Friday, September 3, 2010

TOS Crew Review~~Spelling City Premium Membership


We have used Spelling City before.  When we were contacted to try their Premium Membership as a part of the TOS Crew we were excited! 

For a family (up to 5 students), the fee is only $24.99. You can pay with a credit card, PayPal, check, or purchase order.


 
Spelling City is an online resource that has:

•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

With each spelling list, students can choose one of three options:

•Test Me repeats each spelling word with a live voice and uses it in a sentence.
•Teach Me spells and displays the word in ways that stimulate memory for visual and verbal learners.
•Play a Game uses your spelling list in educational games that teach spelling, word meaning, vocabulary, and alphabetical order.

After taking an online spelling test, students can print out a report, retake the entire test, or get tested only on the spelling words they got wrong the first time.

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


Our thoughts:
We really like Spelling City.  I used it for their spelling tests.  I like that I can enter the words from our kids text books and they can take the test.  Something about being on the computer taking a test makes the kids love their spelling tests. 

Each of my kids used this at their own pace.  I would usually have them go through the routines regarding their spelling lists, write their words 3 times each, write their words in a sentence ect ect.  They dreaded spelling...frankly so did I.  I had to pour over their work they had just done. 

Now my kids look forward to Spelling!  Most importantly they are learning their spelling words.  Now instead of conversations like this:
Mom: "K have you done your spelling assignment?"
K: *sighhhhhhh* "No"
Mom: "You have to do it or no TV time."
K: "Fine! I'll do it then but I hate spelling!"

I now have conversations like this:
K: "Mom is it time for spelling?"
Mom: "Not yet."
K: "Aww Mom I want to do my spelling."
Mom: "How can I argue with that?!"

Spelling City is a wonderful tool that will excite your children about working on their spelling skills.  Remember they are just that...skills.  It takes time to spell words correctly.

**I received this item from Spelling City as part of the TOS Crew for the purpose of review. In exchange for my honest review of this product.   Thank you to TOS and Spelling City for the use of this product. If you'd like to read further reviews on this product, please go HERE.



5 comments:

Dawn said...

ha ha ha - cute review with good info!

Conny said...

my daughter's teacher just started using spelling city! i'd never heard of it until she did. now here it is again on your blog ....

Joy said...

Ah, so it's about $25 a year for up to 5 kids? That is affordable. I might look into that to add some fun for spelling. How many words are you allowed to put in one list?

momma24 said...

Great Review! My kids loved it too!

Catherine said...

My boys liked this one, too. You did a great job with the review.