SpellingCity’s Journey to VocabularySpellingCity At VocabularySpellingCity, we went through a transition, moving from being a spelling program to one focused on vocabulary-building and reading comprehension. Here’s our story from the beginning. I had a few goals in 2010 when I was starting SpellingCity, as I called
Building Phonological, Phonics, and Early Reader Skills
VocabularySpellingCity is broadly used in upper elementary grades (over 10% in the US!) and now has added Sound It Out, which strengthens our offering for primary grades. Sound It Out uses the Interactive Sound Boxes, a powerful learning tool invaluable to primary grade teachers and, not
Elementary Students: Owning the Learning
One of the brightest trends that I see in education today is a broad nationwide move to have students own their learning and to adopt a growth mindset. I’m particularly encouraged to see that this is a distinct trend in elementary schools. In
Students: Creating Lists, Owning Learning
Everyone would like it if students took more “ownership” of their learning. Students would like it, and so would parents and teachers. VocabularySpellingCity makes it easy to give students more accountability for their own learning. Once they’ve chosen a book
It all started with a tweet.
Sometimes a mistake can turn into a success. While browsing Twitter the other day, something caught my eye: a tweet mentioning the must-have 20 books written by teachers, for teachers. One book in particular stood out to me: 140 Twitter
Coding Careers in Action: Kids tried professional life, and I felt like a kid again.
We were excited to welcome Somerset Academy Davie students into our offices on Dec. 7 for our first day of Coding Careers in Action. In conjunction with the Hour of Code movement, our teams at Science4Us and VocabularySpellingCity invited local
Educational Tech Career Days: Building on the Hour of Code Movement
In my visits to elementary schools, especially the Title I schools with deeply disadvantaged students, I often wonder what more we can do for the students who are not getting the broad exposure and stimulation that will prepare them for success. One
Insights from Literacy Expert Tim Rasinski on Vocabulary and Comprehension
VocabularySpellingCity sponsored a webinar Dec. 1 with one of my favorite literacy heroes, Dr. Timothy Rasinski. His message on the importance of automaticity in word learning, and its connection to comprehension, is one that all educators can learn from. And
Cursive Instruction is Disappearing. Is There a Compelling Case to Save It?
This is a tough one to answer. While an overwhelming amount of evidence shows the benefits of writing by hand, few studies differentiate between print and cursive, and even fewer come to definite conclusions about which should be taught. But we
Making new friends at ARA Literacy Conference: ‘A great event’ from the start
VocabularySpellingCity literacy experts Barbara Kruger and Laura Kupres found the Nov. 17-18 Arkansas Reading Association Literacy Conference rewarding before they arrived: On the shuttle from the Little Rock airport, they met the conference keynote speaker, Valerie Ellery, who comes from