Spelling standards alignment
Spellwright's word bank is built around eight phonics pattern families — the same short-vowel-to-morphology progression most K–5 spelling instruction follows — plus a Tier 0 emergent sight-word bank and a Tier 1 grade-list ladder. Below is exactly which standard, in which framework, that maps to: not a claim that any standards body reviewed or approved Spellwright, but an alignment — what the standard asks for, and what the game teaches — with a source link for every row.
- Common Core L.K.2
- Texas TEKS ELAR K.2C
- UK National Curriculum Year 1 spelling
Looking for multiplication facts instead? See the Times Machine standards page →
Find your state
Texas uses Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading (TEKS ELAR).
- K.2CKindergarten
Demonstrate and apply spelling knowledge by spelling words with VC, CVC, and CCVC patterns; spelling words using sound-spelling patterns; and spelling high-frequency words from a research-based list.
Phonics patterns · Sight wordsSource → - 3.2BGrade 3
Demonstrate and apply spelling knowledge by spelling multisyllabic words with closed, open, VCe, vowel-team, r-controlled, and final stable syllables; spelling homophones, compound words, contractions, and abbreviations; and spelling words using knowledge of prefixes and of suffixes (dropping e, changing y to i, doubling the final consonant).
Grade word lists · MorphologySource →
Every standard, in full
| Framework | Region | Code | Grade | Covers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | L.K.2 | Kindergarten | Phonics patterns | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | L.1.2 | Grade 1 | Phonics patterns · Sight words | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | L.2.2 | Grade 2 | Phonics patterns | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | L.3.2 | Grade 3 | Grade word lists · Morphology | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | L.4.2 | Grade 4 | Grade word lists | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | L.5.2 | Grade 5 | Grade word lists | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | RF.K.3 | Kindergarten | Phonics patterns · Sight words | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | RF.1.3 | Grade 1 | Phonics patterns · Sight words | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | RF.2.3 | Grade 2 | Phonics patterns · Morphology · Sight words | Source → |
| Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) | Multiple states | RF.3.3 | Grade 3 | Morphology · Phonics patterns | Source → |
| Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading (TEKS ELAR) | Texas | K.2C | Kindergarten | Phonics patterns · Sight words | Source → |
| Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading (TEKS ELAR) | Texas | 3.2B | Grade 3 | Grade word lists · Morphology | Source → |
| Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) for English | Virginia | 2.5 | Grade 2 | Phonics patterns | Source → |
| UK National Curriculum (Key Stages 1 and 2) — English | United Kingdom | Year 1 — Spelling | Year 1 (age 5–6) | Phonics patterns · Morphology | Source → |
Questions parents ask
- Does Spellwright align to Common Core spelling standards?
- Yes. Spellwright's eight pattern families and Tier 0/1 word bank align to CCSS-ELA's Language conventions strand (L.K.2 through L.5.2 — spelling simple words phonetically through spelling grade-appropriate words correctly) and its Reading Foundational Skills phonics strand (RF.K.3 through RF.3.3 — letter-sound correspondences through multisyllable decoding). "Aligns to" is deliberate: this is a mapping of what the standard asks for to what the game teaches, not a certification or an endorsement by any standards body.
- Which Texas TEKS ELAR standards does this align to?
- TEKS ELAR K.2C (spelling words with VC/CVC/CCVC patterns and high-frequency words) and 3.2B (spelling multisyllabic words by syllable type, plus prefixes and suffixes) — the kindergarten and Grade 3 encoding benchmarks Spellwright's early and later bands are built around.
- Does Spellwright teach phonics, or just memorized spelling lists?
- Both, and the two are the same thing here: Spellwright's eight elements (Ember, Tide, Bloom, Storm, Frost, Dusk, Ink, Aether) are the eight stages of a standard phonics scope and sequence — short vowels, digraphs, blends, silent-e, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, irregular heart words, and multisyllable morphology — so training a creature IS practicing that phonics pattern, not a disconnected memory drill.
- Is spelling timed the way Times Machine times multiplication facts?
- It's timed, but on a different clock: only how quickly a child STARTS their answer can ever make it count as slow — once the first letter, tile, or spoken sound lands, there is no wrong-by-clock, and a child who takes thirty seconds to finish still scores correct. Nothing about how fast they type, tap, or speak is ever graded.
- Does it cover sight words and high-frequency word lists?
- Yes — Tier 0 is Spellwright's emergent sight-word bank (irregular, must-be-memorized words like "the" and "said"), and Tier 1 continues as a grade-list ladder of increasingly common words, the same territory CCSS RF.K.3's "read common high-frequency words by sight" and TEKS K.2C's "high-frequency words from a research-based list" describe.
Curious what a child actually does with these words? See Spellwright →