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.
This 57-slide PowerPoint takes KS1 children through the seasons, starting with summer.
They will:
Learn what changes to look out for across the four seasons
Learn that days get shorter and longer throughout the year
How this affects the weather
How the seasons/weather affect us: what we wear/what we do
How the seasons affect plants and animals
Bright photos and simple explanation makes it accessible to all abilities in the class and will engage even reluctant learners.
Simple text for children to read on each slide. More information is provided for the teacher to read, if desired, in PDF form or under each slide.
Simply click when ready to progress to the next slide. All animations occur automatically.
Why not follow it with our Light and Dark PowerPoint?
Light and Dark PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12761117
You may also be interested in:
All About Autumn PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12422557
Autumn Leaves PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12398686
Conkers Life-cycle PowerPoint:https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12401942
Frogs Life-cycle PowerPoint: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12410937
A simple introduction to autumn for EYFS/Y1 children.
Covers:
What is autumn? A season and a time of change
The four seasons
Change in temperature
Change in daylight
Plants get ready for autumn: leaves fall and change colour/make seeds/nuts/berries
Harvest time: fruit/vegetable harvest/ploughing fields and sowing seed
Mushrooms growing
Animals prepare for winter including hibernation
Birds migrate
The presentation ends with the words of the hymn ‘We plough the fields and scatter’, over 2 slides. These can be omitted if the hymn is not considered appropriate.
29 slides
PowerPoint format
Beautiful photos
Animated, but no sound - teacher to read the text
A good way to start a project on autumn, or to consolidate work covered at the end of a project about autumn.
See also:
Seasons: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12761222
Light and Dark: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12761117
[Why Leaves fall PowerPoint ]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/why-do-leaves-fall-powerpoint-eyfs-ks1-12398686()for EYFS/Y1
[Conkers PowerPoint]https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/conkers-powerpoint-for-eyfs-ks1-12401942() and Conkers Mini Project
A bumper pack of 160+ pages of resources - to help you to teach all of the new graphemes for Phase 5 of Letters and sounds to all abilities. This pack follows on from our popular Phonic Worksheets for Phases 3 and 4.
This pack will help you to Introduce the new phase 5 graphemes:
ay, ou, ie, ea, oy, ir, u-e, aw, wh, ph, ew, oe, au, ey, a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, e-e, and ‘y’ saying ‘eye’ and ‘o’ saying ‘u’.
Please note: this pack uses Phase 5 tricky words as part of the comprehension passages, but does not aim to teach them.
Please not: Alternative pronunciations are not covered in this pack.
For each digraph there are:
Flashcards
Sentences to read - these build on the preceding digraphs, giving plenty of revision
Differentiated worksheets: find the missing word, complete the sentences, write the word, etc…
A reading passage including words from the newly introduced digraph
These passages also introduce tricky words, as well as being truly systematic, never introducing words that have not yet been taught. This instills confidence in pupils. These passages make great ‘reading books’.
Questions to answer about the passages
Great for classwork, revision, assessment or homework!
Fully differentiated, they meet the real needs of the average class and are fully systematic: no words are introduced for which the student has not yet learned the necessary skills to decode. They provide ample practice for students in both reading and spelling.
Suitable for use with other schemes as long as you make sure that your children know the sounds necessary to complete the sheet.
Copy, reduce, enlarge as much as you like.
For spelling dictations to accompany this book of resources please see my Phase 5 Spelling Programme.
Please see the book of Initial sounds Worksheets, the CVC/CVCC words Worksheets for Phases 2, early 3 and simple cvcc words in Phase 4 and the Phonic Worksheets for Phases 3 and 4.
A pack of display items for a study of the butterfly life-cycle.
Includes:
Butterfly life-cycle word mat/poster
A long banner ( 11 A4 pages)which can be either pinned or strung on a string
1 A4 page with title ‘Butterflies’
Butterfly life-cycle flow chart: 1 A4 page each for eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis, butterfly and an arrow to print 4 times
4 initial sounds cards for stages in lifecycle: e/egg; c/caterpillar;c/chrysalis;b/buttefly
4 words and pictures cards for stages in the life-cycle
4 picture cards of stages of the life-cycle with matching word cards: can be used to make games, or for display.
