Spell Gems can be a good choice to potentially engage otherwise uninterested students in word spelling games with its use of relatively short games, encouraging female characters and bright, sparkly colored gems.The game play itself is relatively standard. Players see a 3x4 grid of random letters and must drag their finger over adjacent letters to spell a word. For each word they spell they earn coins, and play continues until the player earns sufficient coins to move to the next round or time runs out. After each correct word is spelled, coins rain down for positive feedback, making the game more exciting than a traditional word game. However, competitive game players will be annoyed that the timer keeps counting down while the coins are raining down so they cannot make words. If time runs out, players can use coins to extend the round, so the game does not have the same sense of time pressure as similar word games. Where the app falls short as an instructional tool, is that players cannot view the words they spelled compared to all the potential words, nor can they ever see the definitions of the words they spelled to improve their vocabulary. Overall, this app can be a good way to encourage students to enjoy word games, but as an instructional tool there are better options that follow the same format albeit without the fun graphics. *Note: This app was originally reviewed for iPhone/iPad. Some differences might apply.

• 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)
• 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

• Visual Discrimination
• Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
• Shows advertisements
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects