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SPIRE & iSPIRE Word Card Inventory

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Word Cards are used SPIRE and iSPIRE for daily fluency practice. They are introduced and reviewed during the Reinforcing Lessons. Word cards have three different colors: red, yellow, and green.

  • Green word cards show fully decodable words.

  • Yellow word cards show words with less common pronunciations.

  • Red word cards show high-utility words that contain both regular and irregular sound-spelling patterns. Teachers should draw students’ attention to these patterns with the goal of promoting orthographic mapping so students can recognize the words by sight.

If you do not teach all the Reinforcing Lessons for any particular concept, be sure to teach all the corresponding red word cards from those lessons because students will see these high-utility words often in their practice and assessment materials. You can also review these words with students after the lesson for additional practice and to build automaticity.

Red Sight Words: Instructional Routine

The goal of this routine to promote orthographic mapping so students can recognize high-utility words by sight. Sight words are introduced and reviewed during the Reinforcing Lessons.

  1. Display the first red Word Card.

    You will see this word when you read and write. It is on a red card because it has some letters that spell the expected sounds and some letters that do not.

  2. Say the word for students and use it in a sentence.

    This word is said. He said that he was not hungry.

  3. Say the word again and segment the sounds. Have students repeat. Then, draw attention to both regular and irregular sound-spelling patterns in the word.

    The word is said, /s/ /ĕ/ /d/. (said, /s/ /ĕ/ /d/)

    Which letters are spelling the expected sounds? (s, d)

    Which letters are not spelling the expected sounds? (a, i)

  4. Highlight any letters in the word that do not spell the expected sounds. See below for examples of how to highlight unexpected sounds.

    In the word said, the letters a and i spell /ĕ/.

  5. Have students read the word. Then, have students write the word while saying each sound.

Sample red word cards with unexpected spelling patterns highlighted:

an image of eight red outlined word cards with unexpected spelling patterns highlighted in yellow. Examples include: "is", "from", "said", "many", "what", "two", "of", and "pretty"

Word Card Inventory by Level

Download: SPIRE & iSPIRE Master Word Card List

Level Green Cards Yellow Cards Red Cards
1 87 17 16
2 53 10 23
3 79 40 16
4 111 10 32
5 144 0 10
6 172 0 18