ULW vs. LLATL

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  • MissusLeata
    Participant

    My 3rd grader has been doing Learning Language Arts through Literature this year. There is so much about this program that I love, but the spelling part I don’t really like.  He gets 6 spelling words a week and I just don’t think he’s going to learn to spell this way.

    So, I was thinking of adding Spelling Wisdom next year. But if I do that, I wonder if I should just switch completely and use Using Language Well. Has anyone seen or used them both that could tell me the differences?

    HollyS
    Participant

    I had similar issues with LLATL.  It really bothered me that they weren’t preparing for their dictation passage!

    We currently use ELTL, but I replace the dictation portion of ELTL with Spelling Wisdom.   If you use both programs, I’d just make sure you are replacing the dictation portion and not using both programs to cover dictation.

    We tried the sample lessons of ULW at the beginning of the year.  It is much lighter than LLATL and significantly less time consuming.  There is no busy work like LLATL contains.

    Rebekah
    Participant

    I have just begun using LLATL orange, I am liking it so far. I have wondered about the spelling, but don’t feel like adding a whole spelling curriculum to it. I’m trying to simplify. I have never used spelling wisdom, do you do a new passage each day or do they repeat it for a week? Would there be some way to use the LLATL passage in a spelling wisdom style way? Perhaps copying the first day, then studying it before the dictation on the last day? Or does spelling wisdom assign a new passage every day? The literature passages in LLATL do seem kind of short, I’ve considered pulling more from the lit book. But I don’t want to make a lot of extra work for myself either and wonder if I should give it a chance.

    HollyS
    Participant

    Rebekah,

    You can easily do that…there is one passage for the week with LLATL.  With Spelling Wisdom, you do one or two passages per week.  The Spelling Wisdom Book 1 passages would be shorter than the LLATL passages from the Orange Book.

    We did 3 levels of LLATL last year and there were some things I liked about it, and some things I didn’t like.  I often cut out “busy work” and had them look over their passage for dictation.  I did have to shorten DS’s passages (he was in the orange book).  The SW passages for the same level are only a sentence or two.

    I prefer the passages in Spelling Wisdom over those used in LLATL and ELTL, so I’ve made the effort to substitute them.  There isn’t anything wrong with the others, but SW seems a bit more thought out to me.

    MissusLeata
    Participant

    The passages in LLATL are too long for dictation for my son. I like the idea of SW because I know they’ve made an effort on that point and on making sure they cover the most used words in the English language.  I like the inclusion of literature in LLATL, but as I look at some of the coming book selections, they aren’t all books I would have my son read.

    But when I look at the sample of ULW, it seems so simple. Will he really get it all that way?

    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    The last couple of pages in the free samples of the Teacher Books list all the points that are covered in that level. Perhaps those lists will help you evaluate whether Using Language Well covers everything you want him to get.

    MissusLeata
    Participant

    Thank you, Sonya. It looks like it does cover plenty.

    Our local co-op teaches Institute in Excellence in Writing, but I don’t think my son will be ready for that intensity in 4th grade. This looks much better.

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