Robin Talkowski’s Blog: Reading & Technology

I love it when good web sites continue to get better! When I first started using Spelling City, it was already great – you were able to create a spelling list for your students, and they could choose a number of games to practice their words. Fun and Learning – what could be better?

From a teacher’s perspective, it became a lot better. Spelling City became Vocabulary Spelling City. Now you can work on word meanings as well as correct spelling. You can even import spelling lists that others have created. I use parts of a spelling program called Words Their Way. Someone else had already created spelling lists for all of Words Their Way lists, so with a click or two I imported all these lists saving me tons of time. For a small cost you can also get the Premium Edition. The Premium Edition has many great features. Some of my favorites are having students take spelling pre- and post- tests on-line so no paper is needed. You can see which words students miss on the pre-test, so direct instruction can be targeted to specific needs. You can also assign students specific word lists and activities. Plus, you can log on and see if students actually logged on to Vocabulary Spelling City AND tell how long they remained on each activity. Last year my 7th grade students were really surprised when I told them how long they spent on their vocabulary homework! It helped greatly to keep students accountable. The Premium Edition also enables the teacher to create groups and assign different spelling/vocabulary lists to different groups. Differentiation could not be easier.

Students also like Vocabulary Spelling City because it provides a quick and easy way to learn vocabulary words and spell them accurately. Word Search and Hang Mouse are two of their favorite activities.

I’ve been given a premium membership to VocabularySpellingCity.com for a candid, personal, online review.