5 strip vocabulary words with pictures
6 Photos
Find lesson notes and worksheets/activities for an amazing lesson/s on the butterfly life-cycle here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12679170
114 fully differentiated practice sheets covering all of the digraphs and trigraphs for phase 3 and Phase 4 of the UK Gov. Letters and Sounds phonic programme, except ‘ure’.
Sounds covered:
ck, ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air and er, in this order.
Sheets with mixed sounds are included too, as well as plenty of sentences to read and puzzles.
Great for revision, general class work or homework.
I provide up to four sheets at two levels for most sounds: the first set for phase 3, with no consonant blends, and the second for phase 4 including words with consonant blends. Thereby giving plenty of scope for differentiation.
Fully differentiated, they meet the real needs of the average class and are fully systematic: no words are introduced for which the student has not yet learned the necessary skills to decode. They provide ample practice for students in both reading and spelling.
Suitable for use with other schemes as long as you make sure that your children know the sounds necessary to complete the sheet.
Use them for assessment, reinforcement activities; blow them up for whole class/group teaching or send them home for extra practice once taught in class. Copy, reduce, enlarge as much as you like.
Please leave a review if you find this product helpful.
Please see the book of Initial sounds Worksheets, and the CVC/CVCC words Worksheets for Phases 2, early 3 and simple cvcc words in Phase 4.
Eight Free phonics worksheets, covering cvc words, cvcc words, ‘ck’, ‘ee’/‘oo’, ‘sh’, ‘ar’ and ‘or’ providing valuable back up work to lessons. Great assessment tools. Written for ages 5-6 but can also be used with older children requiring catchup help or those with special needs.
These sheets are compatible with all phonics schemes, however as different schemes introduce sounds at different time, just check that your pupil knows all the necessary digraphs to complete the sheet. For example, the word ‘shark’ has both ‘sh’ and ‘ar’ and so both should have been learnt before expecting the child to read and spell this word.
Please leave feedback if you find this resource helpful.
See More Phonic worksheets in Lilibette’s shop
A simple book to help with the teaching of initial sounds for the very young or special needs. One page for each letter of the alphabet. As each letter is taught, encourage the child to write the correct letter under each object. Each page contains one object from the previous sound.
Written for use with Reading Made Simple, a 100% free systematic phonic programme for all abilities, but it can be used with any phonic programme, including Letters and Sounds, Read, Write inc., and Jolly Phonics.
See also our Little Phonics Books - CVC Words: one booklet for each of the five medial vowel sounds.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12410042
You might like our ‘Colour Initial Sounds’ FREE book too!
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12574498
36 pages of fun consonant blend activities arranged in 2 little workbooks to accompany our Consonant Blends reading books.
The first book covers mainly initial blends while the second book mainly covers final blends. Common CCVC words with a short vowel sound are introduced.
Each booklet 18 pages long (A5 size prints as a booklet).
Suitable also for special needs pupils.
Suitable for use at home/for home-education.
They can be used alone or with our Consonant Blend Reading Books:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12645240
These books give extra reading and writing practice, using the vocabulary introduced in the reading books, building confidence.
These books are compatible with Letters and Sounds, Jolly Phonics and Read, Write Inc, but were written for Reading Made Simple.
A bumper pack of 70 differentiated phonics worksheets to support the teaching and learning of blending and segmenting cvc and cvcc/ccvc words with short vowel sounds (excluding ‘ck’), including a focus on consonant blends.
Here are worksheets to give plentiful blending and segmenting practice for all abilities. First blend CVC words with a short vowels sound, add in consonant blends.
The sheets can be used with any synthetic, systematic phonic scheme and work well at stages 2, 3 and 4 of letters and sounds, once all of the initial sounds have been learned. Many also find them helpful for older special needs pupils.
Written to meet the needs of the average class, with a range of differentiated worksheets from which you are sure to find one to meet the needs of every pupil.
