Clever Speller is a unique story based learning approach to spelling featuring full length narrative picture book style stories full of words showing all the ways to spell a focus sound. Our resources develop the essential skills of phonemic awareness, (hearing sounds in words,) and phonics, (learning all the ways to spell them). Authentic context makes learning to spell meaningful, warm and memorable. Make sense of crazy English spelling and bring it to life with engaging stories!
Clever Speller is a unique story based learning approach to spelling featuring full length narrative picture book style stories full of words showing all the ways to spell a focus sound. Our resources develop the essential skills of phonemic awareness, (hearing sounds in words,) and phonics, (learning all the ways to spell them). Authentic context makes learning to spell meaningful, warm and memorable. Make sense of crazy English spelling and bring it to life with engaging stories!
102 Printable Word Cards showing 9 ways the Long A sound can be spelled, ‘a’, ‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘a_e’, ‘ea’, ‘ei’, ‘ey’, ‘e_e’ and ‘eigh’. All words are from ‘Baby Jake’s Birthday’, a Phonics Story full of Long A sound words. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Long A graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 204 word cards in total), plus a copy of ‘Baby Jake’s Birthday’.
127 Printable Word Cards showing 12 ways the Long E sound can be spelled, ‘ay’, ‘e’, ‘ea’, ‘ee’, ‘e_e’, ‘ei’, ‘eo’, ‘ey’, ‘i’, ‘ie’, i_e’ and ‘y’. All words are from ‘Three Free Wishes’, a Phonics Story full of Long E sound words. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Long E graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 254 word cards in total), plus a copy of ‘Three Free Wishes’.
89 Word Cards showing 4 ways the Short O sound can be spelled, ‘o’, ‘a’, ‘ou’, and ‘au’. All words are from ‘Poppy’s Top Shop’, a Phonics Story full of Short O sound words. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Short O graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 178 word cards in total), plus a copy of ‘Poppy’s Top Shop’.
92 Printable Word Cards showing 11 ways the Long I sound can be spelled, ‘eye’, ‘eigh’, ‘i’, ‘ia’, ‘ie’, ‘igh’, ‘i_e’, ‘uy’, ‘y’, ‘y_e’ and ‘ig’. All words are from ‘Diamonds in the Sky’, a Phonics Story full of Long I sound words. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Long A graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 184 word cards in total), plus a copy of ‘Diamonds in the Sky’.
73 Word Cards showing 6 ways the Short E sound can be spelled, ‘e’, ‘ea’, ‘a’, ‘ai’, ‘ay’ and ‘ie’. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Short E graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 146 word cards in total), plus a copy of My Best Friend Fred Phonics Picture Book Story.
All words are from My Best Friend Fred, a Phonics Story full of Short E sound words.
115 Word Cards showing 6 ways the Short U sound can be spelled, ‘u’, ‘o’, ‘o_e’, ‘ou’, ‘oo’ and ‘oe’. All words are from ‘Stuck in the Mud’, a Phonics Story full of Short U sound words. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Short U graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 230 word cards in total), plus a copy of ‘Stuck in the Mud’.
161 Word Cards showing 5 ways the Short I sound can be spelled, ‘i’, ‘y’, ‘u’, ‘uy’ and ‘e’. All words are from ‘Itchy Witch’, a Phonics Story full of Short I sound words. Use the word cards for matching and sorting activities, games, flash cards and word walls. 2 versions of words cards are included, one with coloured Short I graphemes and one with same coloured text text, (making 322 word cards in total), plus a copy of ‘Itchy Witch’.
33 Synonym and Antonym Worksheets to print out. Your middle primary students will enjoy the variety of activities to help build vocabulary, bring writing to life and improve comprehension.
What is included:
22 Cut and Paste Sorting Worksheets: Sort the synonyms and antonyms into the correct column
5 Antonym Pairs Worksheets: find the antonym pairs and write in a sentence
4 Rewrite the Story Worksheets: rewrite the story with synonyms and antonyms
2 Color Code Worksheets: highlight the synonyms in blue and the antonyms in green
Core word list of 22 words from the story
Synonym word list, 22 core words with 4 synonyms for each story word
Antonym word list, 22 core words with 4 antonyms for each story word
2 copies of Long A Phonics Story, ‘Baby Jake’s Birthday’, 1 plain text, 1 with the Long A words in green text
Easel Instructions
How to Use These Activities
Use the task cards for literacy centres, rotation groups, whole class or small groups
Great for morning tasks or early finishers
5 sets of Synonym and Antonym Task Cards, 56 Cards in total. Your middle primary students will enjoy the variety of activities to help build vocabulary, bring writing to life and improve comprehension.
