SMART Speller is a fun and interactive way for students to improve their literacy skills. Available for free to SMART customers who use a PC, this software can be used during a lesson while connected to a SMART Board. (Logging in to the SMART Exchange is required before downloading the software.  If you don’t already have an account, it’s free to create one.)

Away from the SMART Board, you’ll be able to prep for your lesson by using the Options menu to import new word lists or edit an existing word list.

You can easily create your own word list to import, but it must be saved as a .txt file. You have two options:

1. In Microsoft Word, type the title of your list on the first line, then type your word list, choose Save, and select “Plain text” from the “Save as type” options.

2. Open Notepad, type your list with the title on the first line, type your list, then choose Save.  This saves as a .txt file by default.

Here are some features in SMART Speller that we think teachers will like:

• create your own spelling list with picture, words, and even sound

• access pre-created lists already available in the software

• display images of the word to be spelled

• get automatic feedback to correct misspellings or to confirm correct spellings

• adjust difficulty level

• can be used even with foreign languages

How would you use the SMART Speller in your instruction?