Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Getting started with Vocabulary and SpellingCity is simple! The easiest way to get started is to watch one of our training videos or use our helpful step-by-step getting started pages. Any other questions can be found in FAQ's. Please feel free to contact us with questions too!

Need Help Getting Started? We have a variety of helpful tools!
How do Teachers/Parents get started with their free membership?
The basics of using Vocabulary and SpellingCity in your classroom or home.
How to create and save lists.
Students using Vocabulary and SpellingCity without a teacher or parent.
Teachers/Parents who purchase the Premium Membership upgrade.
Students with Premium Membership.
Student sentence and paragraph writing activities.
Games and Learning Activities!

Vocabulary TestMe, MatchIt Definitions, Word-O-Rama, and Parts of Speech are premium activities that can help your students increase their vocabulary and definition comprehension.

Premium Members have access to all premium activities with definitions once they are logged in. 

Premium Members have the option to use provided sentences and definitions for each word saved in a list, or they may write their own customized sentences and definitions.

What teacher training videos does Vocabulary and SpellingCity offer? (top) Many teachers and parents learn to use Vocabulary and SpellingCity just by using it; others prefer to start with some training. For those that prefer some training, our videos provide a solid base. Each video takes less than three minutes to view. At Vocabulary and SpellingCity, we believe that powerful software should be easy to use. Our teacher training videos will help you learn how to efficiently use Vocabulary and SpellingCity.
What's New?	Find out about the release of Vocabulary and SpellingCity’s new definitions feature.
Getting Started	Demonstrates how a student enters words and takes a test.
Test Results	Explains the information that Vocabulary and SpellingCity provides after taking a test.
Saving Lists	Short clip on how to save your spelling and vocabulary lists.
Custom Sentences	Shows how parents and teachers can add their own sentences!
Student Writing Practice	Explains how to use the Sentence and Paragraph Writing Practice activities.
Handwriting	Details how to create handwriting worksheets using your spelling lists.
Users View	A British teacher provides a rapid overview of how he uses Vocabulary and SpellingCity.com.
Premium Membership	Explains student record keeping and the premium games.

What is the difference between default and alternative sentences? (top)

The "add your own sentences" feature allows teachers and parents to add or pick alternative sentences. To try it out, just log in and either edit or create a new list.

Alternative sentences are useful for words with multiple meanings. Let's assume that a teacher has a word list about climbing which includes "scale." But when the teacher looks at the Default Sentence for scale, the context is weight: "The scale was used to weigh the food."

The teacher can type in a customized sentence such as: "The climbing teacher taught us to scale the wall." or "The map was not drawn to scale." These sentences are available for immediate use through voice synthesis technology. To learn more, watch the teacher training video.

Where can I find additional teacher resources? (top) Resources and the articles section of our site is useful for teachers looking for ideas and commonly-used lists. It is great place to find popular resources pages and sample word lists. You can import any resource lists directly from the resource page if you are logged in.
	Dolch Words	This collection of Dolch or sight words is perennially useful. There is both background information and lists ready-to-use.
	Compound Words	Kids love studying compound words. Teachers love teaching them. Does your school have a Compound Word Day? It should!
	Literature-Based Word Lists	There are over fifty popular books so far. Email us if you have a list to add.
	Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs	This article reviews homophones, homonyms, and homographs.
	Sample Lists	Sample spelling lists by grade level or subject.
	Sound Alike Words	All students and many adults benefit from practice distinguishing the right spelling and usage of its and it's; they're, there, and their; and to, too, and two.

What are the Sentence and Paragraph Writing Practice activities? (top)

A teacher or parent can also write custom instructions for their students. Remember, any instructions that you submit are a contribution to Vocabulary and SpellingCity. We periodically review the instructions; and when we find some we like, we publish them for the other teachers and parents.

Teachers and parents have the choice of printing these assignments, having the students do them individually online, or working on them as a group on an interactive projection screen.

Also, all members can print the completed writing assignments. Premium Members can have the students' writing automatically submitted to the teachers for grading. In addition, students can now log in and see the feedback from their writing assignments as well as the records on all of their tests and activities.

What is Vocabulary and SpellingCity? (top)

Vocabulary and SpellingCity is a new and innovative interactive educational site used to help children of all ages improve their spelling skills and expand their vocabulary. Vocabulary and SpellingCity is widely used by teachers and parents to teach students how to spell by creating and saving individual and unique spelling lists. The approach of Vocabulary and SpellingCity is to enforce the elements of spelling and vocabulary through interactive learning.
 
