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.
A colourful chart to show the sounds of Levels 1 and 2 of Reading Made Simple - a 100% FREE phonic reading and spelling prgramme that works where others have failed.
Use as handy prompt, to help the pupil find the correct digraph when spelling
Use to practice saying the sounds made by each group of letters
Laminate and use as a place mat, or pin it up as a poster!
Learners will enjoy tracking their progress each week and testing themselves!
Reading Made Simple: https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/
Find the FREE word lists to accompany the Level 1 teaching programme here:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12889313
Help children read and spell a wider range of ‘oo’ words (comprehension passage and questions included)
Help teach to/two/too
Learn more about past tense verbs: adding ‘ed’ to words that do not change and run/ran, sit/sat etc…
To be used with level 2 of Reading Made Simple, but can be used with any programme. Level 2 ‘oo’ builds upon the work done in Level 1 ‘ck’. These books build upon each progressively, so providing a robust scheme of work for spelling and for the less able reader. Suitable for children who have covered all of the Phase 5 sounds for reading at least.
The words are all phonetic with no nasty surprises, but as all schemes differ, please ensure that your children have all the necessary phonics skill to read the text before starting the exercises.
Reading Made Simple: systematic, progressive and truly phonetic - for all abilities and ages.
A pack of simple games to help teach children the initial sounds.
Everything provided.
Games can be played by 2 players, or an adult with a child. They are great for sending home to reinforce work done in class, or for use by teaching assistants.
They can also be enlarged and used for whole class/group teaching activities.
Several games are suggested, but you can make up your own using the given materials!
If you can enlarge them to A3 it would make them more suitable for really tiny fingers.
Help your children to spring ahead in reading with our Spring Phonics Game, designed to help children become more confident at tackling multisyllabic words.
Suitable for children at the end of Phase 5 Letters and Sounds.
As a spin off, children will also learn to identify common spring plants and animals.
See also our Spring Science Snap game
Remember to print out two sets of the word/picture cards!
This is a listening game to help the child to hear the ‘oo’ sound in words, as different to the ‘o’ sound as some children have difficulty hearing the new ‘oo’ sound.
One of my pupils has a speech delay. When I introduced him to ‘oo’, he tried to sound out the words saying ‘o’ instead of ‘oo’. It was as if ‘oo’ was a foreign sound to him. So, I devised this game to help him to hear the ‘oo’ sound in words he uses frequently in speech. After playing it a few times he is now happily sounding out to read and spell words with the ‘oo’ sound.
This game uses only the ‘oo’ sound as heard in ‘moon’.
For more help teaching phonics, see my FREE Phonic reading and Spelling programme, Reading Made Simple. https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/level-1---oo.html
An easy reader about mushrooms for those beginning to read longer simple texts - with words that can be sounded out using phonic knowledge and only a few most common sight words.
Learn about mushrooms through a simple story.
For lesson notes and more help see:
https://ks1nature.weebly.com/free-science-lessons/mushrooms-for-ks1
See also our mushroom lesson resources and Power Point.
An easy reader for those beginning to read longer simple texts - with words that can be sounded out using phonic knowledge and only a few most common sight words.
Learn about the Song Thrush through a simple story. Learn Science at the same time!
Use with any phonic programme after a child has learned the basic digraphs and trigraphs, for example, after Phase 5 Letters and sounds, or after RWI Speed Set 3 have been completed.
See more at https://ks1nature.weebly.com/tipsideasfreebies/song-thrush-for-kids.
How to teach phonics effectively is a resource to help schools improve their delivery of phonics, through which ever programme they choose.
The author has 30 years experience of teaching phonics, both in a main stream school, where she had responsibility for the teaching of phonics throughout the whole school and with individual, special needs children.
She draws on her experience of helping both parents and teachers to use phonics to best effect.
Here are 12, FREE to download, phonic reading books to support the blending of CCVC words with a short vowel sound, for the very earliest stages of learning to read with phonics.
Suitable for use with all phonic programmes.
The focus is purely on sounding out with only the key words
** I, and 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 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. He is just so glad to be able to read.
For more help see READING MADE SIMPLE, the 100% FREE, systematic, synthetic phonic reading and/or spelling programme.
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
A colouring page for every letter of the alphabet. Colour the things that begin with each sound. One object on each page (except A) starts with the previous initial sound. Can the child find it?
Encourage neat colouring to aid pencil control.
Correct phonic ‘i’ sound and ‘q’ written with ‘u’.
I made these sheets for one of my pupils who is delayed in speech. He loved colouring and this was a way to motivate him. They helped him to successfully learn all 26 initial sounds.
