Spell Tower is a creative game that is a cross between Boggle(R) and Tetris(R). Players are presented with letter tiles arranged in a grid. They must create words by swiping a finger across letters. Words can be spelled in any direction as long as the letters are next to each other and swiped in the order in which they appear in the word. There are four different play modes, each with different features and levels of difficulty, which makes this app appropriate for many age and comfort levels. In the most challenging level, rows of letters are added and players must find words before rows of letters reach the top of the screen. More relaxed modes do not add rows and have no time element and will be appropriate for children with anxiety or slower processing skills who need more time to think. Overall, this is an engaging word game for players of all ages and skill levels. Note: This app was originally reviewed for iPhone/iPad. Some differences might apply. Amazon rating: Guidance Suggested

• 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

• Spatial Perception
• Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps
• Visual Discrimination
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Working Memory
• Requires remembering and completing a sequence of visual steps