Vocabulary and SpellingCity offers over 43,000 words, sentences and definitions.  Each of the words is spoken by a "real" human voice to offer the student more clarity.  With each created list, a student has the option to: Take a Spelling Test, Vocab Test, Teach Me or Play A Game.

Spelling Test repeats each spelling word with a live voice and uses it in a sentence.
 
Vocab Test gives a definition for each word, along with a choice of six possible words.

Teach Me spells and displays the word in ways that stimulate memory for visual and verbal learners.

Play a Game uses your word list in educational games that teach spelling, word meaning, vocabulary, and alphabetical order. SpellingCity offers learning games such as HangMouse, Word Search, Unscramble, and many more.

What does it cost?

Vocabulary and SpellingCity is a free site and offers a variety of free learning games, printables, and testing features.. We also have a Premium Membership, which, for a small fee, will allow for student-tracking, premium games, definitions and much more.

Where can I find sample lists?

Sample lists can be found under "Teacher Resources". Sample lists are some of the most popular lists on the site. You can find everything from Dolch words to general words divided by grade level, to unique lists like state capitals and big numbers.

If you are looking for an entire spelling curriculum, it is more than likely that it has already been entered into SpellingCity by another teacher or parent. A useful tool to help you locate pre-entered lists- for example, "Abeka's Spelling Curriculum," is the Google search box in the upper right hand corner.

Once you have located your list, the "Recently Visited Pages" are a good way to always have your teacher’s page on hand.

What are the Recently Visited Pages? (top)

SpellingCity now tracks the most recent teacher page, school page and list that you visited. Just click on the link to go back to that page.

Note: Recently visited pages will indicate last visited teacher, even if the last viewed profile was a parent.  To clear your recently visited pages, you will want to clear your browser cache.

How do I bookmark Vocabulary and SpellingCity?

The easiest way for your students to find your spelling lists is bookmark Vocabulary and SpellingCity or link directly to your homepage. Bookmarking is easy through any browser or for teachers using bookmarking sites like IGoogle or IKeepBookMarks.com.

We can guide you step by step by browser to help you bookmark your homepage to your classroom computers; or if using a computer lab, ask your IT Teacher to bookmark your homepage.

Step-by-Step Guide to Bookmarking
Internet Explorer Bookmarking Directions Pull up your SpellingCity homepage, for example: http://www.SpellingCity.com/BrowardCounty (Your homepage is usually the SpellingCity address forward slash your username). Locate and select “Favorites” in your toolbar. You will have two options You can save to favorite which will create a list of favorite sites for when you select the favorite’s option from your toolbar. Or you can link to your “Favorites Bar.” This is a convenient icon that will appear at the top of your browser every time a browser window is opened.
Firefox Bookmarking Directions Pull up your SpellingCity homepage, for example: http://www.SpellingCity.com/BrowardCounty (Your homepage is usually the SpellingCity address forward slash your username. Locate and select “Bookmarks” in the toolbar. You will have two options. One will be to “Bookmark This Page“. This will give you the option to bookmark the page as a link in your bookmarks. Or, you can select the option to bookmark your homepage to the “Bookmarks Menu” that is a convenient icon that will appear at the top of your browser every time a browser window is opened.
Safari Bookmarking Directions Pull up your SpellingCity homepage, for example: http://www.SpellingCity.com/BrowardCounty (Your homepage is usually the SpellingCity address forward slash your username. Locate and select “Bookmarks” in your toolbar. You will have the option to bookmark your homepage as a “Top Site” or add it to your bookmarks menu. The bookmark menu option is a more convenient icon that will appear at the top of your browser every time a browser window is opened.

My School's Homepage (top)

Vocabulary and SpellingCity has 90% of the schools in the United States registered. Every time a teacher registers, they are given the option to have their name listed as a teacher under their school. If a school is not in our database, we add it.

Students can easily find teachers in their school by taking the steps through the Find-A-List option. Simply search by state, city first initial, city name, school first initial, and school name.

A schools homepage can be locked by a school when a premium membership is purchased.

What learning activities (games) does SpellingCity offer?

Vocabulary and SpellingCity offers a variety of learning activities to help your students practice spelling, understand word meaning, and improve their writing skills.

Do I need to register or log in? (top)

Students do not need to register. Only Premium Member students need to log in.

Note: Premium membership is a paid membership that tracks student’s records.

How do I use Vocabulary and SpellingCity?

Students have several different ways to use Vocabulary and SpellingCity:

1. Student can enter their spelling words directly into the note pad on the front page and select the option to Play-A-Game, Teach Me, or Test Me. As long as the student uses the bottom navigations, they can work through as many learning activities as they wish with their original list. These lists are not saved.

2. If your teacher has registered with Vocabulary and SpellingCity they will have pre-entered spelling lists that are saved. To locate your teachers homepage use the Find-A-List search or locate your school on the Find-A-List page by state, city, and school. Teachers:  Try our new Vocabulary and SpellingCity Parents’ Letter, available as a PDF for you to print and send home with your students' spelling word lists. It is also available in Spanish.

3. If your teacher or parent has given you a username and password, log into your account in the upper right hand corner and you will be automatically directed to your teacher’s homepage.

4. Go straight to the learning activities and game pages and play some sample lists of your favorite games. Or you can visit our resource section for a variety of lists.

How do I take a test?

How do I save a list?

How do I make a game full screen size? (top)

Vocabulary and SpellingCity has the option of full screen mode on all of our games except Word Search and Crossword.

To make your game full screen size, click the arrow icon in the upper right-hand corner of the game. To return to the regular size, either click the arrow icon in the upper right-hand corner again or press the "Esc" key.

Teachers using Promethean boards or projectors in their classrooms find this feature extremely useful. SpellingCity.com has optimized its website for these systems.

What does "Certificate" or "Print Report'" mean?
After the completion of a test, the test results page will open and give the student the option of "Certificate" or "Print Report." The certificate option will print out an official SpellingCity.com certificate with your name and your test results.  The print option will give you a report that includes your spelling words, date and score.  It will also show a list of the words that were answered correctly and those that were answered incorrectly.

Premium members will have logged in students' scores recorded, including words missed and attempts made.

Will SpellingCity track my progress? (top)

SpellingCity does not track student’s scores or writing assignments unless a teacher or parent is registered as a Premium Member. Students will still be able to print a report or certificate showing the completion of a spelling test.

Why can't I play LetterFall and SpeedySpeller?

LetterFall and SpeedySpeller are premium games, usually only available to Premium Members. You can still enjoy these games if you use a SpellingCity list or the list of a premium member.

How do I register? (top)

Click the "Register" link in the upper right-hand corner, and follow the instructions. 

Once we receive your information, a registration confirmation will be sent to the email address you provided.  Please verify your email address by clicking the activation link within the email so we can activate your account. 

You will then be ready to log in to SpellingCity.

We also offer a step by step guide that will walk you through getting started.

How do I find my school?

How do I read the results of my student's test?

How do I build links directly to my teacher home page? (top)

To make it simple for your students to finds your lists, put a link directly on your school or class website or in your email, linking to your home page.

Your SpellingCity URL is located within your address bar on your homepage. You cannot be logged into your account when retrieving your URL for linking. SpellingCity URL’s are usually the SpellingCity address forward slash your username.

Example: http:/www.SpellingCity.com/Username or http://www.spellingcity.com/BrowardCounty/

SpellingCity also offers a variety of banners ads that you can use if you would rather use a graphic ad to link to us.

How do I create a list and use all of the list options? (top) We also offer a step by step guide that will walk you through getting started with List Management. In order to create a list, you must be logged into your account. Your list management is the base for your list controls. How to create a saved list? Log into your account and select List Management from your Teacher Toolbox. Select "Create A New List." Give your list a name in the specified box. Enter the words into the numbered boxes. Select "Save" to continue onto the Word & Sentence Verification page. Publish vs. Non-published- In order for the public to be able to view a list, it must be published. Edit - To edit your list, log into your account and select the "List Management" option Import a List - To import a list, you must be logged in. Once logged in, select the "Find a List" option to look up the list, or teacher, that you wish to import a list from.  Once you have located the list, click "Import" How to change your list order. Note: You will only see the "Import" option when you are logged in. Group- Grouping is a premium member feature, select "Create a New Group." Give your group a name and then select the spelling lists you want associated with that group. Lists can be in more than one group. Order - By default, lists are ordered alphabetically and as entered. To reposition a list, click on the arrow image to the left of the list and drag the list up or down to its new position. Make sure that all of the numbers have the same amount of digits, filling in a "0" if needed, so "1" becomes "01" if using two digits or "001" is using three digits. Delete a List - Users have the option to delete spelling lists through their "List Management" from within their Teacher Toolbox.  Place a check mark in the box next to the list that you wish to delete and select "Delete". If you wish to delete a group, select delete group under "What do you want to do?" Note: Deleting a group does not delete the lists Batch Entry - To enter several words at once, click the "batch entry" link and type in or paste in your batch of words. Make sure the words are either separated by a comma or entered on a new line. Group Deleting- Deleting a group does not delete your lists inside of that group. Your list management page is an important feature to understand to enable to fully utilize SpellingCity.

