School Zone Spelling 2-Pack Software Review
Photo Credit: School Zone
We’re big fans of educational software in our house. We currently use a variety of online tools to help our now-second-grader stay on top of his work.
But in first grade, he really began struggling with spelling. Apparently, my spelling-bee champion genes didn’t pass down to him. At the end of the year, his teacher suggested that we spend some time working on spelling over the summer in preparation for second grade.
I purchased a spelling “workbook” that was about as well received as a dentist visit. Boring! So I was really excited to have the chance to test drive School Zone’s Spelling 2-Pack software.
The day it arrived, we immediately popped it into the computer to install. Both my kindergartener and second grader seemed to really like the colorful images and pictures on the box.
Spelling 2-Pack is designed for first through third graders and comes with two discs, each with different objectives and games.
First we tried the Spelling 1-2 disc. This disc is set up with a sea life theme. My son was taken to a screen where he could choose from a sunken ship, an underwater cave, and a coral reef. Each choice launches a different type of game.
Photo Credit: School Zone
In each game, the child is given a list of spelling words that will be covered in the exercise. The games vary from unscrambling jumbled words, to hearing the word and then spelling it independently, or picking the correctly spelled word from a list of 5 or 6 words.
I really liked that the spelling words were attacked from 3 different angles this way. My son has an easy time picking the correctly spelled word out of a list, but had more difficulty with unscrambling. So it was great for him to be able to work on all of the different aspects of spelling.
My son LOVES this disc. Regardless of the game chosen, the child wins virtual prizes each time they spell 5 words correctly. Sometimes the prize is releasing a captured fish; other times, they get sea-themed prizes that they can use to decorate their virtual lagoon. He is SO motivated to win those prizes and keep filling up his lagoon.
The best endorsement I can give this product is that my son plays this game voluntarily, without me asking him to do it. One day I asked him to play for about 10 minutes and he ended up working on it for over 45 minutes.
The spelling words are, for the most part, very age-appropriate for 1st and 2nd graders. There are a few words that seem a bit too difficult (one in particular I had never heard of!) but not to the point of being frustrating.
The second disc is called Spelldown. In this disc, kids are playing a television game-show themed game either against the computer or another player. We tried this disc after playing the first disc for several days.
Photo Credit: School Zone
This game quickly got frustrating for my son. He had a hard time with the “buzzing in” requirements because he’d buzz in multiple times and realize that he had inadvertently then misspelled the word and was blocked out of revising his answer.
The games, and spelling words, in Spelldown are much more advanced. There are word searches, fill in the blank, unscramble, and “guess the word,” among others. My son was able to do the word searches pretty easily, but the game does not give the child a ton of time for each word, and sometimes the time ran out before he had a chance to complete the activity.
My son turned to me and said, “I like the other disc better.”
I would say that Spelldown is geared much more toward advanced spellers or kids who are finishing up second grade and moving into third grade. In another year, I think my son will love this game as much as Spelling 1-2.
Overall, my family found this to be a great value for a software title. I love that there’s one disc my son loves playing now, and one that we can use when he outgrows the spelling words on the first disc. Maybe he’ll even win a spelling bee someday!
Thanks to School Zone for sending the discs to review. The Spelling 2-Pack costs $24.99 and can be purchased direcly from the School Zone website.
