTTS all planned out for you. In the front of the book it talks about dictating sounds. That is something AAS does. They do both encoding and decoding in a single lesson. For instance, at the top of each lesson it has reminders to go over phonograms(that's the cards, where the child is shown a and the response should be AY, a, ah), then spelling rules, then sounds. When they say sounds they're talking about the encoding part. What are all the spellings of long a? Then the child puts all of those down. You would do a couple of those for each lesson. I have been deliberating all week whether or not to use HTTS or AAS as I'm nearing the end of my current level. I know that I COULD use HTTS. It's a good resource, but AAS has every detail all planned out. Now, to answer your original question. I would only purchase the letter tiles. I'm sure you are already familiar with the sounds because they are all in the front of the HTTS manual. Yes, you could use that to make your own. By the way, you are using the workbooks that go with HTTS, right? I just think without them this program is way too time consuming to come up with exercises on your own. I'd really like to talk more about how you implement HTTS. It might help me with my decision. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Well, we go over the phonogram cards, read over a lesson in OPG that corresponds and then I have copywork for her with about 4-6 words and a sentence. We do that for two days. Then I will have her read over the OPG lesson on the third day and I dictate 4 words to her. On the 4th day we do the HTTS lesson as written in the TG. This is in theory. We have done it maybe 3 times. I keep wondering if I am too fast, too slow, she is too young, just focus on finishing OPG b4 starting spelling (she can read just about everything, but her phonics instruction was very fast vertical phonics when she was 3 and 4) ... and on and on.:willy_nilly: I think that I definitely need to have separate handwriting for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I have a chart for all the sounds for spelling, with the percentages based on the most common 17,000 word in English as of 1950 or 1960. (Almost all the sounds, anything that was less than 1/2 of a percent, unless it was a really common word, was ditched so it would all fit on one page.) You could make your own cards...just type in all the letters, put word in 4 columns, make the font large, but not too large, and cut them out. Use card stock or laminate. Excel is also good for making little cards, that's how I made my phonics concentration game. http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/Resources/sound%20letter%20spell.pdf Concentration game: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 We have used How To Teach Spelling and I really like that program as well as AAS. In fact, I think AAS is just HTTS all planned out for you. In the front of the book it talks about dictating sounds. That is something AAS does. They do both encoding and decoding in a single lesson. For instance, at the top of each lesson it has reminders to go over phonograms(that's the cards, where the child is shown a and the response should be AY, a, ah), then spelling rules, then sounds. When they say sounds they're talking about the encoding part. What are all the spellings of long a? Then the child puts all of those down. Are they listed like this in the manual or one of the workbooks? The listing I have is the AY, a, ah type. For example, the /j/ sound can be found in at least 3 lessons, it is not put all together. Though I guess I could go through the phonogram cards and do that myself. (They are scattered everywhere at the moment and we have not been using them. Notice the age of my DC.) You would do a couple of those for each lesson. I have been deliberating all week whether or not to use HTTS or AAS as I'm nearing the end of my current level. I know that I COULD use HTTS. It's a good resource, but AAS has every detail all planned out. Now, to answer your original question. I would only purchase the letter tiles. I'm sure you are already familiar with the sounds because they are all in the front of the HTTS manual. Yes, you could use that to make your own. By the way, you are using the workbooks that go with HTTS, right? I have workbook one and two. There is only one page per rule (like soft G) and it doesn't seem to correspond to the TM, so I only use them sporadically. I just think without them this program is way too time consuming to come up with exercises on your own. I'd really like to talk more about how you implement HTTS. It might help me with my decision. I am pretty sure I can do it once I am sure about a game plan and stop waffling around. Julie Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Thank you Elizabeth. You know, I think my biggest problem is planning our extras and not going over my spelling TM enough. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 The problem I have is that the cards will have the spelling on them... for example a, then my child is to supply me with "a says /a/ as in apple, /a/ as in baby at the end of an open syllable, and ape with a silent e, /u/ as in all, and after qu's and w's". I do not have it exact, but you get the gist. IMO the flashcards should instead have the sound /a/ and my child should have to respond.. "the long a sound can be spelled a consonant e, a at the end of an open syllable, ai, ay, ea, ei, eigh, and ey." This is in the spelling test... but the flash cards are set up the opposite way. Now that I really think about it, I am sure AAS is the same. I wonder why? As you can see, I can make the flashcards this way myself, and I guess I probably will. I wonder why the cards are phonograms instead. It seems to be drilling decoding in order to teach encoding. Well, the AAS phonogram cards will be similar but not so involved--you show the letter a, they say the sounds /a/ (short a), /ay/ (long a), /o/. But this is only one part of how AAS works with letters. There are sound cards where you say the sound & they have to write it. There are rule cards where they have to say the rule. In the actual lessons in the workbook, they will say things like, "pull down the tiles that can say /j/" and the student pulls down both j and g. As you go up in levels, there are more sound-sorting activities like this. In level 3 there is a card that asks, "what are four ways to spell /ay/." (There are more, these are the 4 most common ways that have been taught up to this point). The student then has to do a sorting activitie where they have to decide which phonogram to use for the long a sound in a list of words that mom reads. Activities like this are throughout the books (level 2 has these kinds of activities with s/z, c/s, g/j...) So the program does what you are saying, it's just not on the phonogram cards per se. HTH some! Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 You know, I think my biggest problem is planning our extras and not going over my spelling TM enough. :lol: It is so much more fun to plan than to actually do, isn't it! I'm the same way. Do you know your MBTI type? I'm an INTP. You can find out here if you don't know and are interested: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) So I am printing out the S&S and sample lessons from level 1 and 2 on the AAS site and will be comparing it to HTTS. :) It seems much more thorough, but I don't think I have looked at all that I have for HTTS for a while. What do you think of this idea Julie? Does this tell you what MBTI type I am Elizabeth? All of the specific information was very helpful Merry. Thanks for all your help. Edited January 7, 2009 by Lovedtodeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julieofsardis Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 On pg. 2 and 3 it gives a sample lesson which includes dictation of sounds. Then on page 11 and 12 it breaks down some of the different sounds into all their different spellings. Some that are not on the list: /sh/ - sh, ti, ci , si , ch /j/ - j, ge, dge /ch/ - ch, tch /k/ - k, c, ck, ch and you could also include ic here for the sound /ik/ /d/ - d, ed /t/ - t, ed There may be a couple of others that I missed, but these are the main ones. Okay, at your dd's age, I would probably use workbook 1. I would follow the order of the workbook and not the order of the TM. I just have found it flows better that way. Then, I would incorporate the other lesson elements as stated in the TM pg. 2 & 3. The part that they don't mention is adding rules as you go. This is the part that will be time consuming. The main difference in AAS and HTTS is that AAS plans all of the lessons for you. For HTTS, you will have to decide which order to do things. HTTS is a great program. I know it would be possible for me to use it to finish out my ds's spelling. I already have it. $80 or $120 is a lot of money depending on how many levels I purchase from AAS. But do I have the stamina to work this out on my own? That, I am not sure about. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) On pg. 2 and 3 it gives a sample lesson which includes dictation of sounds. Then on page 11 and 12 it breaks down some of the different sounds into all their different spellings. Thanks! I am sure for level one I will stick to HTTS. I had DH make copies of the second half of the first workbook, and I have set up incentives (stickers) for each page DD completes. Since I have the S&S from AAS I know what I need to coverif I switch to AAS at some point, to see if it is easier. I really like the looks of level 4 for HTTS though. Edited January 7, 2009 by Lovedtodeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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