What does Wand provide that Pinwheels does not?
- Wand includes more phonics and spelling patterns beyond what is taught in Pinwheels, including completion of the Vowel Chart (all vowel sounds and spellings).
- Wand introduces authentic text. While this text is grade-appropriate, it is not controlled for learned phonics patterns (as in Pinwheels), so the level is more challenging for students.
- Lessons in Wand are designed around the reading selection, so each selection offers some review of familiar concepts as well as the introduction of new or deeper concepts discovered within the literature. The phonics and spelling lessons are derived from meaningful text.
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How long will it take to complete Wand?
Wand is designed to be completed in approximately one school year. However, completion time is dependent upon many factors including actual instructional hours per week, as well as each student’s learning pace and need for modifications.
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Can Wand be used to teach an older student?
Wand uses reading material that is appropriate for a 2nd grade reading level. If you are working with an older student in order to fill-in knowledge gaps, you can use the suggested reading and copywork lessons to build foundational skills. However, you should also add in reading material that is age or interest-level appropriate for your student. Be aware that this material will require educator support for unknown phonics and spelling patterns as well as comprehension.
Use Wand in combination with our educator training master-class: Foundations for Teaching Reading, Writing & Spelling. Wand includes a Wand Teaching Routine & Cross-Reference Guide to give you suggested lesson combinations and alternative reading selections.
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Can Wand be used to teach a younger student?
Wand introduces educators and students to lessons based on authentic age-level text. This means that concepts that students were able to identify in controlled text can become obscured in less predictable sentence structure and vocabulary. If students do not have a foundation in short vowel sounds, sound-to-letter connections, early introduction to word structure, or early Consonant-Vowel-Consonant word reading and writing, we recommend starting with the Pinwheels curriculum. Pinwheels is a comprehensive literacy program that is designed to strengthen students’ writing skills, so choose an appropriate level of Pinwheels based on your students’ original writing skills.
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Can Wand help students who struggle with language difficulties?
The three most common causes of reading and writing delay are dyslexia, dysgraphia, and developmental language disorders. Wand incorporates evidence-based instruction that explicitly teaches phonics and spelling patterns, especially vowel team patterns. Each unit provides weekly copywork and dictation lessons for meaningful, consolidated spelling and writing practice. Research also supports connecting this instruction with meaningful text, so Wand units are designed around grade-appropriate literature.
For robust therapeutic instruction and practice materials, we strongly recommend combining Wand with our online educator training course: Foundations for Teaching Reading, Writing & Spelling. This course teaches additional explicit lessons and provides additional student materials. A Wand Teaching Routine & Cross-Reference Guide is provided to help you add in supplemental Foundations lessons. We strongly recommend that all students who are not comfortable writing at the sentence level begin with Pinwheels, as it is designed to launch original writing.
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Do I need any other materials to teach with Wand?
To complete the lessons in Wand, you will need to secure the books on the Wand Book List, viewable in the product images above or this download. The book selections are typically available in most libraries.
