As part of the TOS Crew I was given the opportunity to review Spelling City.

A little about Spelling City, they offer the following:

* Over 42,000 spelling words and customizable sentences
* A REAL person who says each word and sentence
* Free home pages for teachers and parents to save lists
* Teacher training videos to show teachers and parents how to use SpellingCity.com
* Customizable sentences for words with multiple meanings (e.g., a scale for weighing, to scale a mountain, the scale on a map)
* Free printable handwriting worksheets for handwriting practice with your saved lists
* Free teaching resources with lists and lesson plans for teaching high frequency words, compound words, sound-alike words (their, there, they’re), contractions, possessives, and more. There are also lists for learning state capitals.
* Twelve games to play online or to print: Spelling, Word Meaning, Vocabulary, Alphabetical Order
* A free forum and newsletters with more vocabulary and spelling resources

My 12 year old son Dakota and I worked on this website first together. The website took a minute to figure out where to sign in and where to start. After a few clicks we found our way into the site and began our tour. We tend to create our own spelling lists but because we had not started any of our “official school year” yet I was more than happy to use the grade level lists available. The teaching part of the site works by saying the word, spelling it, using it in a sentence. Dakota enjoyed being able to take a spelling test online and have the “teacher” read the words aloud and use them in a sentence if needed. I liked that after he took the test he could tell me his score.

Spelling City is $24.99 for a family of up to 5 students for a year, or $49.99 for a classroom for up to 30 students. Included With Premium Membership, you get:

1. Automatic test grading and student grade book
2. Complete activity tracking of all student activities
3. Access to SpeedySpeller and LetterFall, our Premium Games
4. Telephone support

They have a play a game section which has 14 different games to choose from including fun titles such as HangMouse, Crossword, Which Word and more.

In closing, while I have always enjoyed doing spelling on our own, I find the ease and the appeal of the games and self-lead tests changing my mind. If you are looking for a great spelling program to use with ease, Spelling City is definitely one I would recommend.

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for my thorough use and honest review of them. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.

2 comments:

BBat50 said...

Thanks for the review. Since you wrote this, the site has been augmented and renamed. It's now: Vocabulary SpellingCity.com.

The big change is the addition of definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and vocabulary.

Sarah said...

Thank you for the update on the website! We reviewed this in the fall and I just brought all my private blog posts to my public blog.