We finished Teach Your Child How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and weren’t sure where to go from there. But in my research, I found that if your child adapted Teach Your Child How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, then the next best fit was All About Reading Level 2 and All About Spelling Level 1.
ALL ABOUT SPELLING LEVEL 1
REVIEW SUMMARY: 5 out of 5 stars
- Grades Used: Grade 1
- Pros: Spelling has come easily for my daughter, multisensory activities make learning fun, lots of review.
- Cons: None
* This post is not sponsored in any way. All views and opinions are solely mine. *
CHILD’S LEARNING & PERSONALITY STYLE
It’s always important to keep your child’s learning and personality style in mind when choosing curriculum, along with your teaching style as a parent.
My 6-year old daughter:
- has a visual learning style (but appreciates multi-sensory to keep things engaging)
- likes rules and boundaries
- is a perfectionist being hard on herself when she doesn’t get a concept immediately
- can sniff when you don’t know what you’re talking about
- likes to colour, so black and white is calming to her
WHAT’S IN THE ALL ABOUT SPELLING LEVEL 1 COMPLETE PACKAGE?
- one Teacher’s Manual
- one Student Packet (which has the flashcards, charts, and other necessary components)
ADDITIONAL PURCHASES:
- You will also need to buy an All About Spelling Interactive Kit.
(This is a one-time purchase, used in all seven levels. Included in the kit are Letter Tiles, Magnets, Letter Tiles App, and Divider Cards. If you already have this kit when you purchased All About Reading, you do not need another one.) - Lined notebook paper
Since I opted out of the Deluxe Spelling Interactive Kit, I also purchased:
PREPARATION
I started by reading the front of the All About Spelling Level 1 Teacher’s Manual (11 pages worth). This includes the pages, “A Quick Overview” and “Preparing for Level 1”.
I also reviewed the lessons briefly to see the layout and format, so I felt familiar going into the first lesson.
About All About Spelling 1:
- 20 min for 5 days/week. The program recommends that students work on spelling for twenty minutes a day, five days a week. Shorter, more frequent lessons are much more effective than longer, infrequent lessons.
- Multisensory learning: visual, anuditory and kinesthetic.
- Six steps to teaching the AAS method:
- Read each lesson before you teach it.
- Gather materials listed in the “You will need” section at the top of the lesson.
- Review previously-taught concepts and materials with your student.
- Teach new concepts by simply following the script.
- Reinforce new concepts through the dictation exercises provided.
To get curriculum ready, you’ll need to:
- Place the 12 divider cards from the Interactive Kit into the index box.
- Separate the Phonogram Cards, Sound Cards, Key Cards, and Word Cards. Put all flashcards behind the correct Future Lessons dividers.
- Separate the letter tiles and labels, putting the magnets on the back of them.
- Label three plastic baggies: “Use Now, Use Later, Save for Level 2”. You’ll need to sort the letter tiles and labels into the proper bags.
DETAILED REVIEW
PROS:
- Scripted Teacher’s Manual. I love this fact based on my teaching style and ability.
- Understanding the “why” behind letter sounds. This is the biggest obstacle for both my daughter and I and the program demystified the when and why! Although, English is still a tough language to spell with many exceptions where there’s no rhyme or reason, just “that’s the way it is”, but, at least the program helps by just saying that when it occurs.
- No advanced prep required.
- 24 steps. Each step is easy to digest, building on from previous steps.
- Multi-sensory. Although my daughter is mostly a visual learner, she takes to multi-sensory very well, which helps her memory and keeps the lesson engaging.
- Lots of review. Each lesson reviews and builds on the previous lesson, helping my daughter’s memory.
- Effective at teaching spelling. I find that my daughter has taken to spelling quite easily using this program’s method of teaching spelling. I must say though, she also has a natural ability to spell, which is very much like me when I was younger.
- Easy to transport.
- Stickers and sticker sheet provided. This has been good for my daughter to see how far she’s come.
CONS:
- None. My daughter and I love this program.
OUR APPROACH
We began All About Spelling Level 1 in January 2018, doing 2 steps a week, as we were also adding in All About Reading Level 2 the days in-between spelling. This combination has worked well for my daughter being that we started using these materials after we finished Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
We’re over half-finished All About Spelling Level 1 and we’re already planning to buy All About Spelling Level 2 for next year.
TIPS & TRICKS
- Do not skip steps. Each step builds on the other.
- Download the FREE All About Learning Press App. It’s helpful.
If you’re researching to find out if this curriculum will work for your child, feel free to share what was helpful about the review.
Anchored in Jesus,
Melanie