Paws and Spell from Keep Reading and Learning

Word chains are a high-impact activity, meaning they offer several benefits in one simple activity. Completing word chains improves phonemic awareness and spelling skills and encourages the orthographic mapping process.

Completing word chains requires students to practice several phonemic awareness skills in one activity: segmenting, blending, substituting, adding, and deleting. It also includes the phonics skills of decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) because letters are involved.

Any early reader will benefit from using Paws and Spell! It’s ideal for typically developing early readers, older students who are building foundational skills, multilingual learners, and students with dyslexia or other reading disabilities.

There are 11 skills-based categories:

• CVC Words
• CVC Words with Digraphs
• Bonus Letters/ FLOSS Rule
• Initial Consonant Blends
• Final Consonant Blends
• Initial and Final Consonant Blends
• Open and Closed Syllables
• Silent e
• R-Controlled Vowels
• Long Vowel Teams
• Diphthongs and Other Tricky Vowel Teams

Each category includes 10 word chains, for a total of 110 word chains.

Paws and Spell can be used as a warm-up for literacy lessons, independent work, an exit activity, or a whole class lesson.

Teachers say their favorite way to use Paws and Spell is with an interactive whiteboard! Picture this: students gathered around the interactive whiteboard, fully engaged as they manipulate letter tiles projected from your computer.

Calling all interventionists! Whether you’re a special education teacher, a reading specialist, or a Title I tutor, Paws and Spell is your secret weapon for student success. Join the ranks of educators who are transforming phonemic awareness skills, one word at a time!

Virtual tutors can also use the game! Imagine this: your student tackling word chains independently while you prep materials, or seamlessly guiding them through the game with shared screens. It’s the ultimate tool for personalized learning and remote support!

Homeschool parents also love Paws and Spell! It’s super simple for parents to log in on their child’s device, and then the child is ready to play!

Please note that our goal isn’t to turn this activity into a daily marathon for students! Research shows that short, regular doses of phonemic awareness instruction work best. To make the most of Paws and Spell, consider having your students tackle one to two word chains a few times a week.

Yes, we should include letters! The National Reading Panel’s report, Teaching Children to Read, highlights the incredible impact of phonemic awareness instruction when letters are involved. Dive into some excerpts from this report:

“Instruction that taught phoneme manipulation with letters helped normally developing readers and at-risk readers acquire PA [phonemic awareness) better than PA instruction without letters.”

“Teaching children to manipulate phonemes with letters created effect sizes almost twice as large as teaching children without letters.”

“PA training makes a stronger contribution to reading and spelling performance when the training includes teaching children to manipulate phonemes with letters than when training is limited to speech.”

“Teaching students to manipulate phonemes with letters yields larger effects than teaching students without letters, not surprisingly because letters help children make the connection between PA and its application to reading.”

“The NRP findings indicate that PA instruction may be most effective when children are taught to manipulate phonemes with letters…Teaching with letters is important because this helps children apply their PA skills to reading and writing.”

Reading Rockets supports the use of phoneme manipulation tasks (adding, substituting, and deleting sounds) like the ones students complete when playing Paws and Spell:

Manipulating sounds “is the pinnacle skill [of phonemic awareness]. Keep in mind that poor phonological awareness is the most common area of weakness for struggling readers. Students who master this skill are on a solid footing for reading success.”

Paws and Spell is a browser-based game. It will work on desktop computers, laptops, and Chromebooks. Please note that it is not currently compatible with mobile devices like tablets or smartphones.

We’re excited to offer you a one-year subscription for $5 or lifetime access for $10. Please note that we cannot guarantee the perpetual availability of the online game.

No. When you purchase a license, you agree to the Terms of Use. The Terms of Use state that each license is for your personal use within your classroom or home and is not to be shared.

Just a gentle reminder, I’m a teacher too, pouring my passion into this project! Your support in honoring the Terms of Use and spreading the word to fellow teachers so they can purchase their own subscriptions means the world to me.

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