All About Reading (Level 1) Review

I’m not sure who is more scared  – me or my daughter?  When we started homeschooling, my oldest two were already introduced to reading.  I didn’t have to “teach” them, we just needed to practice to get better.  Now, I am here with my seven year old and she is unfortunately behind in her reading – mostly because of me.  (That’s a sad statement – isn’t it?)

I started her out last year with Dick & Jane books.  I figured “that’s how it’s been done for generations. Why should I purchase a kit when I have plenty of those lying around?”  I thought they were working well, except, she is terrified to read anything else.  I can’t get her to read any beginning readers books.  So, when I heard about All About Reading, I jumped at the chance!

All About Reading – Level 1

We received All About Reading Level 1 and the Deluxe Reading Interactive Kit to use with our daughter Jackie.  I am very impressed with what we received and she is beyond thrilled.

• Teacher’s Manual
• Student Packet – Blast Off to Reading Activity Book
• Student Packet – 32 perforated Phonogram Cards
• Student Packet – 174 perforated Word Cards
• Student Packet – Viewfinder Bookmark
• Reader, Volume 1 – Run, Bug, Run!
• Reader, Volume 2 -The Runt Pig
• Reader, Volume 3 – Cobweb the Cat
• Interactive Reading Kit - Smiling Star Stickers
• Interactive Reading Kit – Letter Tiles & Magnets
• Interactive Reading Kit – Phonogram CD-ROM
• Interactive Reading Kit – Reading Divider Cards & Review Box
• Interactive Reading Kit – Tote Bag

Teacher’s Manual

As I stated before, with the upcoming arrival of our fifth child, I haven’t been able to plan the way I would normally.  Thankfully, everything I need to know is in the Teacher’s Manual – all set up and ready to go!

When I received our set, the Teacher’s Manual walked me through the assembly of the letter tiles, phonogram & word cards, how to set up everything, and what the packages included.  It even told me how long it may take  me to prepare everything! It took me a little longer, but I had a general idea and I thought that was nice.

Now that we have moved into the program, I can easily take five minutes to setup our dining room table with everything I will need, do a quick read-through of the day’s lesson, and begin.

Saving time is important to me right now and this program does it! Taking out the guesswork!

Want to see for yourself?  View the Teacher’s Manual Sample.

Magnetic Board and Letter Tiles:

Magnetic letter tiles are included and recommended to be used on a 2′H x 3′W magnet board. I don’t have one, so I improvised with an old cookie sheet.  It fits perfectly inside the carrying bag.

This means I’m not following the same setup for the “Letter Tile Layout”.  Instead I have my “board” setup using only the tiles we are working with.  I understand that I will need to find an appropriate board for when we are working with all of the letters, however, this is working for now.

I used the consonant and vowel headings at the top and bottom. The consonant letters we have previously learned are above the heading.  The vowel’s learned are below the vowel heading.  The letters in the middle are our new sounds for the lesson at hand.

*Note: You have the option of not attaching the magnets to the letter tiles and using them on a table top instead.  Because we have a 2 year old who frequently jumps up to see what we are doing, I decided that the 60+ tiles would survive better if I utilized the above described method instead.

Blast Off to Reading Activity Book:

Jackie loves the activity book!  Ordinarily I do not permit my children to write in the books that come with our packages. However, because this book is priced affordably, I can easily replace it for our next new reader. So for once, I allowed it and she feels ultra special!

On day two we had an adorable ice cream activity and it got me thinking -we should be saving this somewhere special! So, I pulled out a piece of poster board and we now keep all of her work displayed on it.  Once it is too full to use, I will simply grab another from my stash and continue on.

Another great benefit of everything being on the poster is that it is easily available to us for review.  We had to stop at lesson 3 as she was getting overwhelmed with all of the new words she was learning.  It was easy to make the next day a review and use her work as reminders because it was in one place, already displayed.

Please visit All About Learning to view a sample of what is included in Blast Off to Reading.  There you can see what we have worked on and what we have yet to complete.

Phonogram CD-ROM:

What does Jackie love almost as much as the activities? This simple little CD-ROM.  She loves to play around with the sounds.  She asks to use it on her own after each lesson while I am cleaning up!