They can be used by all children and though suitable for use with all schemes, do progress in order - so if the phonic programme your child/ren is/are using does not follow the order of the alphabet, then maybe wait until all of the sounds have been taught.
If you are teaching your own child, you may be interested in our totally FREE, phonic, reading and spelling programme, Reading Made Simple.
This is a pack of 12 phonic worksheets to teach ‘I-E’ (silent ‘e’, Magic ‘e’, Long Vowels) words.
These ‘I-E’ Phonic Worksheets can be used with very young children, although I made them for children who have processing difficulties and need more systematic teaching.
They are:
highly systematic
have a limited amount on each page as these pupils tire easily.
Pupils should be confident blending with consonant blends (Phase 4 Letters and Sounds for example).
I use ‘Sound-it-out boxes’ for new words, where digraphs are grouped together to give the child the visual reminder to make one sound.
The worksheets include activities to:
Develop blending and segmenting
Give needed repetition to to develop word recognition
Develop phonemic awareness - much needed by early learners
Tracking activities - to see and recognise the new sound in words
Comprehension activities
Writing practice
Reading of longer passages
Fluency triangles
Lots of repetition builds confidence and success! Help a struggling reader today.
You will find it hard to find such a comprehensive programme of systematic phonic instruction for a special needs child for such a price.
This is a pack of 12 phonic worksheets to teach ‘U-E’ (silent ‘e’, Magic ‘e’, long vowels, split digraphs) words.
These ‘U-E’ Phonic Worksheets can be used with very young children, although I made them for children who have processing difficulties and need more systematic teaching.
They are:
highly systematic
have a limited amount on each page as these pupils tire easily.
Pupils should be confident blending with consonant blends (Phase 4 Letters and Sounds for example).
I use ‘Sound-it-out boxes’ for new words, where digraphs are grouped together to give the child the visual reminder to make one sound.
The worksheets include activities to:
Develop blending and segmenting
Give needed repetition to to develop word recognition
Develop phonemic awareness - much needed by early learners
Tracking activities - to see and recognise the new sound in words
Comprehension activities
Writing practice
Reading of longer passages
Fluency triangles
Lots of repetition builds confidence and success! Help a struggling reader today.
You will find it hard to find such a comprehensive programme of systematic phonic instruction for a special needs child for such a price.
This is a pack of 12 phonic worksheets to teach ‘O-E’ (silent ‘e’, Magic ‘e’, Long Vowels) words.
These ‘O-E’ Phonic Worksheets can be used with very young children, although I made them for children who have processing difficulties and need more systematic teaching.
They are:
highly systematic
have a limited amount on each page as these pupils tire easily.
Pupils should be confident blending with consonant blends (Phase 4 Letters and Sounds for example).
I use ‘Sound-it-out boxes’ for new words, where digraphs are grouped together to give the child the visual reminder to make one sound.
The worksheets include activities to:
Develop blending and segmenting
Give needed repetition to to develop word recognition
Develop phonemic awareness - much needed by early learners
Tracking activities - to see and recognise the new sound in words
Comprehension activities
Writing practice
Reading of longer passages
Fluency triangles
Lots of repetition builds confidence and success! Help a struggling reader today.
You will find it hard to find such a comprehensive programme of systematic phonic instruction for a special needs child for such a price.
This Silent E set of decodable books forms a continuation of the Reading Made Simple phonic, graded, reading scheme covering sounds a-e, i-e, o-e and u-e. There are 9 books with 4 matching ‘workbooks’, one for each sound.
Popular with home educators, These books can also be used where other programmes have failed.
This set follows:
CVC Readers
Consonant Blends Readers
If your child has been left behind in school or is not making progress in reading, then try Reading Made Simple. It will teach the same things as your child’s school phonic programme but in a more structured way.
This part of the programme follows on from our CVC Words Reading Books and Workbooks and our Consonant Blends Reading books.
This pack of graded reading books further develop reading ability by introducing the Silent or Magic ‘E’ rule
If you are looking for a phonic reading program for your child, look no further, whether you want to give your child a head start in reading, or have a child who has fallen behind at school. As these books are so highly structured they have been tried and tested to help those with even profound difficulties. It just takes an adult to understand the programme, and apply it diligently, with awareness of their child’s needs and every child can read.
These books can be coupled with my free spelling /writing programme which can be found at Reading Made Simple, to form a complete, FREE literacy programme.
Many home educators already use this programme with excellent results.
You will find it hard to find a reading programme like this, for a cheaper price.
It is easy enough for a parent to use and to help their child - many already do.
Special Features of these graded phonic reading books:
The books are graded and therefore should be read in sound order as listed above, as each builds on the one before.
