All About Spelling – review

For spelling this year we have been using All About Spelling. I was really impressed when I received the package to see how much was included, and how much of the work had been done for me. I did have to pull the cards apart (they were perforated) and cut apart the letter tiles and stick magnets on the backs of them– but that was a piece of cake compared to making my own from scratch.

The instructions suggest using the tiles on a large magnetic wipe-off board. We happened to already have one, so that set-up worked out great for us. It’s bright… it’s colorful… it has all these fun manipulatives. The real question is: How well does it work as a spelling program? For us, it has been great for remedial work!

We received Levels 1 and 2 to review. My 14-year-old daughter has learning delays, so I just started with Level 1. Turns out, that level was really easy for her. However, the review of the phonics rules as we went through each lesson was just what she needed. We were able to whiz through the whole book pretty quickly, doing two, and sometimes three, lessons a day. Now we are well into Level 2 and we have begun to slow down a bit.

Having the letter tiles and drill cards to use in conjunction with a marker board has been a good combination of hands-on, visual, and auditory learning which seems to be helping the phonics rules stick in my daughter’s memory in a way they never have before. The set also came with a phonogram CD-ROM.

There are five levels with a sixth one in the works. Each level comes with a teacher’s manual and student materials kit (the flash cards and a progress chart).