Some children breeze through this stage quickly and you will find material to challenge them and to assess their readiness to move on. Others need much more reinforcement work and you will find here plenty of that too - a bountiful supply!
Some sheets focus on blending, others on segmenting and some on both. Other sheets encourage the child to see letter patterns and similarities between words including a focus on rhyming.
Hints on the best use of the sheets is provided - not least how to use them as an assessment tool. Suitable for use with SEND pupils and for reading catchup.
The sheets can be enlarged for guided literacy sessions/whole class work.
Have you seen ‘Sound-it-out’ Pack of CVC Games, and the ‘Sound-it-out’ Pack of CVCC Games’ which complement these worksheets making a good fun way of reinforcing learning? They are ideal for sending home for extra practice after a lesson, or for use by classroom assistants.
Also Sound-it-out Initial Sounds Worksheets for those children not yet ready for blending.
A complete course for Letters and Sounds taking pupils form initial sounds in Phases 2 and 3, to blending cvc words, in Phase 3, to the new digraphs and trigraphs of Phases 3, plus the consonant blends of Phase 4, ending with the new digraphs of Phases 5.
Four books packed with over 350 fully differentiated worksheets.
The Phase 5 book also contains reading comprehension passages with questions to answer, and short sentences to read suing the new sounds.
These resources cater for all needs and abilities of the average class, and can also be used for special needs education.
All tried and tested on pupils for many years.
For the discerning teacher of phonics who wants to ensure that all children succeed, these books are truly systematic - building upon each other with no nasty surprises.
Written by a phonics specialist teacher with over 30 years teaching phonics to all ages and abilities, and the author of Reading Made Simple, a 100% FREE systematic programme of phonics, teaching reading through writing.
10, newly upgraded phonics digraphs games: easy to make, easy to play, minimum prep. Games to help children get to grips with the digraphs:
sh ch ck ee oo ar or
Match words to pictures
Pictures to digraphs
Find the missing letters
Find the right ending
Suitable for all ages and abilities. Ideal for use with SEND pupils with or without a speech delay, for whom they were originally designed. Suitable for home or school use.
1 intervention work or use by private tutors.
Most of these games can be used as Literacy center activities/individual activities as well as being played by two players.
They are useful tools for assessment.
They can be used alongside our digraph phonics worksheets:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/phonics-practice-worksheets-phases-3-and-4-12009694
See our other games:
Initial Sounds Games: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/initial-sounds-games-print-cut-and-play-11998349
CVC word Games https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/phonic-games-to-teach-cvc-words-11998365
CVCC word Games https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/phonic-games-to-teach-cvcc-words-for-reception-yr-1-and-special-needs-11998391
Frog-life-cycle worksheets for Y1:
Stick the pictures of the frog’s life-cycle in order - 2 choices of format.
A life-cycle mat for display, or to stimulate discussion/writing
A frog development poster/mat for display/discussion
A sheet on which to write descriptive words about a frog.
A picture to colour for early finishers.
Use with our Frog-Life-cycle PowerPoint for Y1 and Y2!
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12410937
Young children are always fascinated by frog spawn and frogs.
Life-cycles is not just for Y2!
These sheets help teach the Science National curriculum for Y1:
KS1 Overview:
To enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice.
*
Y1: Animals, including humans
Statutory requirements
identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
These frog Life-cycle worksheets can be used in mixed Y1/Y2 classes when Y2 children are learning about frog life-cycle, or in Y1 classes.
Study the life cycle of a Horse Chestnut tree with our PowerPoint and lesson resource pack, giving you everything you need for a great lesson.
Suitable for use throughout the year, but especially in autumn , when conkers attract children’s attention.
For ages 5-6, this pack gives you all the information you need at your fingertips to study the Horse Chestnut tree through each season.
It also includes:
Teaching Notes
Cards to learn to read and spell words associated with science
work - Make a matching game and /or trace the words and draw.
The Life Cycle of the Horse Chestnut tree
Life cycle chart
Life- cycle pictures to order
Make a book about the Horse Chestnut tree
Life cycle ordering exercises on two levels
Pages to use for descriptive work in English - describe
conker and its shell, describe a leaf.
