Teachers
Welcome to SpellingStars.com! We are certain that your students will benefit from this innovative online spelling program. If you find that you need assistance getting set up, please contact us at info@spellingstars.com.

You will want to add lists first, at least one, and then add your students. You will need to decide at this point how you will use the program. How you enter your lists will have an impact on how you set student list types. For example, will you simply mark all words as Basic Words or will you mark some as Challenge Words and others as Super Challenge Words?


STEP 1 - CREATE A LIST - Go To LISTS menu and click on CREATE LIST

GO TO www.SpellingStars.com and login by clicking the LOGIN button at the top right of the menu. Use the login information we have sent you.
Spelling Stars Demo Login

Name your list and give it a description if you like. Click on "To Week 1" link for example to add your words to your list.

Demonstration Adding Lists

Scroll down if necessary and click on the link to Add Words to your list. Start entering words but note that at the left, you can mark them as Basic, Challenge or Super Challenge. The sentence is optional but highly recommended. It helps students learn how to use new words and it also helps them during the test. Click the Add Word green button. Continue like this until all of your words are entered for the week. Then you must click the orange publish button for the sound to work. If you decide to change a sentence or word later, you must publish this list again. This creates all the sound files and makes the program run faster.

Demonstration Adding Words To A List

If you need to change a word or sentence or if you realize you had spelled something wrong, you can edit it here too. Simply click Edit, make your changes then click Update to save your changes.


You can go back anytime to view lists or even publish them by going to the MAIN MENU > LISTS then View/Publish Lists.

After you’ve entered at least one list, you must enter Students.



STEP 2 - Enter Students
1. Go to the MAIN MENU > STUDENTS >Add, Change or Delete Students
2. Click on the blue ADD NEW STUDENT button
3. You will enter the student information at the right and also select their list types here. If they are to get Basic or Challenge or Super Challenge, all of them or some of them, it is completely up to you and you can change that later on.
4. Click the green Add Student button and then when you are done, click on the Done Adding blue button to hide the entry form. You can always go back and add or delete students.

CAUTION: If you delete a student, his or her grades are also deleted so you might want to print backup records before deleting your students at the end of the year if you need to keep their scores for any reason.

The student email address is option and would be a parent email address. We are developing an email segment which will allow parents to have spelling grades emailed to them if they like. If you are interested in this feature, please contact us. We DO NOT use parent emails for any other reason.

Demonstration Adding Students

STUDENTS CAN BEGIN USING THE PROGRAM NOW.

Your students will login with the user id and password that you have assigned to them and they can practice the lists right away from school, home or anywhere with an Internet connection. The will not be able to access tests or pre-tests until you "check them out" of the test library however.


STEP 3: CHECKING OUT TESTS (Think of the test check out as a library system.)

You will "release" or "check out" the test to the students when you are ready for them to take a pre-test or regular test. This way, those are the only tests the student can see.
Demo Test Check Out for Spelling Stars Online Spelling Program
You will select:
1. MAIN MENU > TESTS > MAKE A TEST AVAILABLE
2. Test type: pre-test or test to release
3. Order: do you want the test given in order or randomly
4. Whole Class or Individual Test: Select from the lists to release and click on the buttons to "Make Available" or when the students are done, you would make the test unavailable by selecting the name of the test on the right and clicking the "Make Unavailable" button.  We recommend checkout out only one test at a time and checking it back in when the students are done to avoid any confusion.

Congratulations! You have completed the Quick Start Guide. Once your students take tests, you will be able to see their reports under the report menu. Set your grading style preferences under “My Preferences” tab. You can also print and view handouts and games from your login as well as change student list types, unlock students who have locked their password and view student activity (see who has and has not taken a particular test).

Feel free to click around the menu items to become familiar with the options. If you have any ideas for improvement, please contact us. Also, if you need help getting set up, we are happy to help in any way that we can. Email us at info@spellingstars.com for assistance.

FINAL NOTE: Once you get your lists input, they are there until you delete them. We save them year after year so you only input these lists once. Many teachers add one list a week all year until they are done. This makes the task easier to complete. Students will need to be entered once a year. When the academic year is finished, you may wish to delete your old students from your program. However, print out any reports you need before you do so as once you delete them, their scores are also deleted.