Raising standards in KS1 and Special Needs: helping every child to succeed.
I have taught systematic phonics to all ages and abilities for over 30 years. My teaching degree was in Environmental Studies and I hate to see science reduced to box-ticking when there is so much to discover about the wonderful world we live in.
So, I produce Phonic resources that meet the real needs of children and teachers, along with science resources to engage children in learning about the natural world.
Raising standards in KS1 and Special Needs: helping every child to succeed.
I have taught systematic phonics to all ages and abilities for over 30 years. My teaching degree was in Environmental Studies and I hate to see science reduced to box-ticking when there is so much to discover about the wonderful world we live in.
So, I produce Phonic resources that meet the real needs of children and teachers, along with science resources to engage children in learning about the natural world.
Here are 12, FREE to download, Consonant Blends decodable, phonic reading books to support the blending of consonant blends words with a short vowel sound, for the very earliest stages of learning to read with phonics, WITH MATCHING WORKBOOKS to consolidate learning.
Suitable for use with all phonic programmes.
These books follow our FREE CVC words reading books, and are followed by our Graded Decodable readers, introducing common digraphs.
Together they form a FREE phonic reading scheme. Give your child a head start in reading, or help your struggling reader to succeed!
Suitable for home-education, parents, teachers, private tutors and all else who need them!
The focus is purely on sounding out with only the key words
** I, and no, go, to**
being gradually introduced.
Pictures are minimal to encourage the child to gain meaning from the text and not to guess.
Phonic words are introduced and then met again in subsequent readers, to help develop confidence and fluency.
The highly structured nature of these books helps every child to succeed.
The stories are based around farmer Tom with his animals, his wife, his son Sam and daughter, Pam, dog Jiff and the cat.
Highly suitable for special needs children who have failed with other programmes.
Many parents have told me they wished they had found these books sooner, or had found them at all, as they would have been ideal for their struggling reader.
They have been thoroughly tested by my current pupils all of whom are boys. Even my nine-year old boy pupil loves them.
Teachers can find my consonant blends worksheets here:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12653569
164 fully differentiated Phonic Worksheets to teach the Special Friends: sh, ch, th, ng and ck. Meeting the needs of the average class and special needs, including dyslexia and EFL/ESL.
For all phonics programmes, especially:
Read, Write Inc. Set 1 Special Friends
Letters and Sounds Phase 3 Set 3
Can also be used with other phonic programmes.
See individual packs for details and to preview the worksheets.
In time I intend to add: qu and nk.
Here is a simple, fun to play CK game, or individual CK matching activity, to help children to learn the CK digraph.
This pack contains both a colour (for class use) and a black and white version to send home for home-learning).
For either one child or two players
For home and school use
For parents, teachers and home educators
For intervention, classwork, home-school curriculum and private tutors.
Simple to prep, simple to play.
This is the eco black and white version.
For a colour version please see here.
A pack of two super fun games to help children learn to hear the final sound of words, so vital for spelling with phonics. The games cover the final sounds: t,d, k, g, p, b, n, m and s.
They can also be used for speech therapy giving practice in like sounds: d/t/, k/g/ and p/b with which some children struggle.
Children from EYFS to teens with sepecial needs will enjoy playing these games!
Some children need a little extra practice to hear the final sounds of words, and a game takes the tedium out of learning!
Children will want to play these games again and again and you can change the sound each time. Nine sounds with 63 picture cards and two boards to choose from means the child will not get bored
Build a Castle, Win the Race: you choose! You can even change the fun level by adding in extra/missed turns - but play it simply first.
The games can be for up to 4 players, though it is recommended that each player plays first with an adult until s/he has begun to hear the final sound.
Full instructions are given.
Both games come in either colour or ink-saving black and white.
I made these games to help a ten-yr-old reluctant pupil to hear the final sounds of words. It won him round and now he is an expert!
I hope they help you too!
22 ‘ck’ fully differentiated worksheets, for use with any phonic programme. Written for those just beginning to blend, e.g Letters and sounds Phases 2 -4 and RWI Speed Set 1, Special friends. These worksheets cater for the needs of the average class and special needs.
The worksheets give practice in:
Reading and spelling ck words
Tracking the ck sound in words and sentences
Proofreading
Comprehension
Writing sentences using ck words.
These worksheets are simple, but effective. For use by teachers and private tutors.
Find activities suitable for all abilities
Assume no knowledge of other digraphs
Two worksheets for most activities: one without consonant blend words, and one with consonant blend words.
Suitable for Special Needs/intervention work/homework.
If you have already purchased our big book of Phases 3 and 4 worksheets for Letters and Sounds, you may have a few of these sheets, but this pack contains mainly new/changed material.
Two fun , fully interactive Power Points to help children to learn to add and subtract one, based on counting rhymes:
One little bird in the sky so blue, along came another and that made two…Adding one more each time to five
Five little fishes swimming near the shore, one swam away and then there were four…Subtracting on each time from 5 to zero.
Made for a SEN pupil, but suitable for all ages.
