Developments coming for 2026
- Better, clearer reporting to teachers. This will show what the students has done in the last day, week, and term. A snapshot view will show where every student in the group is at. There will be a bit to help report writing also.
- Appropriate reporting to students, so that they can see their progress.
- Students must work systematically from a starting point, and only teacher /RTLB/ other adult can allow them to skip or repeat bits.
- Automatic progression from WC 1 to WC 2 to WC 3 …
- Some minor changes within the games to develop orthographic mapping more effectively.
- A senior version with the same chains and other activities, but in an age-appropriate game format and with age-appropriate graphics.
- Wordchain 5 included – multi-syllabic words, Latin, French and Greek spelling patterns.
- A new and revolutionary digital version of the decodable books for older students, books that follow the Wordchain sequence directly. The student reads a section and meets a prompt button. They will then hear the author speaking to them. They may hear, “Perhaps you have not heard that word before, but I have given you some clues. Can you work out what it must mean?” or “I put that word ‘suddenly’ in to tell you that the story is about to change.” or “You must be wondering why, and I have not told you here. But there are some clues coming up…” Vocabulary development, text structure awareness, and inferencing respectively. There may be background information, or a bit about what inspired the book.
- The books will continue to be available in the print version, now with an accompanying teacher version with scripted prompts and discussion points.
- This leads to the structured writing resource, taking deep comprehension further by writing about your reading. How to construct a sentence, a paragraph, an essay, with skills developed progressively and heavily scaffolded.
Ipads
The issues plaguing iPad use has been resolved.
Update your iPad As of January 30, 2025, to the latest version of iOS which is V 18.2...
You will need to also enable web gl timer queries. To do this
open Settings, scroll to Apps open find Safari>Advanced>feature flags> scroll down to Web Gl timer queries and turn it on.
iPads can now repeatedly load and play all four wordchain games, with no Web Gl context lost errors.
If you are experiencing issues contact Reg, Tech support at wordchainhelp@gmail.com
About Wordchain for Web
Wordchain began as four apps launched in 2017 for iOS and Android devices. Each year has brought new developments.
This year we will launch wordchain 5
The apps are part of Christchurch literacy expert Betsy Sewell's "Agility with Sound", a comprehensive programme for building capable readers.
Wordchain for Web brings the success of those apps to most laptops, desktops and devices with a web browser.
It also introduces a subscription model that allows us to lower the price point and make it more widely available.
For further information, head to wordchain.co.nz(external link)