What is included:
22 Find a Word Cards: Highlight 4 synonyms and circle 4 antonyms for each story word
6 Matching Pairs Cards: draw a line to match the synonym and antonym cards
4 Thesaurus Skills Cards: use a thesaurus to find synonyms for the story words
22 Change the Story Cards: replace story words with antonyms and rewrite the story. Compare the original and the rewritten versions
2 Word Search Cards: word searches with a difference! Highlight the synonyms and antonyms for the words in the list and find the hidden messages.
Core word list of 22 words from the story
Synonym word list, 22 core words with 4 synonyms for each story word
Antonym word list, 22 core words with 4 antonyms for each story word
2 copies of Long A Phonics Story, ‘Baby Jake’s Birthday’, 1 plain text, 1 with the Long A words in green text
How to Use These Activities
Use the task cards for literacy centres, rotation groups, whole class or small groups
Great for morning tasks or early finishers
About Story Based Learning
Humans have been using stories to teach their youngsters about life since day dot. Everyone loves a story but it can quite hard to find them with any depth to explicitly teach spelling, which can make spelling rather boring! Our purpose written phonics picture book stories are full of words showing how sounds in words are spelled in many ways and bring spelling and grammar to life. Check out our store for a range of activities based on our original picture books and add life and colour to your spelling and grammar lessons.
44 Bookmark and poster making printable activities for a hands-on way to learn about synonyms and antonyms. Your middle primary students will enjoy making these memorable learning aids to help build vocabulary, bring writing to life and improve comprehension.
How to Use These Activities
Breaking up bookwork time with practical activities is a welcome change from worksheets
Complete the bookmarks as a lesson activity, or add synonyms over time to use as a ‘personal thesaurus’.
Make posters with examples of synonyms and antonyms for each core word to brighten up your classroom and provide learning prompts for daily use
What is included:
22 synonym bookmarks
22 synonym and antonym posters to make, 1 for each story word
2 copies of Long A Phonics Story, ‘Baby Jake’s Birthday’, 1 plain text, 1 with the Long A words in green text
Core word list of 22 words from the story
Synonym word list, 22 core words plus 4 synonyms for each story word
Antonym word list, 22 core words plus 4 antonyms for each story word
About Story Based Learning
Humans have been using stories to teach their youngsters about life since day dot. Everyone loves a story but it can quite hard to find them with any depth to explicitly teach spelling, which can make spelling rather boring! Our purpose written phonics picture book stories are full of words showing how sounds in words are spelled in many ways and bring spelling and grammar to life. Check out our store for a range of activities based on our original picture books and add life and colour to your spelling and grammar lessons
Pick’em All Up! Practice classifying Australian animals with this classic collect them all ‘Draw the Well Dry’ style of card game in printable format. Students in the classroom, at home or on holidays will have fun tricking each other as they learn about fascinating Aussie characters and how to sort them according to their class: marsupials, mammals, birds, reptiles or fish. A perfect complement for your Living Things science theme, geography and non-fiction literacy units and will be a popular addition to your games collection. Play as a warm up or cool down, for early finishers, small groups, informal learning and to generally motivate, engage and energise.
Animals in This Game:
Bandicoot, Barking Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Bilby, Black Swan, Brolga, Budgie, Cassowary, Cockatoo, Dingo, Echidna, Emu, Frill-neck Lizard, Galah, Goanna, Kangaroo, Koala, Kookaburra, Leafy Sea Dragon, Lyre Bird, Numbat, Pelican, Platypus, Quokka, Quoll, Ringtail Possum, Tasmanian Devil, Ulysses Butterfly, Wallaby, Wombat
Included in this resource:
30 Aussie animal playing cards with backing, makes a deck of 120 cards
Extra cards: Instructions, Classification Guides, Action Card Guides
Preparation:
Print print 4 of each double sided for a total of 120 cards in the deck and laminate for long lasting use
Learn about animals in Australia with Trick’n Switch, a game of ‘Switch’ with extra tricks! Practice classifying Australian animals with this classic Uno style of game. Students in the classroom, at home or on holidays will have fun tricking each other as they learn about fascinating Aussie characters and how to sort them according to their class: marsupials, mammals, birds, reptiles or fish. A perfect complement for your Living Things science theme, geography and non-fiction literacy units and will be a popular addition to your games collection. Play as a warm up or cool down, for early finishers, small groups, informal learning and to generally motivate, engage and energise.
