Friday, May 20, 2011

Wordy Qwerty ~ A Review

If you recall, I used a product called Read, Write and Type with my kiddos back in the fall, and wrote a review of our experience on this blog.  Well, our family was recently given the opportunity to review Wordy Qwerty,  the sequel to Read, Write and Type.  This online program was designed to help 2nd and 3rd graders {7 – 10 year olds} with their reading and spelling skills.

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According to the Talking Fingers website,

After successfully completing Read, Write & Type!, most 6-7 year olds are able to write any word they can say. But they may not spell them all correctly, because they need to know a bit more about spelling conventions and about how words are constructed in English. This is where Wordy Qwerty comes in. In 20 consecutive lessons, woven together with fun-to-play games and delightful songs that will stay in their heads.

Wordy Qwerty is a research-based program that has 20 lessons, with 6 activities per lesson.  According to the Wordy Qwerty website, “most words follow about 20 spelling rules”.  The 20 lessons in Wordy Qwerty teach these 20 rules using six different activities: Photobucket

In the Pattern activity kiddos learn to recognize patterns in words.

In the Karaoke activity kiddos learn catchy songs and rhymes about each spelling rule.

 

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In the Recycler activity kiddos learn about different vowel combinations that make the same sound.

In the Pop-a-Word activity, kiddos memorize outlaw words {words that don’t follow the rules}.

In the Write Stories activity kiddos practice using the spelling rules by typing sentences that are dictated to them.

In the Read Stories activity kiddos practice what they have learned about spelling rules by reading short, engaging stories.  These stories have words that are missing and kiddos have to choose which word would fit best from a list of three words.

You can read more about the lessons on this page

The Talking Fingers website also offers a product tour of Wordy Qwerty that provides you with a more in-depth look at the activities your child will complete while working through this unique online program.

Our Experience

I chose to use Wordy Qwerty with my ds9 {3rd grade} whom I consider to be a very proficient reader and a natural speller.  I think one of the mistakes that I made with ds9 was that I discontinued phonics lessons with him too early because he grasped reading so quickly.

My 9yo has been using Wordy Qwerty almost daily {4 days/week} since the beginning of April and he just finished the program this week.  Each Wordy Qwerty session took him about 15-20 minutes to complete. 

I am grateful that he strengthened his phonics skills and learned spelling rules on Wordy Qwerty…and he had fun doing it :). 

I would definitely recommend this inexpensive reading and spelling program to any parent who is looking for a fun supplement to their kiddo’s current spelling program.

More Information

The Wordy Qwerty program is available in an online version {that’s what we used} and a Home Edition CD version {also appropriate for homeschoolers}.  The prices for the online version of the software vary, depending upon the number of users that you need.  The price starts at $25.00 for one user ~ see this page for more pricing information.

You can view an online demo of Wordy Qwerty here.

Learn more about Wordy Qwerty on the FAQ page.

You can also access a video clip from Wordy Qwerty from the bottom of this page. 

In order to use either version {online or CD} of this reading software, you do need to have access to a computer.  Read more about system requirements for Wordy Qwerty on their FAQ page.

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Click on the above banner to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about Wordy Qwerty.

I received a free subscription to Wordy Qwerty in order to provide an honest and unbiased opinion of our experience with this product.  I did not receive any further compensation for my review.

1 comments:

Amy said...

Do you have to be proficient with typing skills to be able to use this program? My 7-almost-8 year old is an excellent reader, and could use some extra spelling practice, but we are only about halfway through our typing program.

 

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