Great for distance learning lessons/1:1 tutition/private tutors, OR
For whole class use
These phonic ‘Learn to Write’ letter tracing sheets for Special needs children have been developed to accompany the learning of the initial sounds, to help the child who does not yet have the ability to write unaided begin to become familiar with letter shapes and correct letter formation.
The physical act of writing letters while learning initial sounds is important because the movement of the hand to write, alongside seeing the letters and saying their sounds helps to make the learning process multi-sensory, which in turn ensures that more children, including those with special needs, become successful readers and writers.
The sheets are placed in alphabetical order, but can be used in any order, according to the phonic scheme you are using.
Do ensure that the child has plenty of free drawing practice alongside the use of these sheets so that the child develops sufficient pencil control to move on to independent writing.
A bumper pack of 62 number worksheets for Spring - but can be used all through the year. The clear simple layout makes them suitable for EYFS/Y1 children and SEND pupils. Suitable for home-learning.
Covering:
More/
Matching
1:1 correspondence
Number formation 1 to 10
Counting/completing sets
Beginning addition and subtraction
Introduction to multiplying and dividing
Grouping into tens and ones.
Tried and tested on real classes.
Something for everyone!
A fun, animated PowerPoint to introduce children to the consonant blends SL featuring the lovable character, SLIMMY SLUG!
As you tell the story, which is written under each slide for use in Presentation Mode or on the accompanying PDF, stretch out the key words containing the focus blend: SLLLimmy SLLLug to help children hear the blend.
At the end of the story, 2 slides help you to teach the children to blend the two sounds together to make the blend SL and then further slides encourage the children to help you to retell the story as you highlight the key words containing each blend.
The PowerPoint ends with an interactive puzzle: can the children tell you which things begin with the blend SL? Watch the pictures spin if correct and disappear if incorrect!
An SL worksheet is included for follow up.
Close your lesson with a plenary session, reviewing the key words containing the FL blend.
Written to help a disallusioned 8-yr-old who had already failed to read despite 2 phonic programmes, I needed a way to get his attention. It worked and he loved these simple PowerPoint presentations and was soon reading and spelling words with consonant blends.
Suitable for distance/on-line learning, in school, at home and for home education.
Find also:
FR PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12907479
FL PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12907482
See also our consonant blends, leveled, FREE reading books!
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12645240
A fun, animated PowerPoint to introduce children to the consonant blends FL featuring the lovable character, FLAPPY FLY!
As you tell the story, which is written under each slide for use in Presentation Mode or on the accompanying PDF, stretch out the key words containing the focus blend: FLLLappy FLLLy to help children hear the blend.
At the end of the story, 2 slides help you to teach the children to blend the two sounds together to make the blend FL and then further slides encourage the children to help you to retell the story as you highlight the key words containing each blend.
The PowerPoint ends with an interactive puzzle: can the children tell you which things begin with the blend FL? Watch the pictures spin if correct and disappear if incorrect!
An FL worksheet is included for follow up.
Close your lesson with a plenary session, reviewing the key words containing the FL blend.
Written to help a disallusioned 8-yr-old who had already failed to read despite 2 phonic programmes, I needed a way to get his attention. It worked and he loved these simple PowerPoint presentations and was soon reading and spelling words with consonant blends.
Suitable for distance/on-line learning, in school, at home and for home education.
Find also:
FR PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12907479
SL PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12907484
See our consonant blends, leveled, FREE reading books!
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12645240
A set of 3, fun, animated PowerPoints to introduce children to the consonant blends FR, FL and SL each featuring a lovable character, Freddy Frog, Flappy Fly and Slimmy Slug!
As you tell each story, which is written under each slide for use in Presentation Mode or on the accompanying PDF, stretch out the key words containing the focus blend: FRRReddy FRRRog to help children hear the blend.
At the end of the story, 2 slides help you to teach the children to blend the two sounds together to make the blend and then further slides encourage the children to help you to retell the story as you highlight the key words containing each blend.
The PowerPoint ends with an interactive puzzle: can the children tell you which things begin with the blend? Watch the picture spin if correct and disappear if incorrect!
A worksheet is included for follow up.
Close your lesson with a plenary session, reviewing the key words containing the blend.
A bumper pack of teaching resources with everything you need to teach initial sounds.
For use in class, for private tuition and for home education, ESL/EFL/ Special need.
This Initial Sounds Teaching Pack contains (all a-z with vowels in yellow):
Alphabet chart for display/for a child to practice the sounds/check and see progress
Cards with both pictures and initial sounds,
Cards with just a sound with room for the matching picture to be inserted above
Two sets of matching pictures cards
A set of lower-case letters
A set of upper-case letters
Vowel strips with and without pictures: these should be said daily, once learned, as the child moves on to learn to blend.
Over 170 cards altogether!
Simply print, cut and laminate for durability.
Suggestions for use are provided, but you are only limited by your imagination!
Here is a simple ‘ar’ phonic game which I made to help my struggling readers.
It is easy, fun and if nothing else, your pupil will forget his/her difficulty with reading while playing this game with either an adult or another child.