Animals in This Game:
Bandicoot, Barking Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Bilby, Black Swan, Brolga, Budgie, Cassowary, Cockatoo, Dingo, Echidna, Emu, Frill-neck Lizard, Galah, Goanna, Kangaroo, Koala, Kookaburra, Leafy Sea Dragon, Lyre Bird, Numbat, Pelican, Platypus, Quokka, Quoll, Ringtail Possum, Tasmanian Devil, Ulysses Butterfly, Wallaby, Wombat
Included in this resource:
30 Aussie animal playing cards with backing, makes a deck of 120 cards
Extra cards: Instructions, Classification Guides, Trick and Switch guides
Preparation:
Print print 4 of each double sided for a total of 120 cards in the deck and laminate for long lasting use
Play games and learn to classify Australian animals with this fun set of printable cards. Students in the classroom, at home or on holidays will have fun playing Snap, Memory, Happy Families, Sorting or Creating Their Own. They will learn about fascinating Aussie characters and how to sort them according to their class: marsupials, mammals, birds, reptiles or fish. A perfect complement for your Living Things science theme, geography and non-fiction literacy units and will be a popular addition to your games collection. Play as a warm up or cool down, for early finishers, small groups, informal learning and to generally motivate, engage and energise.
Animals in This Game:
Bandicoot, Barking Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Bilby, Black Swan, Brolga, Budgie, Cassowary, Cockatoo, Dingo, Echidna, Emu, Frill-neck Lizard, Galah, Goanna, Kangaroo, Koala, Kookaburra, Leafy Sea Dragon, Lyre Bird, Numbat, Pelican, Platypus, Quokka, Quoll, Ringtail Possum, Tasmanian Devil, Ulysses Butterfly, Wallaby, Wombat
Included in this resource:
30 Aussie animal playing cards with backing, makes a deck of 120 cards
2 sets are included one with classification labels and one without, for beginning and advanced learning
Extra cards: Instructions, Classification Guides
Preparation:
Print print 4 of each double sided for a total of 120 cards in the deck and laminate for long lasting use
Popular I Have Who Has game to learn the names of 30 Australian animals. 2 versions are included, an introduction and a challenge. Students at home, on holidays or at school will love learning about the interesting animals of Australia. A perfect complement for your Living Things science theme, geography and non-fiction literacy units and will be a popular addition to your games collection. Play as a warm up or cool down, for early finishers, small groups, informal learning and to generally motivate, engage and energise.
Animals in This Game:
Bandicoot, Barking Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Bilby, Black Swan, Brolga, Budgie, Cassowary, Cockatoo, Dingo, Echidna, Emu, Frill-neck Lizard, Galah, Goanna, Kangaroo, Koala, Kookaburra, Leafy Sea Dragon, Lyre Bird, Numbat, Pelican, Platypus, Quokka, Quoll, Ringtail Possum, Tasmanian Devil, Ulysses Butterfly, Wallaby, Wombat
Included in this resource:
30 Aussie animal cards with backing
2 sets are included one with animal names and one without, for beginning and advanced learning
Preparation:
Print print double sided and laminate for long lasting use
Aussie animal flash cards to learn the names of 30 Australian animals. Students at home, on holidays or at school will love playing memory, snap, matching and sorting to learn about the interesting animals of Australia. The cards area also useful for warm ups and pair group formation and activities. A perfect complement for your Living Things science theme, geography and non-fiction literacy units and will be a popular addition to your games collection. Play as a warm up or cool down, for early finishers, small groups, informal learning and to generally motivate, engage and energise. 2 versions are included, large and small size cards.