This simple option is very helpful.  I found myself pronouncing the sounds incorrectly until I listened to the corrections offered with this program.

Visit All About Learning Press to preview a Demo of this program.

The Books:

As I am new to teaching reading, I can’t say too much about the stories.  They seem simple, the illustrations are very detailed in black and white.  Jackie thinks they should be colored with her crayons! She hasn’t tried, but she made the suggestion.  We have not read from the books yet as the first occurrence happens in Lesson 5.

Again, they have wonderful sample opportunities on their website for each book! (Run, Bug, Run Sample, The Runt Pig Sample, Cobweb the Cat Sample)

Mommy’s New Reader Diary:

I wanted to provide you with my thoughts on this process. This is a new experience for me and probably one of the most frightening for many homeschooling parents as reading is second nature to us. We learn it at such a young age that we often forget how it’s done.  Our expectations are all over the board and the struggle is seldom discussed with other homeschooling parents…who wants to admit that their child is in 2nd grade and can’t read because [the parent] is struggling to teach it?

Day 1:

I have looked through today’s lesson and much of it appears to be words she has already learned.  Maybe this won’t be as hard for her to get into…

We completed our first lesson of All About Reading today.  I’ll admit, I’m still terrified.  I got a little discouraged when one of the words was “am” for her first word cards and she didn’t catch it. How could she not catch it when we have been using that word in her reading for a year now? I tried to stay calm and let her figure it out – but it was hard.  Right now, this hormonal pregnant lady wants to cry.

I rapped up the afternoon’s lesson letting her play with The Basic Phonograms DVD on the computer and scoot around the letter tiles on the “magnetic board”. Maybe a little unplanned play with the manipulatives will help.

Day 2:

I’m scared to move past yesterday’s lesson.  I have searched the website for additional supplemental pages that I could printout from yesterday’s lesson but I didn’t find one.  I did see where they offer a supplement file folder games with Ziggy package… I’m wishing I had that right now.

Since I couldn’t find another worksheet to print for reinforcement, I opted for redoing yesterday’s lesson and then moving forward to Lesson 2.  It went great.  I am very surprised at how well she did today.  Maybe she just needed to get adjusted to the new system.  I feel much better about today’s progress.

Jackie just told me “I love my new reading program!  That was a lot of fun!”  I don’t know if it was the lesson having a more interactive worksheet/activity or not, but she’s happy!

Day 3:

I feel great, I’m ready, I prepared everything in advance and we are ready to go!  Although this is a longer lesson, I think she will make it through it…

That was terrible.  I feel like it is the first day again.  She starred at the cards from yesterday that she did so well on, and today’s cards were a complete mystery for her. Her sounds are great, she sounds out the word great, but she isn’t making that connection between the sounds and the final word.  Example:  She sounded out “sat” and she told me “sit”; she sounded out “jam” and told me “jelly”; she sounded out “sad” and told me “mad”… she is in the right area, but not quite the same word…. I have no idea.

We didn’t finish today’s lesson.  I concluded it after the activity worksheets and didn’t move forward.  She was tired, I was tired, there was no need to push her further.

Day 4:

We are not moving past Lesson 3 since we didn’t complete it yesterday.  My course of action for today is to review what we have learned thus far and rap-up Lesson 3.

The review went well. (I didn’t find myself screaming the answers in my head) We may do another review day tomorrow as she still hasn’t mastered enough for me to feel comfortable with her moving on.  I think I am going to purchase the Ziggy Supplement Package after I talk to my husband.

Mommy’s New Reader Diary – To be Continued

Is your child ready to read?  Find out for sure by completing this checklist.

Please visit All About Learning Press for more information on this program, along with their many other options.  They even have an All About Reading Pre-Reading Program that is super cute.  Your little one will have lots of fun with Ziggy the Zebra!  (It’s on my wish list for when Jagger is ready. Yes, I realize he is only two – who says I can’t plan ahead?)

DenSchool would like to extend a special thank you to our Sponsor, Cook Family Chronicles.

*Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary All About Reading Level 1 and the Deluxe Reading Interactive Kit for the purpose of facilitating my review. No monetary compensation was given. All opinions expressed herein are unbiased and not influenced by the developing company or its affiliates in any way.*