Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is words that derive from Greek mythology. So far, we’ve looked at the words atlas and chaos. Today’s word is mentor. A mentor is a wise and trusted guide and advisor who may serve as a teacher or counsellor. Here is mentor used in some example sentences: Yoda is Luke Skywalker’s Jedi mentor. She mentored young artists in her free time. I am looking for a mentor to learn from as I grow my business. In Greek mythology, Mentor was the advisor to Telemachus (the son of Odysseus and Penelope who are the central characters in Homer’s Odyssey). In many versions of the myth, the goddess Athena ...
Spellzone is a dynamic resource that allows students to work on tailored Course Pathways at their own pace. Each time a student makes an error on a spelling test, Spellzone will add the word to the My Difficult Words section on their profile. The My Difficult Words section is tailored to each student and is updated every time the student takes a spelling test. To find the My Difficult Words section, students should: Click on My Spellzone (this is also the page that appears when a student logs in) Choose My Word Lists from the red tool bar Choose My Difficult Words from the list. They can then practise the words in various spelling activ...
September's Word for Wednesday theme is school. So far, we’ve looked at the words semester, teacher, pupil, and uniform. Our final word for September is exam. An exam is a formal set of questions or exercises that evaluate a particular skill or knowledge. In schools, exams are often set at the end of a term or a year to assess a student’s progress. Exam has been used as an abbreviation for examination since 1848, when it was a slang word used by college students. Examination comes from the Old French ‘examinacion’, from the Latin ‘examinare’ meaning ‘to ponder’ or ‘to consider’. The word took on ...
What is a Course Pathway? Spellzone is a dynamic resource that allows students to work on tailored Course Pathways at their own pace. When a student logs into Spellzone for the first time, they will be prompted to sit the Spelling Ability Test. The test will take approximately five minutes (depending on the student) and will identify any gaps in the student’s knowledge. Upon completing the test, each student will receive a Spellzone Score and a learning pathway that will indicate where they should begin the course and which units they should study. A typical Course Pathway is eight units long. Each subsequent time the student logs i...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is school. The word school comes from the Old English ‘scol’ meaning ‘place of instruction’, from the Latin ‘schola’ meaning ‘intermission of work’ and ‘leisure for learning’. The idea of children attending a school is from around 1300 and the idea of a school building is from the 1590s. Over the last few weeks we’ve looked at the words semester, teacher, and pupil. Today’s word is uniform. A uniform is a specific outfit worn my members of a particular group as means of identification. In the UK, it is common for p...
Spellzone has over 1.5 million word lists which can be used in a variety of spelling activities. As a teacher, you can adapt any word list to suit your specific needs and save time when creating resources. Where do I find relevant Word Lists? All our lists can be found on the Word Lists section of the site: See which word lists are popular with users on Spellzone and within your school by scrolling to the bottom of the page. Use the search bar to find word lists that are relevant to a key word. For example, ‘homophones’ or ‘poetry’. Click on the tabs at the top of the page to explore our banks of ‘Course Lists’, &lsq...
This month's Word for Wednesday theme is school. The word school comes from the Old English ‘scol’ meaning ‘place of instruction’, from the Latin ‘schola’ meaning ‘intermission of work’ and ‘leisure for learning’. The idea of children attending a school is from around 1300 and the idea of a school building is from the 1590s. So far we’ve looked at the words semester and teacher. Today’s word is pupil. A pupil is a learner who is enrolled in an educational institution. The word is usually used to refer to schoolchildren. Pupil was the Late Middle Eng...
What is a Spellzone Score? Spellzone is a dynamic resource that allows students to work on tailored Course Pathways at their own pace. When a student logs into Spellzone for the first time, they will be prompted to sit the Spelling Ability Test. The test will take approximately five minutes (depending on the student) and will identify any gaps in the student’s knowledge. Upon completing the test, each student will receive a Spellzone Score and a learning pathway that will indicate where they should begin the course and which units they should study. A typical Course Pathway is eight units long. Each subsequent time the student logs in they will be...
September's Word for Wednesday theme is school. The word school comes from the Old English ‘scol’ meaning ‘place of instruction’, from the Latin ‘schola’ meaning ‘intermission of work’ and ‘leisure for learning’. The idea of children attending a school is from around 1300 and the idea of a school building is from the 1590s. Last week we looked at the word semester. Our second word of the month is teacher. A teacher is someone whose occupation is imparting skills or knowledge. The word teacher dates to around 1300 and comes from the verb ‘teach’. ‘Teac...
1) Sign up for a free trial The best way to find out if Spellzone is right for your school is by signing up for a free 30-day trial. The free trial will give you access to all our resources. Find out more here. 2) Talk to your colleagues If your school is subscribed to Spellzone, it’s a great idea to get as many of your colleagues involved as possible. We offer site licenses covering up to 1200 learners and the more students you sign up, the cheaper the course is per head. Learn more about developing a whole-school spelling policy here. 3) Sign up for a free online demo Once you’ve got yo...
Not to be confused with National Pi Day (which falls on March 14th), January 23rd marks National Pie Day, which has been an annual celebration of pies since the 1970s. The celebration was started in Boulder, Colorado, by nuclear engineer, brewer, and teacher Charlie Papazian who decided his birthday would be called National Pie Day. A pie is a dish baked in a pastry-lined pan often with a pastry top. Common pie fillings include meat and vegetables in a savoury sauce or fruit. You may also have heard Americans refer to pizza as pie ñ this is because pizza is the Italian word for pie. Click here to see the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word and here for the Spellzone...
In Word for Wednesday blog this week, we’ll be clearing up a pair of words, which, in my experience, many people struggle with. The words in question are ‘imply’ and ‘infer’. The difference is subtle but marked – leading to their easy confusion and misuse. To imply, is a communicative device whereby one suggests or indicates something without explicitly stating it – in words or speech. Here’s an example: ‘John, you need to lay off the hamburgers’ Here, the speaker implies that John should lose some weight. However, it is left as an open statement. This allows John or the other people in the conversation to draw their own...
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