Animals in This Game:
Bandicoot, Barking Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Bilby, Black Swan, Brolga, Budgie, Cassowary, Cockatoo, Dingo, Echidna, Emu, Frill-neck Lizard, Galah, Goanna, Kangaroo, Koala, Kookaburra, Leafy Sea Dragon, Lyre Bird, Numbat, Pelican, Platypus, Quokka, Quoll, Ringtail Possum, Tasmanian Devil, Ulysses Butterfly, Wallaby, Wombat
Included in this resource:
30 Aussie animal cards with backing
2 sets are included, large and small size
Preparation:
Print print double sided and laminate for long lasting use
Learn about 30 Australian Animals with this bundle of fun card games to print and add to your collection. A range of difficulty is included to cater to different learning levels. Your students will have fun and learn to classify the animals of Australia.
10 Games to Play with 5 Decks:
Trick’n Switch, Pick’em All Up, Happy Families, Memory, Snap, I Have Who Has, Matching, Sorting, Warm-Ups, Create a Game.
Easy to prepare, simply print out for a quick activity or print double sided and laminate for long lasting use.
Great complement for your science theme, living things theme and to help develop comprehension of non-fiction text in literacy
These charts combine phonics with whole language to show the different ways that long vowel sounds can be spelled in words. Use them as wall displays, desktop placemats or general teaching resources. All images are from Clever Speller Phonics Picture Books stories full of focus sound words showing how sounds in words are spelled in many ways. Clever Speller is a story based learning approach to bring spelling alive and make learning to spell connected and meaningful.
70 story based learning spelling activities to learn 9 ways the Long A sound in words can be spelled. No prep printable worksheets ready for your word work, literacy centres, morning routines, spelling program, ESL, revision or homework. Differentiated word lists cater to a range of ability from Kindergarten to Year 2. Your students will easily learn to hear sounds in words and know all the ways to spell them. Aligns to any curriculum.
These Activities Will Help Students to Develop Skills in:
Understanding that sounds are represented by various letter combinations
Using sound letter knowledge to read familiar and unfamiliar words
Using words in everyday writing to show comprehension and context
Applying letter sound knowledge to spell familiar and unfamiliar words
Making new words by changing the first letter or letters
Building vocabulary
Recognising rhyme
Recognising and understanding homophones
What is Included
61 Long A Word Family Activities
Finding Long A: find the list words in the story
Meaningful Words: write the meaning of the list words in the story context
Writing Long A: combine list words to create a short story or paragraph
More Long A Words: find more words with the same Long A grapheme
Rhyming Long A: highlight words with the same end sound
Onset: change the first letter or letters to make new words, answers included
5 Long A Activities
Homophones: write meanings and sentences for each pair of homophones
Find All the Words: underline all the words in the story with a Long A sound
Missing Letters: fill in the missing Long A letters for each word
Choose the Letters: fill in the missing Long A letters in a story context
Word Family Sorting: sorting words into 9 word families
3 Sight Words Activities
Sight Words Sorting: sorting sight words into word families and analysis
Sight Words Matching: cloze activity with sight words
Sight Words Practice: check lists sorted according to Long A word family
2 More Ways to Spell Long A
7 More Ways to Spell Long A: Vocabulary Challenge
16 Ways to Spell Long A: Words and Picture Chart
4 Teacher Resources
Long A Story: Baby Jake’s Birthday, 2 versions one with all black text and one with Long A words printed in green
Complete Word List, 103 Long A Words
Spelling Group Lists: 11 differentiated lists
’a’: 2 levels,
’a_e’: 4 levels, ’
ai’: 2 levels,
’ay’: 2 levels,
’Unusual Ways’: 1 level
Chart: 9 Ways to Spell Long A
Did you know there are at least 20 ways to spell the Long I sound in words! These 67 activities focus on 6 well known ways with extension activities for 14 unusual ways to spell Long I. The activities are based on the included purpose written phonics story ‘Diamonds in the Sky’, full of words showing different ways the Long I sound can be spelled in words.
** Recently edited to fix minor errors. Available to re-download **
No prep printable worksheets ready for your word work, literacy centres, morning routines, spelling program, ESL, revision or homework. Differentiated word lists based on the included phonics story cater to a range of ability from Kindergarten to Year 3. Your students will easily learn to hear sounds in words and know all the ways to spell them. Our story based learning approach provides context and meaning to engage students and make spelling time a happy time.
