Spell It Deluxe

Reviewed by Sara Hartman
Published by Knowledge Adventure

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: Language Arts
Price: $30

PC version requires:
Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, 486DX/33 Mhz, 8MB RAM, 256 colors, 8 bit sound card, 2xCD-ROM drive

Mac version requires:
Apple LC II, System 7.0 or later, 5MB RAM, 13 inch monitor, 256 colors, 2xCD-ROM drive

Description:

Five lively activities make learning the basic rules of spelling fun: In the Bayou Word Preview, the student studies each word, learn its syllabication, then spells it out in a context sentence. The student unscrambles words or fills in blanks to solve crossword puzzles in Frog Crossing. New puzzles can be created by entering customized word lists. In Midnight Correction, the student reads a sentence to determine what words are misspelled. When edited correctly, the Frog Band will play a moonlight serenade. In Leap to Complete, a word with missing letters will appear at the bottom of the screen. Bees will carry letters from both sides of the screen. When the correct letter appears, the student helps Bayou Billy (a Cajun frog) snap it up with his quick tongue. In Bullfrog Log Game, the students helps Bayou Billy jump to the log with the correctly spelled word. There are slithery surprises awaiting in the logs.

Features:

  • 4,000 words
  • six levels of difficulty
  • individual progress records kept for users
  • printable progess certificates
  • words read aloud by program
  • ability to create customized word lists
  • free supplemental word lists available on the internet
  • crossword puzzles

Technical Aspects:

Spell It Deluxe may be written to a hard disk or run from the CD-ROM drive, although some hard disk space is necessary for keeping user files or for adding customized or downloaded spelling lists. No problems were noted during installation to our Power Macintosh computer. One curiousity was noted during Frog Crossing: when a word is entered that has letters already in place, the voice does not read those letters that are already filled in when spelling the word out loud. For example, the word football might be spelled aloud "F O T B L L" if one of the Os and the A have already be used. This may be an isolated problem of the Macintosh version.

Report and Conclusions:

This is a fun program that we have used successfully for more than two years. It produced a marked improvement in spelling test grades for daughter Hanna when I created custom lists using her school spelling words. It does require time and motivation to enter custom lists as it is necessary to enter each word spelled correctly, three possible misspellings, and a sentence using the word in context. I found it easier to enter several weeks of words at a single time rather than trying to do a single list each week. At startup, the user enters or selects his or her name from a list, and then is greeted with, for example, "Hello, Rachel!" It is still a thrill to be personally greeted by the program. The program allows for the phonetic pronunciation of unusual names. Although the speech feature is not particularly emphasized by the manufacturer, I believe it is one of the best features of the program. The bayou theme and Cajun music are fun, and not all that annoying to the adults in our family. This program is available through the Knowlege Adventure website, along with downloadable spelling lists Additionally, it's also available as part of Davidson's Learning Center: Spelling & Grammar, along with companion program Grammar Games.




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