Vocabulary & Spelling City

One of my boys' favorite online sites is www.spellingcity.com.  My boys laugh hysterically at "Hang Mouse" and "Word-O-Rama" games. The original purpose of the site was to allow parents and teachers a fun way for their children to practice and learn their spelling words.  Recently they expanded the site to include vocabulary practice as well. 

The site is completely customizable.  A parent or teacher can type in a given list of words for their student/child to practice.  The student can then choose from a number of options; "Teach Me", "Take a Test", or "Play a Game" to name a few. 

You can also search the community database for lists that were created by another user.  To do this simply click on "Find a List" from the top menu buttons and choose the appropriate search.

I have created a number of spelling lists you can use to get started. Select "Parent Name" next to the search and enter "TinaMarie Otto" to find them. There is an imposter using "Tina Marie Otto" (Hee, Hee), so be sure to leave out the space.  You can import these into your own User ID or you can keep coming back to my lists.

• Dolch Sight Words - This currently includes 6 lists of Pre-K to First Grade Dolch Site Words you can import the rest from this link on Spelling City http://www.spellingcity.com/dolch-words.html
  
• Most Used Words - This currently comprises 15 lists that encompass the 300 most used words in printed material per this site http://www.duboislc.org/EducationWatch/First100Words.html
• Mr. Q Elementary Chemistry Vocabulary - This list includes all the Vocabulary from Mr. Q Elementary Chemistry by Unit. I have added this list to Spelling City with permission from "Mr. Q".  

Most of the spelling games and features are available for free.  If however you want to use the vocabulary tools and games you'll need to join.  The fee is only $30 a year and includes tracking for up to five students/children.   I have yet to use the tracking but I plan to start soon.
 

I expanded my use of the program from spelling to vocabulary because I wanted my children to have a way to review the vocabulary from their Chemistry Course, and since they enjoy using this site it seemed a perfect fit.  I'm hoping this will really solidify the chemistry basics they are learning this year, and I thought it might be of use to those of you also using Mr. Q.  I have currently only created a list for "Unit 1" vocabulary but I will be adding all the units as we progress through the year.

Spelling City has many more potential uses, such as "Analogies", and "Homophone" learning and games.  It is definitely worth taking some time to play around and see how it may be of use.