Hearts, Ghosts & Whispers – Level 2-A

The sight-word game you play out loud.

Hearts, Ghosts & Whispers is a fast, funny card game the whole family will actually want to play, and it teaches sight words the way reading specialists do.

Every word card shows a second-grade sight word with its sounds mapped out underneath: a colored border for the vowel sound, a circle for every sound in the word, a heart on the one part that has to be memorized, and a ghost on any letter that stays silent. On your turn, play a card that shares a feature with the top card of the pile (same border color, same sound, same blend or digraph, a heart on a heart, a ghost on a ghost) and say the word out loud as you play it.

Can’t play? Draw a card. If it fits, play it right away. Down to your second-to-last card? Whisper the word. If someone catches you saying it at full volume, you draw one. The first player to play every card in their hand wins.

Why kids get smarter while playing

Sight words are only partly irregular. Most of friend sounds out just fine; only the ie is tricky. Hearts, Ghosts & Whispers shows kids exactly which part of each word to decode and which part to memorize, then gives them dozens of reps saying the words out loud every game. They’re practicing:

• Phonemic awareness: hearing every sound in a word and matching sounds across words
• Sight-word recognition: 60 high-frequency words read, said, and heard again and again
• Vowel sounds: sorting long, short, schwa, vowel-team, and r-controlled sounds by border color
• Blends and digraphs: spotting the sounds that sit side by side and the letters that team up
• Strategy: choosing between six ways to match, and timing the action cards

How to play (in 60 seconds)

1. Set up: Shuffle the word cards and action cards together. Deal 7 cards to each player, put the rest face down as the draw pile, and flip the top card to start the discard pile. (If it’s an action card, shuffle it back in and flip again.)
2. Match a feature: Play a card from your hand that shares at least one feature with the top card of the discard pile.
3. Say the word: Sound it out using the phonics clues on the card as you play it.
4. Can’t play? Draw one card from the draw pile. If it can be played, play it immediately; otherwise your turn ends.
5. Action cards: Reverse, Skip, and Draw 2 are played by matching border color. A Wild card changes the color in play. Wild Sight Words double as action cards.
6. Whisper: When you play your second-to-last card, whisper the word. Get caught at full volume and you draw 1 card.
7. Win: The first player to play all their cards wins.

Stuck? If every player has drawn a card and still no one can play, flip the top card of the draw pile onto the discard pile and keep going.

Six ways to match

• Border color: the first syllable’s vowel sound. Red for long vowels, blue for short vowels, green for vowel teams, purple for r-, l-, and w-controlled vowels, yellow for the schwa sound, and orange for ng and nk.
• Sound circles: one circle per sound. Match any consonant or vowel sound.
• Hearts: an irregular, uncommon, or alternate sound. Match a heart to a heart of the same color.
• Ghosts: silent letters. Don’t pronounce them!
• Overlapping circles: blends, where 2 or 3 sounds sit next to each other.
• Diamonds: digraphs, where two letters make one sound.

What’s in the box

• 60 sight-word cards with color-coded borders, sound circles, hearts, and ghosts
• 12 action cards: Reverse, Skip, Draw 2, and Wild
• Accordion-fold illustrated directions covering the six ways to match, the action cards, the whisper rule, and the eight spelling patterns
• Pocket-size tuck box

Specifications

About Scholar Within

Scholar Within builds research-based learning programs and games that help kids become confident readers, spellers, and writers. Hearts, Ghosts & Whispers brings that same expertise to the game table because the best learning happens when kids forget they’re learning.