Free Online Spelling Competition Improves Students' Literacy Skills by 36 Percent

Word Mania USA is giving students in the United States the chance to win up to $10,000 for their school while improving important literacy skills.

Word Mania USA

Students in the United States are invited to put their spelling skills to the test in Word Mania USA, the world’s biggest online literacy competition. Created by LiteracyPlanet, an award-winning English literacy (language arts) education program, Word Mania challenges students to create as many words as they can in three minutes from 15 letter tiles.    

Word Mania is free to enter for any students from Grades 1 to 9 and with $10,000 in prizes, there’s plenty to play for. It challenges students to think outside the box and develop crucial literacy skills including affixes and plurals (morphemes), word recognition, vocabulary and word knowledge.

Student results improve significantly over the course of a Word Mania. In previous iterations of the competition, a 36 percent increase in average score has been observed, along with a 20 percent increase in the average number of correct words spelled in a game.

LiteracyPlanet CEO Adam McArthur said the company was excited to see children in the U.S. involved in such a collective and fun literacy challenge. "Word Mania is much more than just a spelling competition. The word-building involved improves a range of crucial literacy skills including language units like affixes and plurals (morphemes), word recognition, vocabulary and word knowledge."

LiteracyPlanet U.S. Commercial Director Ashley O'Connor said she was looking forward to seeing children in the U.S. rise to the challenge. "Word Mania is a great way for students to improve literacy skills while having fun. It's been shown to improve a variety of literacy skills including phonics, spelling, vocabulary and word knowledge and we see an average 36 percent improvement in scores over the competition. We look forward to generating the same excitement and success we have seen internationally here in the United States."

Students will have up until March 1 to sharpen their skills as part of the Practice Round. The Competition Round will then run from March 4-8. The top-performing schools will qualify for the Final Round from March 13-15 and have the chance to win up to $10,000 in prizes.

To register for a login to play LiteracyPlanet Word Mania USA or for more information, parents and teachers can go to https://www.wordmania.com/us/register.

For further information, please contact Ben Squires - (+61) 431-451-638 or benjamin.squires@literacyplanet.com. 

About LiteracyPlanet

LiteracyPlanet is the premier online literacy resource for students in the U.S. It is a gamified learning platform with more than 15,000 interactive exercises that cover pre-reading, phonics, sight words, reading, spelling, comprehension, grammar and punctuation. 

LiteracyPlanet is aligned to Common Core and all state standards, ensuring it is the best program to improve English literacy outcomes in students.

Source: LiteracyPlanet

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