A Wonderful Spelling Resource

SpellingCity.com is a wonderful web 2.0 application for use by educators, teachers and students. This free website is an excellent resource for students who are learning how to spell or for practice with vocabulary words.

When you go to the website, the web page is welcoming and easy to use. On the left hand side of the screen is a place where students can put in their own word list, and then click on “test me,” “teach me,” or “play a game.” The “test me” option recites the word for the student, and says it in a sentence so that the students can independently take a practice test and print their results for their parents or teacher. The “teach me” option says the word for the student, spells it as the letters come up on the screen, gives the definition of the word, and then says the word again. The “play a game” option gives them a choice of 12 games and activities: Sentence and Paragraph Writing Practice, Match it, Alphabatize, Hang Mouse, Word Search, Unscramble, Audio Word Match, Which Word, Sentence Unscramble, Missing Letter and Crossword. When looking at the games, they can be sorted into Spelling, Word Meaning, Writing Practice, and Games for Younger Students.

There is a tab at the top of the main page for teachers, which has many resources. There are pre-made lists for teachers to use, training videos, letters to send home to parents, articles about spelling/vocabulary instruction and much more. You can create a free account and upload the lists for your students, and then all they need to do is sign on and log in to have access to their word list. If you choose to create a paid account for SpellingCity, you have access to automatic test grading and record keeping, and premium games for your students. Parents would then also be able to log on and look at their child’s progress.

I look forward to using this in my classroom as a language arts center, and I am hoping to convince my teammates to include this on our spelling homework “Choice Menu” for the students. I really think that my below grade level students would benefit from the games and the “teach me” option.

Kristen

Google Docs- Using Forms in the Classroom

I have recently begun exploring Google Docs, due to the positive experiences I have had with in during collaborative group projects. I recently attended an in-service where I had the opportunity to attend a session on Google Doc that was focused on Google Forms.

I have previously worked with the Interwrite PRS clickers to create interactive assessments for my students, but have had many frustrating experiences with the clickers not being charged and have had a hard time manipulating the software. I was searching for something better to use with my students. I think Google Docs might be my answer.

Using Google Docs, I am able to create assessments for my students that have many types of questions. I like the ability to create an assessment with multiple choice and short answer questions, and I also like the ability to use a “scale” so that students can rank themselves on various subjects so that I can get information about their background knowledge.

While attending the in-service, I was introduced to many of the features of the program. In addition to quickly creating surveys or assessments, you have many options when viewing the results. I was intrigued when I saw that I can view my results in “graph” format, and it instantly gave me inspiration on how I can use this feature with my students during our statistics unit when gathering data and interpreting graphs.

In the next few weeks, I hope to look into how I can use this in my classroom. In addition to classroom use, I think that it could be valuable when planning school wide functions, such as our school’s “SMARTER” night, and the Volunteer Luncheon. I also see it being used within our team to gather information about parent volunteers or contact information.

**Update- Check out this Google Form I made to send to the parents in my classroom!**

I found this great blog entry about Google Forms, which gives a great "how-to" for new users. It's a great resource for new users!

Kristen

Welcome to My Page

Thank you for visiting my page. I will be updating this page with new and exciting Web 2.0 applications that I am using in my 3rd grade classroom.