Franklin HW-1216 Children's Speller and Dictionary

The Franklin HW-1216 is the perfect tool for helping younger students check their work and learn new words. I ordered three for my third grade classroom - they seem perfect for this age. The feature that makes the spell-check work for students is that when you enter a word with your best spelling guess, you get not only a list of correctly spelled words, but brief dictionary definitions as well. If you think about it, kids might not otherwise be able to distinguish between words with very close spellings. In addition to the speller and dictionary, this model also has word games like hangman, and a feature that will show you the word you enter in cursive. It's a very useful addition to the homework toolkit, and good for travel as well.

This has been a very neat item that we use in our "Homework bag." My children are in the 2nd and 3rd grades and are constantly asking how to spell something. While I don't mind helping, I don't want to spell everything for them. My parents and teachers had us to look things up in the dictionary when I was growing up and this is along the same lines. I like that it's lightweight and being in our "Homework bag" can be lugged around when and where needed. My children don't have unlimited access to our computers and I don't always have time to sit down with them to make sure they stay on homework and don't get distracted by other things. This helps with that. The kids can type how they think the word is spelled and this gives them the correct spelling and definition. There are also games included. Although my children haven't used it for that as much. However, there is a cursive writing option that my oldest uses quite a bit. You type in the word and that word is written on the screen in cursive writing. It's made it so much easier for my 3rd grader to practice cursive writing. She likes to come up with her own sentences to write in cursive and not just the words and simple sentences used on worksheets for practice. Overall, it's a good product and works well for us.

I bought this dictionary for my 3rd grade daughter to help her on spelling. The excitement was gone in 30 minutes after not being able to find more than 3 words in 10 searches. Many easy words can't be found, and most of word descriptions are so simple that she still can't really understand the full meaning of the words. The calculator feature in the dictionary is pretty much useless. She likes to play Hangman with me, but we always have to add the word to the word list, and ask Hangman to get the word from the list. There is also a game called fun with Spanish and French..it was interesting to look the sentences in Spanish & French once, and that is about it. The screen resolutoin is very low, so the letters are quite jaggy. I am very disappointed with this particular dictionary. Maybe I should try the other more expensive models.

My 8 year old granddaughter loves this machine. It is easy for her to navigate to get to games, the dictionary or the speller. The keyboard is large enough for her to type accurately.

Did not open until my granddaughter's birthday. New batteries. Am experienced computer, device user. Not a chance that we misread instructions or lacked skill. Worked for 5 minutes and then started getting garbage. Reset as well as the logical turn it off and on and the usual problem solving. Device simply is poorly made. Someone thought that a flashy case would do it. Don't waste your money. Return policy plus cost makes it nonsense to return and I certainly don't want a replacement.

I liked this dictionary. It was the right size (not too big to be heavy, not too small so that my six-yr-old would lose it.) It kept my daughter from asking me a million questions about what words meant, because I could just direct her to her special dictionary. The buttons were big enough for little hands, and the design (the way it looks) appeals to children. We used this dictionary every day for about a week, when I accidentally dropped it (from about waist level, and I'm only five feet) and it stopped working. Granted, Franklin didn't make any claims for indestructibility, but seeing that it's something made for children that will be tossed around, dropped, thrown in a book bag or a desk-should be a tad sturdier than it is.

My 7 year old grandchild loved her Franklin Speller. Unfortunately she dropped it and the cover snapped. Just thought it might have been a bit stronger and more durable. Fortunately it still works. I have used these in school when I was teaching and the lids/covers were always breaking. I have used many of the models and find them a valuable resource.

I bought the speller on the advice of my daughters 4th grade teacher because she was having trouble spelling. I would definetly reccomend it. It was not hard for my 10 yr old to learn how to use it and it has made checking her spelling a lot easier. While it may not always find the right word, the fact that it helps her get the right word at least 75% of the time is way more then I expected given how far off her spelling is. It even has a few spelling games in it, which she enjoys and so she takes it with her for entertainment on trips and in restaurants.