These Activities Will Help Students to Develop Skills in:
Understanding that sounds are represented by various letter combinations
Using sound letter knowledge to read familiar and unfamiliar words
Using words in everyday writing to show comprehension and context
Applying letter sound knowledge to spell familiar and unfamiliar words
Making new words by changing the first letter or letters
Building vocabulary
Recognising rhyme
Recognising and understanding homophones
What is Included
50 Long I Word Family Activities
Finding Long I: find the list words in the story
Meaningful Words: write the meaning of the list words in the story context
Writing Long I: combine list words to create a short story or paragraph
More Long I Words: find more words with the same Long E grapheme
Rhyming Long I: highlight words with the same end sound
Onset: change the first letter or letters to make new words, answers included
7 Long I Activities
Homophones and Homographs: write meanings and sentences for each pair
Find All the Words: underline all the words in the story with a Long I sound
Missing Letters: fill in the missing Long I letters for each word
Choose the Letters: fill in the missing Long I letters in a story context
Word Family Sorting: sorting words into word families
4 Sight Words Activities
Sight Words Sorting: sorting sight words into word families and analysis
Sight Words Matching: cloze activity with sight words
Sight Words Practice: check lists sorted according to Long I word family
More Ways to Spell Long I
14 More Ways to Spell Long I: Vocabulary Challenge
20 Ways to Spell Long I: Words and Picture Chart
4 Teacher Resources
Long I Story: Diamonds in the Sky, 2 versions one with all black text and one with Long I words printed in green
Story Word List, 93 Long I Words
Spelling Group Lists: 3 ‘i_e’, 2 ‘I’, 1 each of ‘y’, ‘sigh’, ‘ie’. and ‘y_e’ plus unusual ways
Chart: 11 Ways to Spell Long I
Did you know there are at least 12 ways to spell the Long U sound in words! These 34 activities focus on 4 well known ways, (ew, u, ue and u_e), with extension activities for 8 unusual ways to spell Long U, (eau, eu, ewe, iew, queue, ui, uu and you). The activities are based on the included purpose written phonics story ‘Ewes in the Queue’, full of words showing different ways the Long U sound can be spelled in words.
No prep printable worksheets ready for your word work, literacy centres, morning routines, spelling program, ESL, revision or homework. Differentiated word lists based on the included phonics story cater to a range of ability from Kindergarten to Year 3. Your students will easily learn to hear sounds in words and know all the ways to spell them. Our story based learning approach provides context and meaning to engage students and make spelling time a happy time.
These Activities Will Help Students to Develop Skills in:
Understanding that sounds are represented by various letter combinations
Using sound letter knowledge to read familiar and unfamiliar words
Using words in everyday writing to show comprehension and context
Applying letter sound knowledge to spell familiar and unfamiliar words
Making new words by changing the first letter or letters
Building vocabulary
Recognising rhyme
Recognising and understanding homophones
What is Included
22 Long U Word Family Activities
Finding Long U: find the list words in the story
Meaningful Words: write the meaning of the list words in the story context
Writing Long U: combine list words to create a short story or paragraph
More Long U Words: find more words with the same Long U grapheme
Rhyming Long U: highlight words with the same end sound
Onset: change the first letter or letters to make new words, answers included
7 Long U Activities
Homophones, Homographs and Heteronyms: write meanings and sentences
Find All the Words: underline all the words in the story with a Long U sound
Missing Letters: fill in the missing Long U letters for each word
Choose the Letters: fill in the missing Long U letters in a story context
Word Family Sorting: sorting words into word families
4 Sight Words Activities
Sight Words Sorting: sorting sight words into word families and analysis
Sight Words Matching: cloze activity with sight words
Sight Words Practice: check lists sorted according to Long U word family
More Ways to Spell Long U
8 More Ways to Spell Long U: Vocabulary Challenge
12 Ways to Spell Long U: Words and Picture Chart
4 Teacher Resources
Long U Story: Ewes in the Queue, 2 versions one with all black text and one with Long U words printed in green
Story Word List, 37 Long O Words
Spelling Group Lists: 5 lists
ew, u, ue and u_e
8 Unusual ways
Chart: Ways to Spell Long U
About Clever Speller