Spelling Activities

Our group visited websites that help students with spelling.

1. Spelling City
www.spellingcity.com


Spelling city can be used for any age group. I think it could be very useful when studying for a spelling test. The site will test a student after they enter their spelling words. During the test they can click a button and the computer will say the word by itself and in a sentence. I think that is very helpful because the student will know how the word sounds and how to use it in a sentence. There is also a place on the website that will help you learn the words. It will say each letter of the word and then the word in a sentence. This technique can be helpful when a student is having trouble spelling certain words. The website also has a link for activities and games. All the activities and games can be played with the student’s spelling words. I really like this website because I use to have trouble spelling words. I would have found it fun and interesting to play games with my spelling words instead of writing them and trying to memorize them. This website is also very useful because any student in any grade can use it. It is all centered on the student’s spelling words. I would recommend this website to any student especially to a student who is struggling with spelling

Evaluated by: Ashley Chumchal

2. a. Academic Skill Builders: Spelling Bee
www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/spelling-bees/

This website has many tools to use in all areas of a child’s learning. Academic Skill Builders are online educational video games that offer a powerful approach to learning basic math, language arts, vocabulary, and thinking skills.

The spelling activity the website has is great for individuals or multi-players. The website even gives you the NCTM standard strand in case a teacher wants to use it in her classroom for children who are working toward a specific goal. The standard for this game is: Spell correctly high-frequency and commonly misspelled words appropriate to grade level. The object of the game is for students to build beehives by correctly spelling the given computer-voiced words. Whoever builds the highest beehive in the time allowed wins. 1-4 players can play at once. The computer calls out a word and the students must choose the letters and spell it correctly, if they choose the wrong letter, the bee will not add it to the beehive. After an allotted amount of time, whoever has the most words wins. It then gives the students their statistics including their accuracy rate and any word they missed.

I think one of the best things about this activity is the children can play together or alone. The games on the website are also arcade type games which hold a child’s interest while teaching them things at the same time. The website offers numerous spelling games and other games in different areas of learning as well. The games are also research based so you know the children are getting the most out of their time playing the games. Teachers can bring this website into their classrooms with the confidence that their curriculum is being strengthened in regards to state standards. Addressing these standards, in turn, prepares students for the high-stakes, standardized tests that are ever present in elementary education.

The only problem I found with this game was you cannot choose a grade level for the words so using it with younger kids maybe a little difficult because the words are a little more advanced, probably aimed at 3rd grade.
**This was Calli’s first one but since I(Yire) put them all together late, she had to do it again. T.T But I(Yire) decided post both because she introduces her first activity very well.

2. b. Everyday Spelling
www.everydayspelling.com

Everyday Spelling is a website created by the book publisher, Pearson. The website is an online workplace for teachers, parents, and students. The publishers, Pearson Scott Foresman's mission is to provide the very best educational materials in the world. The user can choose a spelling list from grade 1 to grade 8. It is also nice that the website offers different ways of downloading the lists so that it will be compatible for your computer. Under each grade you can find the 25 most frequently misspelled words, audiotape scripts, and spelling strategies. The audiotape scripts have several different lessons under each category. This could help students who are ELLs to hear the words along with seeing them. All of the tips the website provides are backed by research which means they should be useful in the classroom. The only downside I saw for the website is it seems to be more focused on teachers and parents rather than the children. If it had some games for children centered on the spelling words, it would be more useful to the children.
Evaluated by: Callista Young

3. Kids Spell
http://www.kidsspell.com/

Kidsspell.com is a great resource for teaching spelling. It is absolutely free and provides fun ways to improve students spelling. The activities provided will significantly improve student’s ability to learn and retain spelling words. The website provides over six thousand words to practice so it is very useful for many different students depending on the level they are at. You cans select from one of the spelling lists provided or you can create your own. Custom spelling lists can be saved and linked to and from a classroom website. This is great and convenient for teachers. This list can then be used with one or more students to practice current spelling words. All the games and activities on this website will use your own spelling list, reinforcing what is being taught in the classroom. Or you can utilize the compiled series of over four hundred spelling lists. These lists begin with lesson one which is age appropriate for ages six or seven and progress through lesson four hundred and twelve which progress to ages fifteen to eighteen years old. There are numerous activities that if all competing the 412 lessons will take approximately ten years if completed at a pace of one per week. The spelling games have been designed to improve spelling abilities in a fun engaging way that students will love.
Evaluated by: Jennifer Porton

4. Stellar Speller
http://www.candlelightstories.com/games/stellar-speller/

This website helps students with first grade level spelling. There is a fun game that allows them to guess and spell the name of the picture. When the player guesses wrong or uses hints, he does not get any points that raise the power. He is allowed to use hint that reveals the letter one at a time. After clicking the hint once, the first letter is shown. If he keeps clicking, more letters are written. When I get frustrated with certain words, hints help me. This website is a stress-free game website.  After going through once, the player can do it over again and again until he becomes familiar with all the words. Even though there are only little more than 25words, this website can be used for a one-time class activity. This could be a fun activity where a teacher pull out and play with students or test them. And also a good application for this website would be teachers making an activity similar to this website where they prepare pictures and students guess the word. By playing this type of spelling game, students will be more interested in learning because it is fun.
Evaluated by: Yire Lee