Introduction

•  WordsAhead offers a revolutionary approach for educating America’s underserved learners.  You may be a visionary administrator, a volunteer tutor or an engaged parent who seeks fresh methods to advance our collective welfare through education, or you may be a disheartened professional who has failed to close the achievement gap using “proven” instructional strategies.  You are all welcome to experiment with WordsAhead’s sound infrastructure. 
•  WordsAhead insists that ALL SPEECH SOUNDS are important for explicit focus on sound-parsing and sound-spelling.  WordsAhead never organizes lessons around ABC products which often ignore 30% or more sound-units and cause confusion.  WordsAhead never says that letters make sounds in the same way that a flute makes a “flute-sound” or a drum makes a “drum-sound”.  The truth is, alphabet letters simply represent pre-existing speech sounds, just like musical notations symbolize aurally perceived tunes.
•  WordsAhead provides explicit, systematic focus on relevant vocabulary.  In the business of language learning, sound-spellings provide a more durable, competitive advantage over “sight” words.  Teach sound-sorted word lists as a prerequisite to discovering contextual meaning during a lesson.

Click here to visit this FLIPBOOK to learn more about my methods

Clearly distinguish the functions of four literacy data-sets:

Speech Sounds
Sound Names
Alphabet Letters
Letter Names

Use this data to teach sound-sorted word lists (Literature tab above) as a prerequisite for comprehending contextual meaning during a lesson.
Provide a sound foundation ahead of explicit, systematic focus on relevant vocabulary. In the business of language learning, sound-spellings provide a more durable, competitive advantage than a “sight word” approach.

Teach individual sound-units for precise pronunciation.

ABC products often ignore 30% or more sound-units and cause confusion. WordsAhead values ALL SPEECH SOUND-UNITS.

• Click any of the maps below to view them enlarged
• To print any of these sound maps please visit the full list

Florence Akin Sounds Map Florence Akin	PBS Kids Sounds Map PBS Kids	Zoo Phonics Sounds Map Zoo Phonics
Free Reading Sounds Map Free Reading	NATO NATO	Handwriting Without Tears Sounds Map Handwriting Without Tears
Phono Graphix Sounds Map Phono Graphix	Starfall Sounds Map Starfall	Reading Mastery Sounds Map Reading Mastery
Houghton Mifflin Sounds Map Houghton Mifflin	Dibels Sounds Map Dibels	Open Court Sounds Map Open Court

Sound Names identify Speech Sounds

WordsAhead uses number-labels which cue to Vowels and Consonants

WordsAhead does not commingle sound names with alphabet letters, as in phonics terms “Short/Long” A-E-I-O-U and “Soft/Hard” C-G.

Click here to visit this flipbook displaying Speech Sounds

Alphabet Letters spell-out Speech Sounds

Letters do not make sounds in the same way that a flute makes a “flute-sound” or a drum makes a “drum-sound”. WordsAhead uses alphabet letters to simply represent pre-existing speech sounds, in the same way that musical notations symbolize aurally perceived tunes.
Teach the shapes of ABCs, then explore many fonts.

Click here to visit this flipbook displaying both ABCs and different font useage with each letter.

Letter Names identify Alphabet Letters

“Aay” for /Aa/
“be” for /Bb/
“sea” for /Cc/
“Dee” for /Dd/
“EEE” for /Ee/
“efff” for /Ff/
“jeeeee” for /Gg/ continuing to...
“double-you” for /Ww/
“Ex” for /Xx/
“wi-(fi)” for /Yy/
“zeeeee” for /Zz/