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All About Spelling, Levels One through Four

Publisher: All About Spelling Author: Marie Rippel Review last updated: 2009

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All About Spelling might have been titled All About Reading since this might serve as both a reading and a spelling program. Based on the intensive phonics approach of the Orton-Gillingham methodology, it uses a multi-sensory approach that should work well with most learners. Words are taught by grouping those with similar phonograms or rules to reinforce the generalizations and rules. It might be used for beginning instruction in reading, but you would need to move at a much slower pace with a kindergartner than with a first grader or an older student. "Step One" in the Level One book outlines a basic lesson format to follow for teaching the sounds of the individual letters, including the various possibilities for vowels and consonants such as "g." Color-coded cards are used for teaching the phonograms. This could take a year with a younger student with no previous instruction while an older student might breeze through a number of letters per day.

Continuing in Level One, after introducing the letters and their sounds, the program helps children "segment" words by identifying the sounds within words. Color-coded letter tiles are introduced, first for learning how to alphabetize the tiles, then for constructing words. When children learn a phonogram, they also learn all the sounds of that phonogram (e.g., the two sounds of the letter "g" and the various sounds for each vowel.) Children learn to read and spell simultaneously once they start creating words. They also begin taking dictation early in the program, so that by the end of Step 10 they are writing several phrases such as "big dog" each day. Note that children respond to the first dictation by identifying letter tiles rather than writing. Soon they begin responding to dictation by writing on lined paper. All of this happens in Steps 1 through 11, any of which Steps might take many days or many months to complete depending upon the student.

Step 12 introduces consonant digraphs "th," "sh," and "ch," and continues from there to add more challenging phonograms and compound words as well as syllabication.

All About Spelling will soon be releasing a set of beginning readers to accompany the program for those teaching children to read since in these early stages children need lots and lots of reading practice. The readers won't be needed if you are using this as a spelling program. All About Spelling Level One might also be used with students who are already reading but are weak on the phonics connection to spelling. Most students should begin at Level One, even if they are in third or fourth grade.

There are three essential components you need for Level One of All About Spelling: the book which serves as both teacher and student book, the Material Packet, and the Letter Tile Packet. For each of the other levels, you need only the book and Material Packet.

The Material Packet for Level One has filing dividers and flashcards (with phonograms, sounds for dictation, rules, and spelling words) to cut out and put into your own filing box (recipe card size), plus a few tokens to use during the lessons, a progress chart, and a completion certificate. The Material Packet for each subsequent level uses some items from this packet, adding phonogram cards, rule cards, spelling word cards, and other items, including a progress chart and completion certificate.

The letter tiles are one-inch square laminated tiles for all of the letters and phonograms. If you wish, you can purchase magnetic strips from All About Spelling to "magnetize" your tiles and store them on a magnetic board. (You will need to supply your own 2' x 3' magnetic board. Author Marie Rippel recommends that you look for an erasable whiteboard that is also magnetic.) If you don't magnetize the tiles, you can either store them in baggies to put out for each lesson or organize them on some other surface where they can remain undisturbed between lessons. Labels for various groups of tiles as well as an organizing diagram are included so you can arrange the tiles in organizational categories. Some children will not need the hands-on work with letter tiles. For those students, Rippel suggests that you write out words on paper or a white board instead.

The flash cards from Level One, with the exception of the spelling word cards, are all used again in Levels Two through Four. The tiles are also used at all levels.

An optional audio CD titled The Basic Phonograms helps parents/teachers master the sounds themselves before teaching them to their students.

Level Two quickly reviews Level One content in Step 1, then adds 11 more phonograms. The program emphasizes rules and generalizations for reading and spelling, and syllabication plays an increasingly important role. For example, they learn rules such as those on Key Card 5 that teach that the vowel in a closed syllable is usually short; the vowel in an open syllable is usually long. Syllable "tags" in the Material Packet are added to the letter tiles to be used in Level Two lessons. "Rule breakers" such as "of" and "was" are taught at this level, but there are very few such "sight words." The amount of dictation expands to several phrases and sentences per day. Level Two, as with Level One, might take more or less time to complete depending upon the student.

An older student who might have learned to read using a less rule-oriented program could probably start at Level Two. However, you would need the Material Set from Level One for the flashcards and you would need the Letter Tiles. The vocabulary for level two ranges from simple words like "cake," "late," and "car" to a few more challenging and possibly unfamiliar words such as "compost," "humid," and "prevent."

Level Three adds suffix tiles as well as syllable tags to the letter tile collection. In addition to work on suffixes and syllables, silent "e" words receive more attention this year as students complete the Silent E Book that comes in the Material Packet. More challenging phonograms such as the sounds of "oo" and ways to spell /k/ are taught along with contractions and homophones. The level of difficulty advances gently from Level Two whereas the jump from Level One to Level Two seems more significant. Spelling words taught in Level Three are generally longer and more complex with words such as "childhood," "graceful," "we'll," and "giggle" being representative.

Level Four adds prefix tiles to the tile set, then continues to advance with more challenging phonograms such as the four sounds of "y" and "eigh." The six types of syllables, syllable division rules, and spelling strategies are also taught at this level. An example of dictation sentences from the beginning and end of this level respectively are:

"None of the students took the test today." and "My mother has hundreds of photographs in the attic." Examples of some of the more difficult words taught are "chimney," "eighteen," and "unhinged."

Two more books will be added to this series (due in 2009) with the idea that it should cover spelling instruction up to ninth grade.

Although this is a very rules-oriented program, the multi-sensory dimension helps students to be successful, somewhat similar to the way some of the Writing Road to Reading-based programs function. All About Spelling addresses the three learning modalities in these ways:

Visual: new letter and phonogram combinations as well as spelling words are demonstrated with letter tiles and by writing them down. Phonogram, rule, and word cards also provide visual cues.

Auditory: lessons are taught aloud, and flashcards are reviewed orally. When learning new words, students hear themselves say the sounds as they write the corresponding phonograms.

Kinesthetic: children build new words from letter tiles; write dictated phonograms, words, phrases, and sentences; and handle flashcards.

Obviously, this is not as multi-sensory as programs that include songs and games, but it should be fine for the needs of most children.

All About Spelling does not teach handwriting or letter formation. You might incorporate whatever style you wish to use into this program if you are teaching a young child who has not yet learned to write.

Books and cards are non-consumable so you might use the program with more than one child. However, interactive work with the tiles and flashcards makes it challenging to teach more than one student at a time. Also, each Material Packet includes only one progress chart and completion certificate, although these are not critical items. Ideally, each child should have his or her own Material Packet so you can customize the review portion of the lesson. As the child moves through the program, flashcards are sorted behind dividers labeled "Review" and "Mastered," and these would be organized for each child.

One of the most impressive features of this program is the instruction for teachers. Lessons are explained quite thoroughly, and they include teaching tips and cautions regarding common problems where pertinent in each lesson. This eliminates the need for parents/teachers to first read through a separate manual for teachers—you learn as you go--when you need the information.

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