Spell 1st Home Edition

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffSeptember 27, 2006In Spell 1st Home Edition, a baby invites you to her spelling fort under the kitchen table, where you listen to, then spell 100 "sight words" that first-graders need to memorize. A dog uses each word in a sentence, and then you type it. You can click a letter if you need help finding it on the keyboard. The first test is administered by a talking cat. After 10 correct answers, you get a new coach. Several animals take turns, including a horse, a giraffe, an elephant, a monkey, a zebra, a guinea pig, a jaguar, a penguin, and a lion. Upcoming coaches' pictures appear at the top of the screen. The coach animal's face registers shock if you type in the wrong letter, which is both amusing and helpful as a visual cue for small children. If you type the word correctly, the coach smiles. Young children may find the morphed animals delightful, although some adults might find them a bit creepy. The dog and baby employ prerecorded human speech, which sounds much better than the coach's Microsoft Speech Engine pronunciation. Spell 1st could use a bit of efficiency in its packaging. The 65MB download seems extremely large for the included content, and the program consumes nearly 60MB of system memory while running. Nevertheless, the engaging Spell 1st Home Edition should encourage first-grade students and early bloomers to become master spellers.