The Word Whizzer! and literacy (reading and writing)

Having a strong vocabulary is the key to success in reading and writing. Many children struggle when learning to read and write because they do not know the words in the first place or they have a limited knowledge about the meaning of words or the way they sound (they may not recognise syllables in words, first sounds / final sounds etc). 

Consider these examples for instance:

• During mat time, Jake’s teacher calls out words for the children to sound out e.g. she says ‘slug’ and the children have to sound out the word as s-l-u-g. Jake has never heard of some of these words before. When it comes to his turn, he cannot remember the word that the teacher has said, because it was unfamiliar to him. Therefore, he has no chance of sounding the word out.

• David is able to read and write quite well for his age. However, in his writing he often uses the wrong words in his sentences. He wrote ‘the millipede crawled along’ but in his story the main character was a caterpillar. David has not learnt the meanings of words carefully enough and therefore muddles up words in his writing.

• Susan can read a page of her book to her teacher very well, but sometimes struggles to understand the meaning of some of the words she has read. This means she misses the main points of a story and then has difficulty answering questions about it.

• John knows lots of words but cannot identify how they sound. He is only able to clap the syllables in the words but does not know the first sound in words. This means he is not able to write or read words easily.

Teaching reading and writing without having established that a child has a firm store of words is like building a house without having assembled firm foundations. The Word Whizzer! ensures that a child knows the meaning and sounds in words so they store them properly.

The child can then use their sound knowledge to read and write words, and their knowledge of word meanings to develop reading comprehension skills and to use words accurately in their written work.

This is the secret to successful speaking, reading and writing skills

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