Full instructions are given.
Two editions are provided: black and white or coloured.
Why not let the pupil make his/her own game by colouring the black and white pictures? This will make it his, or her game - personal - while linking all 18 words in the game in the child’s mind to the ‘ar’ family - so important for spelling.
This is a simple game for either 2 or 3 players.
If playing with other children, the teacher should watch closely to ensure that the children are sounding the words out correctly.
Use as a discrete form of assessment: is the pupil using knowledge of letter sounds - or GUESSING which will lead to failure?Timely intervention now can prevent much trouble later on.
Let your pupils have fun learning ‘ar’!
Why not send it home for homework?
Can be used with any programme including Letters and Sounds Phases 3 + 4
This is a pack of 20 AR phonic spelling puzzles to help children to spell words with the phonic digraph AR.
Aims/objectives for these AR Spelling Puzzles
To help children to understand that 'ar together make one new sound.
Who can use these AR spelling puzzles?
Any child needing help to hear the letters AR as one sound in words. They can be used in the Early Years (Pre-K and K) or for Early intervention, or for Special Needs.
They can be used with all Government approved Phonic Prgorammes, including Letters and sounds/Revised (Phase 3), RWI and Jolly Phonics.
Full instructions are included in the download.
How can these puzzles be used?
Use for independent work in - great for private tutors and home education.
Use with small groups.
Use in Literacy centres.
Use how they can best serve your purposes!
Tell us how you have used them!
Find AR worksheets here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12807870
Find an AR Reading Game here
A series of highly structured phonics worksheets for special needs, currently covering the sounds:
CK, OO, EE, AR and OR, A-E, I-E for any pupils of any age who need a slower pace and more in-depth study of a digraph, with each task broken into tiny manageable steps.
Each pack contains 12 worksheets, intended to be worked through as a workbook but which can be used discretely.
These sheets are intended to be used in a multisensory capacity so needed by special needs children, in which the child sees the sound/word, feels the sound with the mouth parts, and then writes it.
See it! Sound-it-out! Write it! is my powerful 3-step process.
My ‘sound-it-out’ boxes help to visually group wounds in words so guiding the pupils attention to the sounds to help them to sound out effectively.
These structured worksheets take the pupil through the following stages:
Hear the new sound in familiar words (to familiarise the child with the sound)
Write the new sound (writing adds a multisensory dimension so needed by these pupils)
Track the new sound in words (throughout)
Write the new sounds
Read words with the new sound
Read longer passages
Each pack includes a front cover to make a workbook and a page on which to write the given dictation passage on completion of the exercises.
These packs were written originally for a ten-year-old pupil of mine who has severe processing difficulties. They will help those suspected of being, or diagnosed with, Dyslexia as well as with any other special need.
This bundle is rapidly being added to.
This game practices the spelling and reading of words with ai or the split digraph a-e. Suitable for use with Read, Write inc. Set 3 words.
Be the first to get to the moon as you find words to fit your rocket - either ai or the a-e words.
This game helps children to learn which combination of letters are used to spell common words in the ‘ai’ and ‘a-e’ sound families.
It also gives practice reading ‘ai’ and ‘a-e’ words.
Excellent for reluctant learners, special needs, and just about all children.
Full instructions and teaching notes included.
For use with any phonic programme, including Read, Write Inc. and Jolly Phonics.
Tes paid licence
Two fun phonic games to learn ee or ea? and ai or a-e?
These phonic games motivate all learners, especially those who may be reluctant after, sometimes, many years of failure.
Suitable for use with Read, Write inc. Set 3 words.
Full instructions and teaching notes to help you make the most of the games.
For use with all phonic prgrammes, including Letters and Sounds, Read, Write, Inc, and Jolly Phonics.
5 FREE worksheets to teach CVC word with a short vowel.
This is a sample of our 72 sheet Short A CVC Words pack, which contains plenty of exercises to help children of all abilities to take their first steps in blending and segmenting.
CVC words with a short A are usually the first words a child will learn to blend, and therefore, we start the pack with child friendly exercises, with only a small amount on each page to encourage the child. Those with more confidence can tackle our more advanced sheets: there is plenty for all abilities!
The realistic pictures means that these worksheets can safely be used with older ESL/EFL/ SENd children.
A bright, cheery A4 size phonic alphabet chart just perfect for young children who are learning the beginning/initial sounds!
2 font styles
How to use:
Laminate the chart
Give one to each pupil to have on the desk for handy reference
Pin the phonic alphabet chart on the wall!
Just right for:
Reception/Y1
Special needs older children
Home-education
Parents
those struggling to recall letter shapes/sounds
A Power Point or video lesson to introduce the digraph ‘oo’ to children, especially suitable for those who have special needs or need a slower pace. This is one of a series.
This is a taught lesson. Stop the video if you need more time on a slide. The Power Point allows for more control over the speed.
Just like having your own phonics teacher.
Written by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics to all abilities.
Can either be used by the child, with support from an adult, as well as to give the parent a feel for what is necessary - i.e. for training purposes.