Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie opened a discussion forum with the promise “to educate all students to succeed in tomorrow’s world.” “This is our moment to move from rhetoric to action,” Runcie said on Saturday, Nov. 5, addressing
How to Give Feedback on Your Children’s Writing (No Judgment!)
Writing, for most of us, is deeply personal, and feels like a reflection of who we are, how we are perceived. So often, providing feedback on your children’s writing assignments feels like a losing battle, doesn’t it? If you’re too
Automaticity in Word Learning: That’s the Goal
Students who read words, but don’t understand them, often struggle with comprehension. Tim Rasinski is a renowned professor of literacy education whose research on reading fluency and word study has made him a literacy hero to many. Below, he shares
Our Journey to Vocabulary Matters
The lack of vocabulary accounted for 70% of reading comprehension problems in a group of 4th graders, according to the National Research Council. Is your elementary school satisfied with your students’ reading comprehension? Most elementary schools are not. I’m writing to
Help Us Help You: You, Your Students, Your School
Help Me … Help You! Remember that funny scene and line from the film Jerry Maguire? It came to mind this morning when I came into the office early and participated in a major software release for VocabularySpellingCity. Today we
Vocabulary Building for Elementary School Students
I’m just back from the International Literacy Conference and I was struck my some apparent elementary ELA industry trends: Principals, literacy coaches, and teachers all seemed to be moving away from basal readers as core curriculum. More often, they are
CareerCity 2016: All Together Now!
VocabularySpellingCity and Science4Us joined forces today with dozens of local businesses and many Fort Lauderdale public service teams for our educational partner-school Dillard Elementary‘s Career City 2016! Ranger Good Works organized and hosted this fabulous event, which followed the concept of walking
‘I think that you have a splendid website!’
Some first graders and fourth graders were asked to write a few words on what they think about VocabularySpellingCity. It turns out we have some pretty enthusiastic fans in the early education demographic. Fourth grader Madylin says, “It is my
Mother’s Day Wishes from the Mayor of VocabularySpellingCity
To celebrate Mother’s Day, the mayor of VocabularySpellingCity reviews her emphasis on grammar and his interest in language arts style guides. “Frankly, Mom would have loved Mary Norris, a copywriter at The New Yorker. She’s known as the Comma Queen”
Teacher Talk: What they are saying to us
The Question: We asked of our users is to just tell us something about how they use VocabularySpellingCity. Here’s a collection of comments. I use spellingcity on a daily basis. I assign assignments or let students choose activities to practice words.