Six Tips for Lesson Plan Success with Spellzone
Welcome to a new school year! Here are our top tips on how to use Spellzone for lesson plan success:
- Set the Spelling Ability Test
Even if your students are seasoned Spellzone users and you have their activity and results from previous years, it’s still worth setting the Spelling Ability Test to confirm they are at the level you expect. The site will provide a tailored version of the course for each student depending on their results and the gaps in their knowledge. A baseline spelling score will also help to document the student’s progress and achievements.
Find out more about how the test works here.
- Which course is best for your students?
Spellzone is adaptable and has proven success with students of all abilities. There are two courses both of which are suitable for independent learning or supervision by teachers or teaching assistants.
The Spellzone Starter Course teaches the basic phonic rules of how to spell simple words with short vowel sounds and hard consonants, which may be useful for primary school students, older students who are still struggling with basic spelling concepts, and students who are learning English as an additional language.
The Spellzone Main Course assumes that users already have this knowledge. Click here to learn more about using Spellzone with students of different ages and abilities.
- Set Curriculum-based Word Lists
As well as the course word lists, Spellzone features thousands of word lists on a huge range of subjects. This includes curriculum-based and high-frequency spelling lists:
- Y1 - Y6 statutory and non-statutory word lists
- KS3 subject spelling lists
- High frequency words - in order
- High frequency words - in phases
- English literature study books word lists
Click here to find out more.
All word lists can be customised and used in three different ways:
- Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check Test
- Listen and Spell Test
- Spelling Games
Learn more about these three learning methods here.
- Set Tasks and Homework
You can set Spellzone units or word lists as classroom tasks or as homework. The same task can be set for the whole class, or different tasks can be assigned to individual students depending on their ability. This is especially useful if some students require more attention than others. It is also very simple to keep an eye on which students have completed the work.
Click here to learn how to set a unit as a task and here to learn how to set a word list as a task. You may also find this page of step-by-step guides on how to use various aspects of the course useful.
- Get creative!
You know your students better than we do and any lists you create can be added to our directory and benefit other students all over the world. This feature is also brilliant for learning subject-specific spellings (it is unlikely that someone studying Biology will need to know the same terminology as someone studying Drama). Learn how to create your own study lists here – your students can even create lists of their own!
- Book a free training session
The best way to get the most out of Spellzone is to book a free online training session for your staff. We can show you all of the features and answer any questions. A brief overview takes 20 minutes and a more in-depth session takes around 50 minutes. Book yours here.
Do you use Spellzone in your classroom? We’d love to hear about your success stories!
04 Sep 2018
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