Spelling City

Vocabulary Spelling City is a application that is great for teachers, students and parents. This is a new application that can be incorporated with lessons, homework, extra credit, or something as simple as extra practice for the students while they are not in the classroom. Vocabulary Spelling City is a fun way to learn spelling and vocabulary words by playing engaging games using any word list. The most popular activities are Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, and our vocabulary and phonics games, available to Premium Members. The most popular word lists are Sound Alikes, Compound Words, Hunger Games and SAT Words. The free app includes ten of our most popular learning activities and ten of our most popular word lists.

Spelling TestMe is a spelling test that reads each word aloud, uses it in a sentence, and repeats the word. Students can work at their own pace and receive instant feedback upon submitting the completed test.HangMouse is a VocabularySpellingCity favorite that lets children decode each word in a friendly version of traditional Hangman. Kids love trying to figure out the word before the cat catches the mouse.Missing Letter is a fun game for kids of all ages. Even the youngest learners can practice letter recognition by trying to find the missing letter that completes each spelling or vocabulary word.Alphabetize is an activity that can be used to practice putting words in alphabetical order, a vital early literacy skill. Students love to play ABC order activities and games. There are so many more options for the students to engage in this this application and starting it in class with the teacher will make them get into a habit, and then it will be like second nature to them to want to learn.

Something that I noticed about this application is that it is for all ages and that I feel should have been separated into two different applications one for the younger students using it and then another for the high school students/parents that may be using it for learning the SAT words and possibly just trying to expand their vocabulary with a few words per day. Another aspect of the application that I noticed myself was all the glitches that were visible when clicking to play some of the games. I noticed there were many updates for the application that was said to fix it, but it was clear they were still visible when playing the games. While looking at the reviews for Spelling City many of the comments seem to have a negative side on how for younger students it was frustrating using the application because it is geared towards older participants.

I found a way that I would incorporate into my classroom by having the students get the application on a device that is available in their home and have them do at least 10 minutes a night going over words. This will also get the parents more involved with eh student and their learning. This is very similar to those parents who read to their kids every night now they can add 10 minutes on a technology devices getting some spelling words in, to widen their vocabulary. The students would then get credit towards their participations and possibly be homework hours if they screen shot that will show the levels and how they had progressed in the game.

This Spelling City Application may seem to have many bad reviews and then some to love the application. Depending on who you are and what you are looking to get ot of this application is going to determine if you give it a good review or a bad review,expect the reviews that in tail the creator needs to fix all the glitches and games that do not work for many of its customers.

References

"Teacher References." Teaching Resources. Vocabulary Spelling City, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

"A Learning Journey." : Schoolhouse Review: Vocabulary Spelling City. N.p., 15 Aug. 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.