Metaphonics

WordWork was designed for students from kindergarten through second grade. It is a new approach based on the metaphonics principle: learning to decode and spell by understanding letter-sound relations rather than by rote practice. Some Key Concepts in metaphonics are:

Making Words/Short Vowels: introduces students to the construction of consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) sequences in words.

Short Vowels: are called glue letters.

Making Words/Long Vowels: covers the Anglo-Saxon vowel marking system for the two major pronunciations of the five vowels. Introduces the major suffixes: -ed, -s, -ing, -er, -est.

Compound Words: teaches the concept that long words are combinations of short words. It is simple, but lays the foundations for the more complex root-affix patterns.