Company History
Magic Words International began several years ago on the kitchen table while teaching our young children how to read. Having been a Primary School Teacher for many years I knew how important learning the most frequently used words, or sight words, were to early reading and writing success.
Using an old set of Qantas (Australia's National Airline) Playing Cards with the words stuck on the face, I began inventing fun and exciting ways to engage our children in playing games with these important sight words; until they remembered, automatically, the “Magic Words” that are the framework of the English language.
Little did I realise at that time, how rapidly the children would master these important words and what a dramatic acceleration it would have on their ability to succeed at school.
Whilst home, I also tutored many struggling students with reading difficulties; who, after playing with the “Magic Words” card games and learning activities made remarkable gains in reading. As one mother reported;
“This morning the teacher asked to see me; she told me that Alexandra had gone up seven reading levels over the Christmas break and wanted to know what we had been doing!”
These initial success stories gave me the inspiration and passion to research the potential of using card games to engage children in to learning to read.
Learning to read while having fun is…MAGIC!
About the Author - Marcella Reiter
Marcella Reiter is an experienced Classroom Teacher, Educational Consultant and Psychologist who has taught in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary settings both in Australia and overseas.
For the past fourteen years, she has worked as a School Adviser with the Catholic Education Office and is the best selling author of the M100W - Magic 100 Words Literacy Resources.
These exciting activities and educational card games teach the 200 most frequently used words, which make up on average, two-thirds of all the words used in reading and writing.
The M100W - Magic 100 Words resources are used in over half of Australian Primary Schools and are quickly being taken up by schools worldwide as more teachers and parents discover the enormous success that is achieved when teaching with the Magic Words!
Research
In English, there are 100 frequently occurring words that make up, on average, half the words found in reading and writing (Davidson and Wicking, 1994). The literacy activities and games promote automatically (the rapid, instant recognition and processing of words), which significantly improves fluency and flexibility in reading. M100W® is the acronym for Magic 100 Words. Mastering half the words used in reading and writing makes the task of reading and writing “magically” easier.
“Every language has a group of common words which are in constant use. They make up the framework of the language – the essential structure which helps you to read other words…. These words are called basic sight words because they must be known by sight – instantly… They provide the framework from which other words in the sentence can be worked out, using context clues.” (Andrew, 1997)
“Extensive and automatic word knowledge frees fluent readers to focus on the meaning of what they read rather than stopping to work out unfamiliar words.” (Perfetti, 1995)
“Fluent readers read at a speed and ease that promotes intonation and expression. There appears to be a strong correlation between reading speed and reading accuracy.
An ever increasing core of automatic words helps children become fluent and flexible readers.” (Pinnel and Fontas, 1998)
Professional Associations
MacMillian - Professional Learning
Harcourt - Leading Edge Professional Development Team
Australian Distance Education Centres
Austrailan Council for Educational Research - Professional Development Team
Quality Schools Program - Carrum Downs
Distributors
Magic Words enjoys a successful relationship with over 100 major distributors in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, such as:
Australian Council for Educational Research - Camberwell - Victoria - www.acer.edu.au
BRT Inspirations and Leading Edge Books - Benalla - Victoria
Wooldridges A&M - Joondalup - Western Australia
How to Learn the Magic Words
You can dramatically improve your child's reading and writing success at school through the fun and excitement of the Magic Words card games and literacy resources.
See the range of products by clicking on the link below for
M100W - Magic 100 Words Cards (1 - 100 Words)
M100W - Magic 100 Words Learning Centres Resource Manual
More Magic Words Cards (101 - 200 Words)
More Magic Words Resouce Manual
Magic 100 Words Deskmats New!
Magic 200 Words Deskmat
Classroom Poster (Size A2)
Starter Pack
Magic Words is a boutique company specialising in sight words, frequent words, learning to read, reading fluency, comprehension, automaticity, Golden Words, Red Words, Blue Words, Green Words, Orange Words, Indigo Words, Violet Words, 100 most used words, M100W, Magic 100 Words, reading difficulties, reading problems, literacy activities, card games, frequent words, frequently used words, sight words, sight vocabulary, dyslexia, m100w, magic words, magic 100 words, learning to read english, spelling skills, automaticity, dolch list, golden words, educational games.
Both of my children learnt the Magic Words in Prep. They are now in Grade Two and Three respectively and through continually playing with the Magic W ..
