Wesley Arnold is a 4th Grade classroom teacher at The Mountain Community School in Hendersonville, North Carolina in the US.
I originally discovered Sumdog at my previous school when the district purchased the program as a county wide initiative and every school had access to it. Since moving to The Mountain Community School, I have recommended it to other teachers who tried it out with their students and loved it! One of the best things about Sumdog is that if I am going to be teaching a skill, I can create a challenge on just those standards specifically. This works great as an alternative activity for my students to get additional practice and is also a fantastic way to help me deliver personalized learning to each child. Of all the programs my school uses, Sumdog’s curriculum matches the closest to what I teach and how I teach so I definitely prefer it over the others! The diagnostic tool is very useful as gives me a clear view of my students’ abilities. This helps me to close academic gaps by providing data that I can use to target my instruction to prevent individuals from falling behind.
I love Sumdog’s spelling program and had the opportunity to be part of a group of teachers who helped the team develop spelling sentences for the product. If my class has a spelling test coming up, it’s as easy as creating the word list on Sumdog and the students have targeted spelling practice all week long leading up to it. I also love the grammar side because I can pick a skill that I am teaching or that I think we need extra time on and assign it as independent work so the students get a good amount of practice. Then, whoever is in the top 3 for best accuracy throughout the week is rewarded with smarties to celebrate their hard work!
"Of all the programs my school uses, Sumdog’s curriculum matches the closest to what I teach and how I teach"