We just started using All About Spelling this year, and frankly at this point you couldn’t take it from me if you wanted to! Yes, we LOVE it that much! And not only do I love it, but my kids LOVE it! Every now and then I’ll let them pick the order of their workboxes, and I’m not kidding you, unless there’s a candy bar in one of the drawers, they’ll pick the All About Spelling box first every time!
Some benefits to All About Spelling:
- The program is multisensory, approaching spelling through sight, sound, and touch.
- The lesson plans scripted for you. They are easy to follow and leave nothing out! And it’s not just spelling, it’s a phonics program as well, and they teach all the rules in an easy to follow and understand manner.
- It works! I can honestly say I’ve noticed an improvement in both my 1st and 2nd grader’s spelling since we’ve started.
- It’s fun! This is an activity that we do one-on-one and since it involves many different activities, the kids seem to really enjoy it! They are learning quickly and we are all having fun (including me!) and that’s huge in my book!
I am so thrilled about this program, and I hope to use it with all of our kids from here on out.
One thing to note, there are only about 25 lessons in both the first and 2nd level books. I’m used to doing 1 lesson/day with my other curriculum, so obviously that wasn’t going to work. Some of the lessons for my 1st grader are pretty easy so we’re blazing through them quickly, but you are to teach to mastery with this program so after talking to the super nice people at All About Spelling I realized that you don’t need to go through 1 lesson each day. Instead you are to stay on that lesson until they’ve got the rules down pat, so we’ve slowed down a bit.
(This box has cards for both level 1 and level 2 in it, I found it in the office supply section of Target, it had a paper pad in it!)
Each level comes with a set of Phonogram Cards, Sound Cards, Key Word Cards (we call them trivia) and Spelling Word Cards. Each day you go through the cards they say to as well as review those your child hasn’t mastered which is nice. The cards help remind me what they need to work on, and I don’t know about you but I can use all the reminders I can get!
If you haven’t tried this program yet, all I can say is that you won’t be disappointed! Just make sure to call them first, or go through the test on the All About Spelling site under the FAQ page to see what level to buy. Their levels don’t quite correspond with grade level.
We use and love AAS too. And our cards don't fit in our box either, yours is huge!
I have been on the fence AAS for a year now. You shoved me off. I am off to go order it.
Alice: My kids share a letter set. It’s hard to do it with more than one at a time anyway, so I usually do it 1 on 1.
Ooooooh, I want this!
We just started using this about 3 weeks ago. It is all you said and more. My guy is special needs and it really has help his reading in a very short time. I am sold!
I am using it this year too. I love it. I too had to slow down the lessons for my 6 year old where as my 8 year old is doing one lesson a day because I started at the beginning and it is easier for her. I think by the next book I will have to slow it down for her too. I like this program a lot. My kids don't dread spelling any more and that is huge in my book!
This seems like it could replace a phonics program as well…do you use it along with a phonics program or have you noticed there is no need for a separate phonics program? Thank you for reviewing this for us. I will be ordering it soon.
What were you using prior to using AAS?
I love it too. I also purchased the Neuhaus Education Center's Reading Readiness packet but find AAS more stimulating and easier to teach. But it's that darn box issue that bugs me. You'd think they'd come up with a box to keep the cards in instead of leaving us in search of the holy grail of containers that fit with the cards. I still haven't found one!
We just started this year with a child in Kindergarten. We are doing one lesson a week. I taught and I've seen all kinds of spelling programs and I am so impressed with this program. I love that it teaches all the sounds of a letter from the start.