VocabSushi is a free site that enables students to grow and develop their vocabulary by practicing words in the context of non-fiction articles. Students start by taking a 25 question multiple choice diagnostic that tells them their current vocabulary level. They have the option to practice as much as they want, and their progress is stored within the site to see the words they have mastered, are practicing, or need help. The games are really just additional multiple choice, fill in the blank questions. Students read a sentence excerpted from a current event and pick one of four options. After each response, they can view the definition of any of the four word options or choose to read or save the article from which the sentence originated. There is no timer, and students have as long as they need to consider their answers. This site provides plenty of good practice for students to learn new vocabulary through inferencing, but most students will not find it much fun.

• Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
• Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
• Presents educational concepts accurately
• Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
• Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
• Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
• Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

• Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
• Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
• Visually appealing to children in the target age range
• Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
• Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
• Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
• Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

• Has a free or trial version
• Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
• Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
• Student should be able to use independently after first use
• Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
• Multiple users can save a profile
• Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
• Can play without sound and not distract others
• Students can save work between sessions
• Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
• Requires registration before using the first time
• Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
• Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
• Overall - Easy to use

• Attention
• Shows advertisements
• Age inappropriate amount of work which could overwhelm or discourage students
• Problems or examples are not interesting for the target age range
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Reading Basics
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Reading Comprehension
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Reading Fluency
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Verbal Memory
• Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement
• Verbal Reasoning
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
• Visual Discrimination
• Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
• Shows advertisements
• Words used during activity can be too small or difficult to read
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement
• Working Memory
• Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
• Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement
• Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own