How to Word Map:
A Science of Reading Best Practice
What is Word Mapping?
Word mapping is a valuable strategy for primary teachers to help their students grasp the relationship between letters and sounds and orthographically map them in their minds. It involves visually organizing words based on their phonetic components, such as letters and digraphs.
Imagine creating a chart where each sound or phoneme is mapped out into boxes that help students organize the information into their minds. By engaging in word mapping activities, students can develop stronger phonics skills and become proficient in decoding and reading words independently.
Why is Word Mapping a Must in Learning to Read?
Word mapping in phonics aligns closely with the science of reading best practices, which emphasize systematic and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Research shows that this structured approach is effective because it leverages how the brain processes language. For instance, when children engage in word mapping activities, they activate various regions of the brain responsible for recognizing and producing sounds, decoding words, and making meaning from text.
Brain research indicates that explicit instruction in phonics, like word mapping, strengthens neural pathways associated with reading skills. By visually organizing words based on their phonetic features, teachers help students make connections between letters and sounds, reinforcing their understanding of how written symbols represent spoken language. This multisensory approach not only supports early reading development but also fosters a deeper comprehension of language patterns and rules. Ultimately, integrating word mapping into phonics instruction empowers kindergarten teachers to scaffold their students’ learning effectively and promote a solid foundation for reading success.
How to Word Map?
Word mapping is simple to do once you get the hang of it. The core of it is that each of the 44 phoneme sounds in the English language go into one box. If that sound is made up of two letters, it goes into one box. Once you know how to map the sounds, you are on your way to being a word mapping pro.
Here’s an example of how to create a word map for the phonics concept of a long e vowel digraph:
1. You can choose a focus sound, so students can connect many words to that phoneme. Select a vowel digraph to explore, such as “ea”.
2. Create the Word Map by drawing four squares together on a chart paper or whiteboard.
3. Add Words: Sound out the word “team” with your class. Write a “t” in the first box, the vowel digraph “ea” in the second box, and “m” in the last box. Repeat for additional words. You have four boxes because dream and treat have four sounds d-r-ea-m.
Examples: sea, bead, read, team, dream, meat, leaf, flea, treat, leaf
Extending the Word Mapping Lesson to Make More Connections
We want students making multiple connections in their mind since its the development of pathways in the brain that leads to the ability to read, so these extensions will assist with that.
A. Add Illustrations: Encourage students to draw simple pictures next to each word to represent its meaning such as draw a sea creature next to “sea” or a book next to “read”.
B. Discuss the sound with the word mapping visual as a prompt. Engage students in discussions about how the “ea” digraph makes the same sound in different words and what those words mean.
C. Ask higher order questions: Ask students if they can think of other words with the long e sound that might have ea in it. Record them on a chart as ones with “ea” and ones without “ea”.
D. Follow up with review: Periodically review the word map to reinforce understanding and add new words as students learn them.
This visual representation helps students see the patterns in words and understand how specific letter combinations (like “ea”) produce consistent sounds across different words. It also supports their ability to decode and recognize these patterns in their reading.
