If you teach reading, you’ve probably watched a student “sound out” the same word over and over. Word mapping is what helps that word finally stick. Word mapping (or orthographic mapping) is the process our brains use to store words so we can read and spell them automatically. Instead of memorizing whole words as shapes, students connect the sounds they hear in a word to the letters they see on the page. Over time, that word becomes a “known friend” they can read and spell wi