Without an accepted curriculum for spelling, the 4th and 5th grade teachers at Truckee Elementary have found and piloted spelling websites in the past two years.
We have agreed upon the site SpellingClassroom.com for our spelling needs. This site allows students to practice spelling words through games and fun activities. Then they take a quiz on both the spelling of the words and their meanings. Students may work at their own pace, thus differentiating the lessons for each child. We decided that it made sense if all the classes were using the same program, including the Resource teacher. We are therefore asking for eight "Package B" licenses, which allow for up to 35 students each, and one "Package A" license for the Resouce teacher. Package A allows 25 students. We will only get the package we actually need when we get our classes in the fall. Each Package B license is $79.98 per year and the Package A license is $69.98.
This program allows students to practice spelling at their own levels. The program also allows for custom spelling lists, handwriting pages, and sentence and paragraph writing. There are also Book Guides for teaching content in Read Alouds. A student may also practice the National Spelling Bee words for our Spelling Bee in the spring.
We have been using this program in fifth grade all year. We really like that students can work at their own pace. The program generates reports of lessons and quizzes taken for each student and requires mastery before moving on. Students may work on standard grade-level works or the "Tricky 450", which are the most misspelled words. This is a program which the kids like to use and learn without really even realizing it!
We already use this in fifth grade and would like to expand it to the fourth grade. We would be getting our licenses as soon as we know how many students are in our classes in the fall and how many classes for each grade level. Students then just "join" the class and off we go!
This grant is being written to represent all the fourth and fifth grade classes at Truckee Elementary.
Budget: $710 for ALL fourth and fifth-grade classes including Resource class.
There is no tax or shipping involved.
It was unclear as to whether there would be funds for next year.
Thank you so much for all you do for our students in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District!
We appreciate the consideration of this grant.