Friday, September 23, 2011

Alyssa's All About Spelling Updates

Alyssa turns 4 in November! Yikes ... where did the time go?
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All About Spelling (Level 1)
Alyssa is doing very well with the All About Spelling Curriculum.  I read somewhere that you can move onto the second lesson even though the student has NOT mastered Lesson 1 sounds, so ... that is exactly what we did.  Alyssa struggles with the pronunciation of the /c/, /k/, /ck/, and /ch/ sounds.  Notice that all of these letters share the same sound for at least one of their sounds.  She can tell me associated words for each letter or sounds so we moved on and will continue to review them as we go.  I think a lot of it has to do with her age right now.  We just finished lesson 10 today.  My plan was to take it slow but Alyssa had another other plans.  She is zipping through the lessons without any hesitation.  I was planning on doing it every day except for now that she is enrolled in gymnastics on Tuesdays and dance on Wednesdays - those two days are shot and schoolwork is limited.  We live at least 30-45 minutes away from both locations.  We make use of our nights and days that daddy works when she is motivated to do more.  We just started taking the spelling tests and Alyssa has written all the words correctly so far and continues to spell them correctly each day we review.  Her handwriting looks pretty good in my opinion ... actually my family and friends say it is better than mine.  So sad! I watch as she writes the words to make sure she is forming the letters correctly.  If she were to have any problems with letter formation, then I would write them on an anecdotal record that I have ready.  For some odd reason, she started wrote her "f" backwards one day.  She found her mistake and now checks to make sure she is writing it correctly.  I have noticed that she is a bit of a perfectionist.  She gets frustrated when things aren't "perfect" or "right" even though whatever is bothering her looks GREAT.  I have told her from the beginning that it is okay to make mistakes and that they are learning opportunities.  She wrote sentences for the last two tests using two of the spelling words.  She writes the sentence herself starting with a capital and punctuates at the end.  So far, punctuation marks have been correct.  In fact, now that I am thinking about it ... she has decided that for EVERY word she will dictate a sentence during tile work.  This can make lessons a bit longer than they are supposed to be.  Not to mention she also likes to do some sort of physical activity while spelling the word (hop tile to tile, dribble a ball, cheer spell, hop backwards, etc.).  These are just a few of the activities that she has created on her own as we work.  She has been enjoying All About Spelling.  Today I asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "My favorite part is the spelling test. What's yours?"  I will post a pic or two of her spelling work but I am not sure you'll be able to see it.  I always let her choose a sticker when she gets them all correct along with a little treat.
*I had to remove two photos because I didn't realize Alyssa wrote her entire name on the paper.  Oh and this is not my first choice for handwriting paper but it is all that we have so we are making it work.  
   
I usually link up at Preschool Corner and 1+1+1=1.  Check the links to see what other families are doing this week.
Thank you for visiting and I hope to hear from you soon!
God bless,
Tracey M.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you Sally! I am so glad you stopped by.

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  2. I am going to be using All About Spelling this Fall. I am nervous about it because I have kids with difficulties, but I am also eager. I love that your daughter was whipping through it. I hope my kids will too. Thanks!

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