Setting up and using your WordStar Mini

Two buttons on the right-hand edge do everything: Sun on top, Power below it - the same symbols are printed on the buttons. Drag the model to look around.

drag to rotate

• Sun - next (and, in practice, your child's turn)
• Power - back one in a test, hear it again in practice
• Hold either for two seconds: Sun opens the list of activities, Power opens WiFi Mode - from any screen
• Screen - paper-like; it keeps its picture even when asleep
• Memory card slot, above the buttons - leave the card in

Plug any USB-C cable into the port on the bottom edge. The little battery in the corner of the logo screen fills up as it charges. A full charge lasts many days of practice.

Press either button. You'll see the logo for a moment, then a large letter h, silently.

The device wakes straight into All Skills (step 8), the run of checks a specialist does with a child, starting with the letters.

To get to the spoken practice programme instead, hold Sun for two seconds to open the table from step 7, tap Sun or Power until it shows Full Progression, then hold Sun.

The programme picks up where your child left off - the first time, the letter s, spoken aloud. That's the practice screen.

• Top left: how far along you are, e.g. 1 / 52
• Top right: what is being asked (abc, Read, Find...)
• Bottom right: two marks that line up with the two buttons - ▶ next, and ◀ back in a test or 🔊 hear-again in practice

Once it knows your WiFi, the device quietly checks for improvements about twice a day and installs them itself - new sounds included. You never have to do this again.

• Hold Power for two seconds. The screen changes to WiFi Mode and shows a network name, a password and an address.
• On your phone, join that WiFi network (it's the device's own, very short-range network: name WordStar Mini, password learnwords).
• Open your browser and go to the address on the screen: http://192.168.4.1
• Tap Home WiFi, choose your home network from the list, type its password and tap Connect. Leave "Automatically check for updates" ticked.
• Back on the device, hold Power for two seconds to leave WiFi Mode. Your phone drops back to your normal WiFi by itself.

Pairing lets your child's practice recordings and progress appear in your WordStar dashboard.

• Wake the device and keep it next to your phone or laptop.
• In your WordStar account, open Devices and choose Scan for a device via Bluetooth.
• Pick WordStar from the list. Pairing finishes on its own - the device carries its own code, there's nothing to type.

From then on, practice syncs whenever the device is awake near a browser with your dashboard open.

Only the practice programme syncs. The checks (step 8) stay on the device: nothing from them appears in your account.

From the practice screen (Full Progression in the table, see step 3), the device shows a letter or letter group and says its sound. Then:

• Sun tap once - your child's turn. The device listens for three seconds ("Listening..."), then plays their voice back ("Here's you!"). You judge it together - there's no marking.
• Sun tap again - a little chime and on to the next sound.
• Power tap - hear the sound again, as often as you like.

It remembers where you got to, so you can stop any time and carry on tomorrow. The programme runs through 124 sounds in the order children usually meet them - single letters first, then pairs like sh and ai, then the trickier spellings.

To move to a different activity, or a different part of the programme, hold Sun for two seconds.

A small table appears, one entry at a time, opening on the one you're in. It works the same from inside a check. In order, it lists:

• The checks (step 8): All Skills, Letters, Letter Sounds and Letter Names practice, Letter Words, Initial Sounds, Sight Words, Rhyming.
• Full Progression: the programme, where your child left off - it shows the letter they're on.
• The programme's sections: Single letters (the very beginning), Digraphs, Vowel teams, More vowels, Alt. spellings, Tricky spellings.

• Tap Sun or Power to move through the list (it wraps around).
• Hold Sun to go there - or hold Power to go back to where you were.

Short runs, one item at a time, in the same order the school assessment uses.

The device wakes straight into All Skills: every test in one sitting. Each test ends on "All done!" naming the next; tap Sun to go on. The tests, in order:

• Letters - the 26 letters in lowercase, then the same 26 as capitals. You ask for each letter's name and its sound.
• Letter Words - a picture (apple, ball, cat...). Your child says the word.
• Initial Sounds - ten words shown for you to say (can, we, he...). Your child gives the sound the word starts with.
• Sight Words Read - a word on a card (the, you, and...). Your child reads it.
• Sight Words Find - four words; the device says one, your child points to it.
• Rhyming Pairs - the device says two words ("fin... win"). Your child says whether they rhyme.
• Rhyming Make - the device says a word. Your child says one that rhymes.

Every test is also in the table on its own, and so are the practices, where the device says each item and listens to your child:

• Letter Sounds and Letter Names (abc or ABC).
• Letter Words, and Initial Sounds with pictures.
• Sight Words.
• Rhyming: "fin... win... Do they rhyme?" - a moment for your child to answer - "They rhyme!"

In a test the device stays silent and you do the asking - except Find and the Rhyming tests, where the device says the word because that is the question.

The corner of the screen says what to do: abc/ABC, Say, Read, Find, Sound, Rhyme?, Rhyme.

How to run one:

• Hold Sun to open the table (step 7), tap Sun or Power to reach the check you want, then hold Sun.
• For the Letter Sounds and Letter Names practices, choose abc or ABC (tap either button to switch; the Letters test needs no choice - it runs lowercase, then uppercase, by itself), then hold Sun to start. Everything else starts straight away. The letter, picture or word appears large, with a counter in the corner.
• Practice: the device says the sound, name or word (for Initial Sounds, just the word - your child works out the first sound). Power says it again; Sun is your child's turn (recorded and played back), then Sun again for the next one - just like everyday practice.
• Test: nothing plays. Ask ("what sound does this letter make?", "what's this letter called?", "what's this?", "what sound does apple start with?", "can you read this word?") and listen. (Find and the Rhyming tests are the exception: the device says the word or words, since that is the question; Power says it again. In Rhyming Make, tap Sun once to record your child's rhyme and hear it back, then again to move on.) Sun = next. Power = back to the previous one (the screen shows a ◀ beside it; from the first item it goes round to the last) - use it when you want to ask again; the device notes that the item needed another go.
• At the end of each test: "All done!" and a chime, with the next test named underneath in All Skills. Tap Sun to go on - or, after the last test, to start again for the next child, no need to go through the table again. Nothing on the device shows scores; the results stay on its memory card for the specialist.
• To leave a check at any point, hold Sun for the table and pick another check or Full Progression (the programme where your child was). Holding Power opens WiFi Mode from here too, just as in practice.