They only use the sight words: he, we, me, be, she, so, give, have, says. they, are
The pictures are minimal and do not encourage guessing so meaning has to be gleaned from the text.
Each book tells a simple story with humour where possible
They have been tested on many children, including some with profound difficulties.
Matching workbooks consolidate and revise learning.
Vocabulary repeats so aiding reading fluency and building security and confidence.
They are based on the latest research and evidence-based methods.
If your child is struggling to learn to read for whatever reason, these books can help.
Who are the graded phonic reading books for?
These books can be used by older struggling readers with dyslexia or any with a processing difficulty of any kind.
Parents
Classroom assistants
Private tutors
Home educators
Reading intervention
They were written for Reading MadeSimple but can be used with Letters and Sounds Phases 3 and RWI Speed Set 2.
Full instructions, including a suggested lesson plan and hints for hearing a child read, are included.
You can help a struggling reader today.
For more help please see Reading Made Simple.
This is a pack of 12 ‘ee’ digraph, phonic worksheets.
They were written for children who need a slower pace and more instruction but will equally suit the young child learning phonics.
They can be used with any systematic phonic programme - including RWI, Jolly Phonics and Letters and Sounds, or Reading Made Simple.
They are designed to be used as a workbook, but can be used individually as needed.
They take the child from aurally hearing the new sound in word, to gradually reading and writing words with the ‘ee’ sound.
They particularly suit those with dyslexia, or suspected dyslexia, who have failed with other approaches to learning phonics.
They are highly systematic, and have a limited amount on each page as young/special needs pupils tire easily.
These ‘ee’ phonic worksheets work on my ‘sound-it-out’ principal for special needs: See it! Sound-it-out! Write it! Thye utilise ‘sound-it-out’ boxes (Orton Gillingham style) to group sounds in each word to visually guide the pupil to sound out the new words.
Lots of repetition builds confidence and success and culminates in the reading of two passages, with reading comprehension activities alongside.
For more help, see Reading Made Simple, a 100% FREE systematic Reading and Writing programme for all ages and abilities.
This book is one of a series. See also:
ar Phonic Worksheets
or Phonic Worksheets
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
This is a pack of 12 ‘or’ digraph, phonic worksheets.
These ‘OR’ Phonic Worksheets can be used with very young children, although I made them for children who have processing difficulties and need more systematic teaching.
They are:
highly systematic
have a limited amount on each page as these pupils tire easily.
Pupils should be confident blending with consonant blends (Phase 4 Letters and Sounds for example) and know the digraph AR.
I use ‘Sound-it-out boxes’ for new words, where digraphs are grouped together to give the child the visual reminder to make one sound.
The worksheets include activities to:
Develop blending and segmenting
Give needed repetition to to develop word recognition
Develop phonemic awareness - much needed by early learners
Tracking activities - to see and recognise the new sound in words
Comprehension activities
Writing practice
Reading of longer passages
Fluency triangles
Lots of repetition builds confidence and success! Help a struggling reader today.
You will find it hard to find such a comprehensive programme of systematic phonic instruction for a special needs child for such a price.
This is one of a series. See also:
ar Phonic Worksheets
ar Phonic Game
A pack of resources to help you teach ‘ck’.
It can be used with any phonic programme, including Letters and Sounds, Read, Write, Inc. and Jolly Phonics.
Suitable for all children but especially those who have special needs or need a slower pace.
(Optional) First watch the free video lesson, (included int he download) then do the activities to reinforce the new sound.
Suitable for use with all phonic programmes including Read, Write Inc…
A great little pack for classroom, home education, private tutoring and special needs/catch-up work.
Ideal to send home for parents to support learning at home.
Pack includes:
How to teach the sound ‘ck’ Lesson Notes
ck flashcard
ck word flashcards
Sentences to read
Speed reading practice sheet
ck Worksheet
Assessment worksheet - help to know what further work needs to be done
Short reading book to practice cvc and ck words.
2 ck games - a matching pictures to words game and a board game for 2 players.
Written by an early years specialist teacher with 30 years experience of teaching systematic phonics to all abilities, especially special needs.
Teachers - see our ‘ck’ worksheets in our worksheet pack for Phases 3 and 4 of Letters and sounds, where we cover ‘ck’ words with and without a consonant blend. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12009694
A simple first ‘learn to write’ book teaching letter formation linked to beginning sounds for young children.
Pictures to colour in, linked with the initial sound of the letter being taught.
At the end of each page is a question the parent/teacher can use to stimulate further thought as to other things that begin with that sound, so linking phonics with the handwriting.
A5 size.
This document is set to print as a booklet. Please ensure that your printer is set to flip on the short edge.