How to's of worksheets

SpellingCity has several printable resources, including handwriting worksheets and game pages.

Worksheets can only be created from a saved list. Once a list is saved, the "Handwriting Worksheets" option will appear at the top of the list. If you do not see this option, select "My Homepage" from the upper right hand corner, then click on the name of the list for which you would like to print a worksheet. From this overview you will see the option to select "Handwriting Worksheets."

After selecting the "Handwriting Worksheets" option, a small box will open. From here, you will have the option to print cursive, D'Nealian or sign. You will also have the option of lower or upper case and font size.

The majority of games are printable as well.

Can I hide my lists?

How do I leave a message for my students?

What is Premium Membership? (top)

Premium Membership allows a teacher, school, school district, or parent to use SpellingCity with value-added features that are not available to the free users.

1. Automatic student test results, record keeping, and progress tracking
2. Learning activity and game logs
3. Access for students to their own records
4. Premium games
5. Student and list grouping management system
6. Telephone support
7. Securing a school's homepage
8. Student writing recording and grading

You can find out more about Premium Membership here.

How do I purchase Premium Membership? (top)

SpellingCity offers many ways for customers to upgrade to a premium membership. SpellingCity accepts all major credit cards through PayPal, checks, money orders, and purchase orders.

SpellingCity Premium Membership can be purchased in a variety of ways. Here are some purchasing options; all purchases are for a period of 12 months from the date of purchase:

Family- A family unit allows a member up to five student licenses for $24.99
Classroom - A classroom unit allows a member up to 30 student licenses per unit ordered/purchased for $49.99. Additional students are $1.67 per student. For orders of 300 students or more, contact us at 954-357-1150 for discounted rates.
District- School districts purchase several classroom units and then share the licensing with the teachers in their districts.

To upgrade or purchase your premium membership, please log into your account. Select “Students & Gradebook ” from your Teacher Toolbox.

All purchases must be filled out this way, including purchase orders. Fill out the order form. On the final step, there will be the options of payment.

If the purchase is made by credit card, premium membership will be active immediately.

If paying by check, money order, or purchase order, select the payment option of “Purchase Order.” This will generate a sales quote. Your sales quote will need to be submitted with your payment.

If submitting a check or money order, SpellingCity will activate your premium membership once the payment is received.

If submitting a purchase order, SpellingCity will activate your account once we receive a purchase order.

SpellingCity Mailing Address: 6300 NE 1st Avenue., Suite 203 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334
Fax Number: 954-626-3656
Phone Number: 954-357-1150

*Telephone support is only for Premium Members or those interested in purchasing premium membership.

Navigating your Premium Membership as a teacher/parent (top)

Students & Gradebook

Gradebook- Allows you to view your students test scores by list or by the entirety of all published lists from your list management. The view of tests is determined by the order of your list management or how you manipulate your "show" options. (To view an individual student's test scores, click on the student.)

Student Activity- Shows all activities that your student has completed or attempted. Activities can be filtered by time range; and to view an individual student, select the student you wish to view.
Writing Practice- Submitted student sentence writer or student paragraph writer activities are stored here. To grade a writing assignment, select assignment’s list name and grade.
Students-The student list tab is the area within your student records where you can add, remove, and modify your students. To help track your available licensing, there is a licensing summary on this page. If you exceed the number of students paid your account will suspend until the number of students paid equals or is below the number of students you are registering.
Customize- Allows you to customize the writing instructions for Sentence & Paragraph Writer. You can also edit your Homepage message here.

Add Students

Adding students to an account can be done list entry, by batch, or by CSV file.

Batch Entry- Enter a comma delimited list of students to add. Each student must be on a new line. Each student line must have at least a "Username" value to be added.
CSV File- The CSV file must be a comma delimited text file where each record is separated by a newline. There is a sample CSV file available within your upload screen.

Can I change students' names and passwords?

Yes, you go to student lists, click on the students name, and then you can edit it. You must click on save before leaving the page.

Can I substitute one student for another?

Yes, if during the year, you want to make changes in the student roster, you can. Go to the student list, delete the old student, and then add a new student. Note, if you delete a student, the student's records will be lost. Please note, if you delete a spelling list, the student records related to that spelling list will also be irretrievably lost.

How do I review my students test scores?

