We chose All About Spelling - Level 1 for our spelling/phonics curriculum for first grade. I am so glad we found this curriculum right off the bat! Jujubee and I both loved it, and she thrived! For this set, you need the Teacher's Manual, the Student packet, and you can buy the letter tiles, a box to keep everything in, and some other items. (I do suggest the phonogram CD, sometimes it is hard to say the phonograms without an accent). I got lucky and they offered a free CD with purchase! (Adding, they now offer a free phonogram app on iTunes!)
One thing I suggest is either making your own letter tiles (super easy!) or - if you have an iPad - getting a letter tile spelling app. I made my own tiles, THEN found the app, of course. The "I speak word wizard" app was $2.99 and the AAS letter tiles were $11.95 on their site. To make my own with magnetic paper it probably would have cost me $5-8.00 if I hadn't gotten the magnetic sheets free from a friend. The nice thing about the app is that you can input the spelling words in there and it will read them to your child, letting them practice whenever, wherever! Sometimes the accent is a bit hard to understand, but I am always nearby so I was able to tell her what the word was (since I put it in). We also just used a regular index card holder for our review cards. The box they offer is nice, and $9.95, which really isn't bad considering you'd pay about the same or more at an office supply store for that size box, but we already had an index card holder.
There are 24 steps in the first level. It is designed to do each step over the course of a week (approximately), but Juju went through each step in just one lesson, occasionally two. The phonogram cards were fantastic to practice with, and the rules were easy for her to understand. The child is able to check off each step on a little chart as they finish them, and they also check off their "mastered" phonograms. Jujubee, being very much like her mommy, loved this. Oh, how we love checklists in this family...
We will definitely be getting level 2 for second grade. I am placing my order through sonlight.com and getting free shipping! I haven't been able to find it cheaper anywhere else.
Could you email me and tell me how to get the AAS app for ipad? cwejmom@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThe plan was to do about 1 step a week, going over it on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. However, my daughter caught on really quick to it and didn't need the review. Sometimes we would still just do one a week and take the other two days off, sometimes we would do one or two steps a week if we were feeling ambitious. :)
ReplyDeleteWe are now on level 2 and are doing the same this year.