All About Spelling Level 1 and 2 - A Review

Products: All About Spelling Level 1 and 2

Company: All About Learning Press, Inc.

Price: Prices vary per product. See List.

Where to purchase: All About Spelling

Brief Overview: "All About Spelling" is a multi-sensory program for spelling success. It includes step-by-step lesson plans, teaching tools for interactive learning, and a built-in daily review. It is customizable for most every student.

In-Depth Look: I received Level 1 and Level 2 of "All About Spelling".

Level 1: Level 1 includes a set of AAS letter tiles, a phonogram CD-Rom, and a material packet. You will need to provide an index card box and lined notebook paper. Optional items are stickers or colored pencils for the Progress Chart, letter tile magnets and a magnet board.

The program focuses on all 3 learning styles. Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Students tend to retain more when the lesson uses all 3 styles.

Visual - watching the color-coded letter tiles, seeing the words written down, looking at review flashcards

Auditory - reviewing flashcards orally, segmenting words aloud, saying sounds of phonograms

Kinesthetic - writing down dictated phonograms, phrases, & sentences, building new words with tiles, and practicing spelling on various surfaces with pointer finger

Through hands-on work and continual review, your child will learn 32 phonograms, how to hear individual sounds, how to represent sounds using phonograms, and solid spelling rules.

There are 4 types of flashdcards. They will be kept in a "Spelling Review Box", also known as a file box.
Phonograms - Yellow cards offer visual and verbal review. 32 phonogram cards are included.
Sounds - Red cards offer aural and tactile review. 32 sound cards are included.
Keys - Blue cards reinforce new concepts. 16 key cards are included.
Words - Green cards offer aural, verbal, and tactile review.

The goal of the review box is permanently ingrained learning. This is by beginning each day's lesson with a review of the previous material.

Each lesson is spelled out clearly. The program tells you exactly what order to go in and even what to say to your child. There is very little pre-planning and very little setup required. It is extremely user-friendly for a homeschool parent to use.

The basic premise for each lesson is the same, broken down into 6 steps.
1. Read the lesson before you teach it.
2. Gather the materials listed in the "you will need section".
3. A time of review.
4. Teach new concepts. All you need to do is follow the script. Very simple.
5. Dictation.
6. File flashcards in either the Review or the Mastered dividers in the Spelling Review Box.

In addition, the lessons have "Don't forget" reminders and lots of tips. As I said, it is definitely set up to help you succeed as a teacher, so that your student can succeed as a speller. One of the best tips is to bring a great attitude and to praise your child when he does well. I love this quote that they included.
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." - Mother Teresa

Level 1 starts at the very beginning for pre-readers. Your child will learn the first 26 phonograms in the 1st lesson. It then continues to segmenting words, such as the first sound and the last sound of the word. Not the letter, but the sound. Your child will learn consonant vs. vowel and long vowel vs. short vowel. digraphs such as "sh" and "ch". Lessons will cover syllables, blends, c vs. k, doubling some letters (f, l, and s) at the end of a word, compound words, and plurals. Students will learn to recognize if a syllable is open or closed.

The back of the book includes a Certificate of Achievement and a Scope and Sequence.



Level 2 -You will need the Level 2 material packet, the AAS letter tiles, phonogram CD-Rom, Index card box, yellow colored pencil and lined notebook paper. From Level 1, you will need the phonogram cards 1- 32 and the sound cards 1 - 32. Optional items are stickers or colored pencils for the Progress Chart, Letter tile magnets, and magnet board.

Same as Level 1, Level 2 uses all three of the learning styles to help reinforce concepts for long-term retention. The same four types of flashcards are used again.
Phonogram - 32 phonogram cards from Level 1, 11 new ones from Level 2
Sounds - 32 from Level 1, 11 new ones from Level 2
Key - 9 key cards are included in Level 2
Words - Each contains a word to spell in Level 2

Each lesson is set up the same as in Level One, with six easy steps, reading scripts for the parent and built-in daily review.

Eleven new phonograms are taught in Level 2. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the sounds, so that you can teach your child. Listening to the CD is a great way to do this. Also familiarize yourself with the best way to set up the letter tiles, either on a magnet board or a table, leaving working space for your child to spell the words.

After learning how to spell with closed syllables in Level 1, you now study four more kinds of syllables (Open, Vowel-Consonant-E, Vowel Team, R-controlled and C+le). Learning to recognize syllable types will be a tremendous help to your child in the more advanced levels.

A cute idea is the "jail" for rule-breaker words. There is a jail card in the material packet. When your child learns a new word that doesn't follow the rules, he gets to put in "jail". This helps to make the word stick for him. Neat idea!

Lesson 1 is a quick review of Level One. From there, you will cover blends, syllable types and divisions, silent E, C vs. K, plurals, and vowel teams. You will study the sound of "er", "ar" and "or". It covers the soft sounds of C and G.

The end includes a Certificate of Achievement and a Scope and Sequence.



My thoughts: I enjoyed the ease of use of this program. All the important stuff is included. The rest of the required materials are easy to find. The lessons are very detailed and thorough and even scripted.

I appreciate the variety of ways that it uses to help the concept stick. Using letter tiles, tokens, flashcards, etc. Offering creative ways to help retention, such as writing the letters with your finger on a piece of carpet or writing a word with your finger in pudding. These are the kinds of things that help keep the lessons from getting monotonous and help use different learning styles to help your child remember.

I also appreciate that the program includes dictation. I think this is an important skill to master. To be able to hear the spoken word and put it to paper.

To read other crew members reviews, click here. (The link is not yet active. So I will update this post once it is.)


Disclaimer: I received All About Spelling Levels One and Two free of charge to review, as part of the TOS Crew. The above is just my opinion. Please remember that opinions may, and do, vary.