Gradebook Viewing Options by default is set to show all of your students and your first ten lists. It is up to you to manipulate the view of your reports. To Adjust you view select the adjust view option under lists and select the list to which you wish to view. You can also change the student view and format here.

Sharing Licenses

Purchased licensing can be shared among any registered SpellingCity members. To share additional licensing, a logged in premium member must select the Premium Membership & Licenses from the Teacher Toolbox. To share licenses select the option to "Administer Large Accounts/Licenses Sharing and you can share your purchase student records with any registered SpellingCity’s user's email address or username.

Sharing licenses is managed by the purchaser and they can add or remove users they have assigned permission in using their licensing. There is not a way to limit how many licenses each user uses.

Where do students log in?

Students can log in in the upper right corner like teachers and parents do. Simply switch the login option from teacher to student.

If a student attempts to access a list of a premium member, they will be directed to log in here.

Navigating your Premium Membership as a Student

Once a student logs in, they are directed to their teacher/parent’s homepage. Students should always confirm they are logged in by identifying their “Welcome Username” once they have successfully logged in.

My Teacher’s Homepage- Directs the student to their assigned teacher’s homepage. This helps in list finding.

My Records- Keeps track of students activities, test scores, and writing activities.

Can students see their progress? (top)

Yes, students can see their progress through their “My Records” option while logged in. Writing activity scores and learning activities are also kept in a student’s records.

District Purchasing of Premium Membership?

At times, SpellingCity does offer prices incentives for school district purchasing over 300 licenses.

How Premium Membership works with districts?

District purchases are usually done through the IT department at the school or one well equipped teacher. The IT or teacher fills out a sales quote for the entire school or district according to the number of student licenses needed. Once this is done, the IT or teacher becomes the administrator of theses license and the school's account.

The administrator then activates these licenses by sending SpellingCity a purchase order or check. Once the licensing is activated, the administrator then sends out an email or contacts the teachers who will be using the licensing. In order for the administrator to start sharing licenses, each teacher that wishes to use SpellingCity premium membership must first be registered for the free membership. The administrator then takes the email address of each teacher and gives them the ability to use the school’s (districts) purchased licenses.

If an administrator wishes to simply just approve an entire school, they can do so by locking their school.

How do I lock my school's homepage? (top)

To secure or lock your school's homepage, you must be a premium member. To request the lock of your school’s homepage means no teachers will be able to be listed as a teacher with your school unless they are approved by the administrator.

The administrator of the school is the purchaser of the school's licensing.

If you would like to request the locking of your school’s homepage, log into your account, select Premium Memberships & Licenses, School Homepage Control, and then "School Access." SpellingCity support will review and process your request.

How to grade student writing lessons. (top)

To grade a student’s writing activity, log into your account and select “Writing Practice” from within the Gradebook. Click on the list name of the writing assignment you wish to grade.

SpellingCity is an authorized vendor for Adopt-A-Classroom.org.

Can I make suggestions on improving how student records works?

We appreciate our teachers' feedback and look forward to hearing any ideas on advancements that we may be able to make.

You can chat in the Teacher/Parent Forum, Contact Us or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.

Technical Issues with Premium Membership

When a student is having trouble logging in from home who should they contact?

The test never stops loading (top)

If the loading screen never stops, close the site, and open it in a different browser. If you are running a dial-up connection, the load time will take longer.  If this doesn’t work, you may need to update to the latest version of Flash player. Click here for more information and/or to update your flash.

I can't print my certificate or worksheets

If you are having problems printing our worksheets, you may need to update your Adobe Reader.

I cannot hear the words or sentences?

Flash is the base technology that we use for audio and visual effects.  Sometimes computers need to update or reinstall the Flash player.  If you are unable to hear the lessons and/or are unable to see all graphics, most likely your Flash needs to be updated.

Click here for more information and/or to update your Flash player.

I can't pull up all of my lists and I know that I published them

We are constantly running updates and adding new material to SpellingCity.  If you are missing any lists or your page seems to have problems loading, try troubleshooting the issue.  You can try to refresh the page by selecting the F5 key on your keyboard.  You may also want to clear your browser cache.  Your cache, or browsing history, is your computer’s way of tracking the history of sites you have visited online and acts as a memory.  Sometimes the computer’s memory gets too full and will discontinue recognizing or differentiating between multiple log-ins and passwords.  This means you need to clear your cache/delete the browsing history.

What are the requirements for SpellingCity to run effectively on my computer?

Flash version 9.0.115

Firefox 2.5 and up

Internet Explorer 7 and up (6.0 and up is OK)

Chrome

Safari

Any version of Adobe Reader from the past 3 years should work fine.