ClarkClan Craziness: Review–VocabularySpellingCity

VocabularySpellingCity.com
Free Activities or Premium (paid) membership
For ages Kindergarten through High School
Premium membership – $29.99/year up to 5 students

About the Website

We have used VocabularySpellingCity’s free version for a year or so. It is a great resource to turn to when helping kids with their spelling. You can choose lists or enter your kids words and they can play games or test themselves on it. We had been very happy with the free version.

But when I was given a chance to review the Premium membership, I jumped at the chance. The Premium membership takes all the free features and then expands the scope and breadth of the activities. It is almost overwhelming with all the features included for spelling, vocabulary, language arts, and writing.

I guess starting at the beginning is a very good place to start., with the parent log-in. When a parent logs in,. they are taken to the Premium Parent Toolbox. Here you can edit your profile, manage your lists, make and review assignments, see test results, review writing as well as keep track of all your students.

One of the neatest features about VocabularySpellingCity is the ability to assign different lists to different students. You can choose from a pre-made list, (there are thousands of ready to use lists) or you can enter your own words. You can let your students work with the lists on their own, finding games, testing themselves etc., or you can create assignments that your student must follow. Activities are graded and recorded. You can even choose to have the students take their test online so all spelling can be done on the computer.

The Premium membership also includes Teaching Resources. There are four categories in the Teaching Resources: Language Arts Lessons, Useful Word Lists, Articles, Help & Information. Within these categories are video lessons, classroom ideas, printable worksheets, vocabulary lists, Educational resources and much more. Online instruction can be followed up with a printed worksheet for extra practice. No time to make a list? Find one to use in the Useful Word lists. There are subject specific lists as well as Dolch-Sight word lists.

We used the spelling/vocabulary portions of VocabularySpellingCity the most. Some weeks I added my own lists, and some I used pre-made lists. Both worked equally well. With three kids at home, it was nice to be able to let them get on the computer for 20 –30 minutes and know their spelling was done for the day, and they were not complaining about having to do it.

I was very surprised one day when Rebekah chose, on her own, to write a paragraph. She was given a word bank and had to use all the words in the paragraph. It amazed me to see her laughing and typing while working for over an hour (this is a long time for Rebekah to work on one subject). She was so proud to read her story to me after she was finished.

Another feature I utilized with Rebekah and Miriam was the printable handwriting pages. They are both learning cursive and it was nice to be able to combine both spelling and cursive practice.

The assignments feature is really neat as well. I choose what list I want and then choose assignments. I can choose up to ten different activities to work. I can choose to let them pick the activities or choose to have them done in a certain order. These assignments are automatically graded and I can see the results on my administrator page.

Sarah, who is 16 and attending a private school, was able to use her smartphone and the VocabularySpellingCity app to study for her 11th grade English class. She has a vocabulary list every week in which she has to learn the definitions and how to spell each word. I took her list, entered it for her and she was able to study on her own.

Recommendation

My kids said they highly recommend VocabularySpellingCity. They liked the games, they liked taking the test on the computer, they even liked the printable pages I ran off for them. When I asked them what they thought about the program, Ben, Rebekah, and Miriam all told me the same thing: “We really like it! Can we keep it?”