For grown-ups
What is a “heart word”?
A heart word is a common little word with one part that spells a surprise sound — like the ai in said (it says /e/, not /ay/), or the o in to (it says /oo/). The rest of the word behaves and can be sounded out normally.
Why we MAP the tricky part (not memorise the whole word)
The old way was “sight words” — memorise the whole shape by flashcard. Structured-literacy teaching does the opposite: keep decoding, and mark only the one grapheme that misbehaves. That way the child still practises sounding out (the transferable skill) and learns the surprise by heart — a much smaller thing to remember. HeartPals is that move as a game: see the word, hear it, tap the surprise part, and get the friendly reason why.
The heart words your child meets
These come straight from our open Sound Road reading sequence, in order. The 💛 highlighted letters are the “by-heart” surprise; everything else is regular.
- as The "s" says /z/ here, not the hissing /s/. The "a" is a regular short-a.
- is The "s" says /z/ — "is" ends with a buzz. The "i" is a regular short-i.
- to The "o" says /oo/ (as in "moon"), not the short-o in "got". The "t" is regular.
- do Just like "to", the "o" says /oo/. The "d" behaves.
- his The "s" says /z/. The "h" and "i" are regular.
- has The "s" says /z/. Everything before it behaves.
- he The "e" says its long name /ee/ at the end of this little word (an open syllable). The "h" is regular.
- me Like "he", the "e" says /ee/. The "m" behaves.
- be Open-syllable "e" says /ee/. The "b" is regular.
- was Two surprises: the "a" says /o/ and the "s" says /z/. Only the "w" behaves.
- we Open-syllable "e" says /ee/. The "w" is regular.
- the The "th" is regular (two letters, one sound); the "e" says a soft /uh/ (schwa), not /ee/. Know the ending by heart.
- she The "sh" is regular; the "e" says /ee/ (open syllable). The "sh" + long-e make "she".
- said The team "ai" usually says /ay/ (as in "rain") — but in "said" it says /e/. Know that by heart.
- come This looks like split-e — but the "o" says /u/ (not long-o) AND the silent "e" does NOT make it long. Two surprises.
- some Just like "come" — the "o" says /u/ and the "e" is silent without lengthening it.
- have The "a" stays SHORT — the final "e" is only there because English words rarely end in a lone "v". It does NOT make the vowel long.
- give Like "have", the "i" stays SHORT — the final "e" is only there because words do not end in "v".
- great The team "ea" usually says /ee/ — but in "great" it says /ay/.
- they The ending "ey" says /ay/ here. The "th" is regular.
- you The team "ou" says /oo/ here (not /ow/ as in "out"). The "y" is a regular consonant /y/.
- are The "ar" is regular /ar/; the final "e" is silent and does nothing here — know that by heart.
- were The "er" says /ur/ (not the /er/ you expect) and the final "e" is silent.
- your The letters "our" say /or/ here. The "y" is a regular /y/.
- touch The team "ou" usually says /ow/ (as in "out") — here it says /u/. The "ch" is regular.
- does The "oe" says /u/ and the "s" says /z/. Only the "d" is regular.
- people The team "eo" says /ee/ — an unusual spelling of long-e. The "-le" ending is a regular final syllable.
- friend The team "ie" usually says /ee/ or /eye/ — but in "friend" it says /e/. There is an "i" hiding in "friend".
Honest note: HeartPals is a calm, structured way to meet irregular words — it is practice, not a promise of a reading level or a test score. There is no score, no streak, and nothing to buy. Everything runs on this device; there are no accounts, and nothing your child does leaves the device. Reading grows most when this kind of practice turns into lots of real books together.