Heart Word Magic
Unlock the Magic of Heart Words for Lasting Literacy Success
Transform how students learn ‘tricky’, high-frequency words with Really Great Reading’s complimentary resource—Heart Word Magic. This innovative tool engages students in word study by highlighting the predictable phonological relationships in irregularly spelled "Heart Words". This tool helps students anchor high frequency words into their sight word memory using proven, evidence-based solutions. Animations and Practice Techniques: Help students see that their decoding skills apply even to non-decodable words.
Heart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words, particularly those that aren’t very decodable. At Really Great Reading we call high-frequency words Heart Words because they are the first words students should learn "by heart." Click here to read our blog and learn about the research behind how to Make Heart Words Sticky>>
Show your students this video to introduce them to Heart Word Magic! We use animations and practice techniques to clearly show students that the alphabetic principle doesn’t completely disappear in Tricky Heart Words. The same skills students use for decoding are also helpful in learning to read and spell these less-decodable words. Heart Word Magic helps them to “make the tricky sticky."
How can you give your students the skills they need to become strong decoders and accurate and fluent readers? Really Great Reading has a solution. It’s called Phonics Suite, a comprehensive set of tools to diagnose, group, and teach students with weaknesses in their foundational reading skills. There are even tools to monitor progress, report, and adjust. Click here to read more>>
After showing your students the Heart Word Magic animations, try these fun, hands-on activities with your kids.
Highlight the Tricky
Highlight the Tricky to Make It Sticky
One easy way to help students focus on and remember the parts of Tricky Heart Words they need to remember by heart is to simply have students highlight the part of the word that is “tricky” (the phonologically irregular part), such as the letter a in what. Check out our activities below.
Spelling Activity Sheet
This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by filling in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart.” Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, have, from, and the.
Scaffolded Spelling Activity Sheet
This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then writing down the corresponding spellings. The teacher can give students the spelling for the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart.” Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, and of.
Dissect a Word Activity Sheet
This activity allows students to practice dissecting Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then filling in the corresponding spellings. They fill in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart” and write that tricky part again. Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, of, and could.
Highlight the Tricky to Make It Sticky
One easy way to help students focus on and remember the parts of Tricky Heart Words they need to remember by heart is to simply have students highlight the part of the word that is “tricky” (the phonologically irregular part), such as the letter a in what. Check out our activities below.
This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by filling in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart.” Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, have, from, and the.
This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then writing down the corresponding spellings. The teacher can give students the spelling for the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart.” Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, and of.
This activity allows students to practice dissecting Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then filling in the corresponding spellings. They fill in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart” and write that tricky part again. Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, of, and could.
