Review by Dana Villamagna, Common Sense Education | Updated March 2012
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Sight Words Hangman

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download on Amazon

Spooky but clever twist on a classic for fun sight-words practice

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
  • English Language Learning
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Critical Thinking
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
K–2
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (2 Reviews)
Price:  $.99
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire

Take a look inside

5 images
Kids choose the “Hangman” game or “Flashcard” mode.
Lists become progressively more difficult.
Flashcard mode can be played as basic flashcards or a quiz format.
Easy or difficult settings.
Some kids may find the hangman figure spooky.

Pros: More than 300 sight words presented in a fun, recognizable game.

Cons: It would be nice if the app offered an alternative to the eerie hangman figure.

Bottom Line: Good spelling practice for kids who like guessing games.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

The app would be a fun treat after a successful day in the classroom, or a way to warm up kids for a more serious lesson.

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Standards:

Sight Words Hangman is an app allowing emerging readers to practice sight words in a familiar guessing-game format. In the game, a word is spoken from one of 45 lists of 10 sight words, and four choices appear. Kids choose the word they think is correct from those choices (which typically vary quite a bit from one another; no attempts are made here to "trick" kids into choosing the wrong word). A score is kept in the upper right-hand corner so kids can track it. If they choose incorrectly, a part of the hangman appears on the gallows.  Each list gets progressively more complex than the last; five of the lists are based on holiday words. A flashcard mode with a quiz option is also available on Sight Words Hangman for kids who need extra practice before playing the game.

 

 

Kids who have played hangman before will catch on to this app, although the paper version of the hanging man is far less spooky than this one. Kids who are bothered by mildly scary images may not like this hangman –- at all. Other than that, with no social network gaming capabilities, ads, or external links, Sight Words Hangman is a safe, contained way for young kids, or for students for whom English is a second language, to practice sight words in the classroom without much oversight. Unfortunately, multiple kids' results can't be tracked on the same device's app, and results are not displayed beyond the last game played.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

As long as kids aren't afraid of the hangman image, the game is fun and the positive feedback is encouraging.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

There are 45 lists (10 words each) with increasingly complex or long words to spell that kids can choose from to play the game. The flashcards present the same words in practice or quiz style rather than a game. 

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Limited settings include choosing game or flashcard mode, and quiz mode when using the flashcards. The View Results page offers detailed results of a kid's correct and incorrect answers.

Common Sense Reviewer
Dana Villamagna Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Language

  • L.K.2d

    Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.

Reading Foundational Skills

  • RF.1.3

    Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

  • RF.1.3b

    Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

  • RF.1.3g

    Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

  • RF.2.3

    Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

  • RF.2.3c

    Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

  • RF.2.3f

    Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

  • RF.K.3

    Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

  • RF.K.3c

    Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 2 reviews) (2 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Kim P. , Media specialist/librarian
Media specialist/librarian
North Fairview Elementary School
Topeka, United States
Experience the traditional Hangman game in a new way with sight words
"Sight Words Hangman comes with many lists of sight words. Once you have chosen a list, the game pronounces a word for the user to choose out of a list of four words. If you are correct, you go to the next word. If you are wrong, the Hangman game at the top draws in a head, followed by the other traditional pieces of the body in the game. I like this as a center or free time activity, but would not use it as a real teaching tool in my classroom. It would be nice if you could customize lists so students would be working on specific words you need them to focus on. That being said, the game does come with many lists of words, including lists that pertain to particular holidays which kids would enjoy."
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