Example letters to send to parents:
Schools:
Dear Parents
We are pleased to let you know that your child will be given access to Wordshark Online from home. Wordshark is a computer program with a long track record of helping students improve their reading and spelling skills, using games.
To access the program, your child will be given login details – including the school’s unique Wordshark website address. This you will need to bookmark on your home device. Then once logged in, your child can show you the words each week they are working on under ‘My Play Words’ - and the games they play. It would be really helpful if you could look with them at ‘My Play Words’ (yellow button in the middle of the screen) and talk with them about what these words might have in common with each other.
The program will first place them at a suitable point in the ‘Supershark’ course (very important not to help them with the Shark Challenge!). From there they will then be moved on each time they master a list.
Importantly, they may also have Set Work spellings from their teacher.
The very best thing you can do to help, is talk to your child about the words they are learning, and their favourite games - and to remind them to sign in and play for about 15-20 minutes for as many days as possible each week. That way, if you can maintain a regular routine of practice, they will make real progress.
Their teacher will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Tutors:
Dear parents
I am pleased to say that I have arranged for [name] to have home
access to Wordshark Online. Wordshark is a computer program with a long track
record of helping students improve their reading and spelling skills, using
games.
To access the program, I will give your child the login details –
including a unique Wordshark website address (each school or tutor has their
own address for their students’ login). You will need to bookmark this on your
home device – or create a shortcut. Then once logged in, your child can show
you the words they are working on under ‘My Play Words’ - and the games they
play.
The program will first place them at a suitable point in the
‘Supershark’ course. From there they will then be moved on each time they
master a list.
Importantly, I plan to set special work under the Set Work tab
that your child should complete before going back to Supershark.
There is also a tab ‘Own lists’ in your child’s main menu. If you
want to add any school spellings this is possible, but I will not be able to
see these so it is important you make sure that the words are correctly spelt
otherwise your child will be reinforcing wrong spellings!
The very best thing you can do to help, is talk to your child about
the words they are learning each week, and what is special about the current
list. Also it is useful to talk about their favourite games - and to remind
them to sign in and play for about 15-20 minutes for as many days as possible
each week. That way, if you can maintain a regular routine of practice, they
will make real progress.