Ladybird: I’m Ready to Spell

This app follows in the footsteps of Ladybird: I’m Ready for Phonics and proved a real hit with my test group of pupils

It has three space-themed games, each with three levels to complete. The easy level contains spellings for Reception and Y1, the medium level is aimed at Y1, while the hard level contains spellings pitched at Years 1-3 and teaches children how to spell plurals, compound words, prefixes and suffixes. 

The three games are Scrambled Spelling, Sinking Spellings and Speedy Spellings. The basic challenge set by each remains the same – children must spell a word that matches the image and audio provided. However, the games require players to do this using different methods: unscrambling letters, filling in the blanks, and spelling against the clock. Pupils complete a level when each word has been correctly spelt three times, at which point they can launch a customisable rocket.

For me, Speedy Spellings contains the best feature of the app; here you can add your own spellings to the game. This is perfect for individual spelling lists and for words that need extra practice. However, the app keyboard doesn’t include punctuation and so spellings with apostrophes can’t be entered.