A flexible spelling program, designed to practice words by spelling rule, but incorporating high-frequency sight words and additional words of your choice. This allows you to include content-area words from other subject areas or words your child has misspelled in writing. Another nice feature is the upgrading of the lesson if a child misses less than two words on the pretest. Words with the same phonetic or spelling rule, but at a higher reading level, are substituted for those on the original list. For example, if words like “tire”, “hole”, and “mistake” are no challenge, they are replaced by words like “telephone”, “useful” and “earthquake”. As you might guess, this lesson’s rule is “Words with Silent e”. An “outlaw” word for the lesson is “whole”, since it doesn’t conform to its sound. After the pretest, the student uses the words in the list in games and activities throughout the week. According to research referenced here, students more easily retain information that’s practiced in regular, short intervals than for a longer time less frequently. Exercises appear varied, educational, and interesting, giving the students experience writing and working with the words before the post test.

Cartoonish blackline illustrations liven the text and would be fun to color in as a reward for good work. Teacher guides are optional, providing an answer key for the exercises. You should not need them at this level, but they are inexpensive and will help busy moms save time.

Customer Reviews

 
Stephanie M. from Dallas, GA wrote the following on 08/28/2007:
After trying several different spelling programs with my daughter, this one is what fits. The lessons are quick, taking only about fifteen minutes a day. The lessons are adaptable to change. You can substitute list words the may already know with more difficult ones and you can also add extra words to the wordlist. The workbooks are black and white with cute line drawings throughout (much like the Explode the Code books, and by the same publisher). My daughter actually enjoys spelling now and her spelling skills have improved vastly!

 
Rebecca H. from Utah wrote the following on 10/25/2007:
This is the second spelling program we've tried. The first had beautiful colored glossy pages and my daughter hated it. We are loving Spellwell. My daughter is 6 1/2 yrs old and a good reader who is handling Level A very well so far. As parents we were not sure about the pressure of "tests", but she really likes the spelling test at the end of the week. As a previous reviewer said, it takes about 15 minutes per day. What I really like is that instead of asking questions such as "which words have 2 vowels" or "which word rhymes with book" every week, the exercises are typically fill in the blank, unscrambling words and sentences, and vocabulary related. This means she is using these words in sentences and understanding their meanings. So far my daughter is retaining the spelling knowledge, and proud of her work.