Homeschool Friday - 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for 2nd Grade

Homeschool Friday is a feature here at Somewhere Only We Know that showcases books my family reads during homeschool and provides a mini-review/review for each.

180 Days™: Spelling and Word Study for Second Grade

By: Shireen Pesez Rhoades

Publication: January 2, 2019 by Shell Education

240 pages

Genre: Education, Teaching, Subjects, Language Arts

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

( Amazon )

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Edelweiss Description--Help second grade students improve their spelling skills with fun and effective daily practice activities. Focusing on 10 words each week, students will learn spelling rules, patterns, and vocabulary.
Help second grade students improve their spelling skills with fun and effective daily practice activities.

180 Days™: Spelling and Word Study for Second Grade

Focuses on 10 words each week with memorable and repetitive daily activities
Builds students' confidence in spelling with independent learning activities focusing on spelling rules, patterns, and vocabulary
Makes at-home learning, whole class instruction, or small group support, quick and easy
Includes standards-based activities, easy to follow instructions, and an answer key to quickly assess student understanding
Parents appreciate the teacher-approved activity books that keep their child engaged and learning. Great for homeschooling, to reinforce learning at school, or prevent learning loss over summer.

Teachers rely on the daily practice workbooks to save them valuable time. The ready to implement activities are perfect for daily morning review or homework. The activities can also be used for intervention skill building to address learning gaps.

My 7-year-old son who is in 2nd grade struggles with spelling. The language arts curriculum we use includes spelling, but spelling is not a huge focus at this level. And when it is, the words are usually high-frequency words that do not always align with phonics principles. But I've learned through kindergarten and 1st grade that spelling isn't a strength of his. At this point, he tries to spell words without vowels a lot of the time. So I decided that to be effective, we needed to add some additional spelling resources. About the same time, I saw 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade available for review on Edelweiss. The only trouble with using this as an actual curriculum for him is that I can't print any of it for him to actually do the lessons. So I ended up purchasing a different curriculum to use. But in the process, I was able to compare the two. I won't divulge the other curriculum's name since that's not what this review is about.

First off, the difference I noticed between the two is that 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade is a 34-week program that has 10 words per day and is intended to be done 5 days a week. The other program I got was 30 weeks, 10 words per day, 5 days per week. These two curricula only share 47 words out of 340 & 300 words respectively. The difference in the level of words was obvious. 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade had harder words by far. The shortest word included in their list was three letters. The other curriculum had multiple 1-letter and 2-letter words. 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade also includes an entire week devoted to contractions, whereas the other curriculum included 1 contraction. I also noticed an increased level of words with phonics blends in this curriculum compared to the other. 

180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade follows the same pattern for most weeks. Day 1 is using the spelling words in a sentence. Day 2 is synonyms and antonyms. Day 3 is to write a question, statement, and exclamation using one of the words. Day 4 is word endings/suffixes. Day 5 is analogies. There were a few variations, like word sorts, but mostly the weeks followed the same pattern. When compared to the other program I bought, 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade focused more on using the words correctly, grammar, verb tenses, and such. There wasn't as much emphasis on practicing spelling the words, except for using them within the worksheet page for that day. 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade also included a helpful hint for each week to help children. For example: The sc- blend shows up at the beginning of words but never at the end. Instead, use -sk at the end. 

Which is better for your child is going to depend on your child's needs. I haven't had the chance to use either curriculum with my child. But because of his struggles, I'm glad that I have the other curriculum to start with. I worry some of the spelling words in that one will be too easy, but I'd rather start off building confidence than immediately struggling. Although I do think most of the words in 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade could be spelled easily due to the phonetic principles used. Not many words would be confusing. Even still, I think if you have a child who is mid-level for this age range, this curriculum may be exactly what you need. And I like that it does work on grammar and thinking skills, and not just spelling. However, that's not exactly what I'm in the market for. 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade gets 4 Stars from me. Have you or your child used 180 Days of Spelling & Word Study for Second Grade? What did you think? Let me know!