Resources: Pictures to use for display/ordering/language work etc…
Pictures through the year annotated as per the book
Photos for display
Large pictures of the drawings for own use (subject
to T’s and C’s, see page 2)
by KS1 Nature Helping you to teach science through the local environment.
All of our EYFS/Y1 popular autumn PowerPoints in a bundle to help you:
Explain what happens in autumn and why
Why leaves change colour and fall
Where and when mushrooms grow and how they differ from plants with green leaves
Where conkers come from and why
Make autumn come alive and increase your pupil’s understanding of the world around them!
Take EYFS/KS1 children on a journey through autumn, finding out why leaves change colour and fall
Teaches:
Why trees have leaves: to make food so that trees can do their work
How the leaves capture light and air and roots take in water What work trees do - making seeds
Kinds of seeds: nuts and berries
The difference between deciduous and evergreen trees
Why the leaves change colour - changing season and shortening hours of daylight
Are the trees now dead? What happens next?
30 full-colour slides
Animated
No sound - teacher/pupils to read the simple text on each slide
Ideal as a springboard to outdoor learning - get out of the classroom this autumn!
No cartoons, no music, no dumbing down - for we must present learning as serious if it is to be credible and to nurture life-long, thinking, learners.
See our popular Free Leaf Sorting activity
See also our Horse Chestnut Tree Life Cycle Lesson Resources Pack
Find out more at KS1 Nature.
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.
A bumper pack of 75 differentiated Initial sounds phonics worksheets for Phases 2 and 3 of Letters and Sounds but can be used with any phonic programme.
Suitable for all abilities + SEND
This pack contains at least two sheets for each letter of the alphabet:
One worksheet for children learning to write the letters as they learn the initial sounds
One worksheet for children who can already write the letters to practice giving the correct initial letter.
PLUS…
General worksheets, for practicing mixed sounds.
The sheets, which although arranged for ease of reference alphabetically, have been written to support ‘Letters and Sounds’ (UK) in the progression of sounds.
Therefore, they can be used in the Letters and Sounds order ‘s,a,t,i,p etc…’ but they can also be used if teaching the sounds in order of the alphabet.
Hints on the best use of the sheets is provided.
The sheets can be enlarged for guided literacy sessions/whole class work
Use for homework/ESL/EFL etc…
See our initial sounds games here.
See how a frog grows with our 18-slide, Frog Life-cycle PowerPoint.
Beautiful, original photos/drawings.
See the frog develop from the eggs, through tadpole, froglet to the adult frog.
Full suggested narration notes provided both in PDF form and under each slide for use in presentation mode.
For Year 1 pupils, why not use our Frog Life-cycle activity pack to follow up?
See our other life-cycle Lesson resources and Powerpoints:
Life-cycle of a Horse Chestnut Tree
Apples
Daffodils
Apples
Butterflies
This powerPoint about Light and Dark can help children to begin to understand the relationship between all living things and the sun; our need of light and the sun. This PowerPoint can help pupils learn or revise some aspects of the Y1/Y2 curriculum providing continuity of learning, and setting the context for Y3 work.
Simply explained, children will learn:
Darkness is the absence of light
The sun is the main source of light on Planet Earth
Reminds pupils never to look directly at the sun
The sun provides warmth too - or Earth would be very cold
Why plants need the sun: to make food to help them reproduce
Creatures of the day (the need for survival)
Shadows - how they are formed
Plants and animals that prefer the shade and why (the need for survival)
Creatures of the night
Nocturnal (the need for survival)
KS1 children can also learn:
To name some common animals
Why certain creatures/plants come out in the daytime/night time
Why plants need light
The basic needs of animals for survival
This PowerPoint is silent but comes with full narration notes, both under each slide for use in Presenter View, or as a PDF.
Why not follow this up with our Seasons PowerPoint?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12761222
Our 20-slide Hedgehog PowerPoint for KS1 Science can help children to learn:
How seasons (in this case autumn) affect different animals, in this case, Hedgehogs.
Y1:
To identify and name Hedgehogs
To know that Hedgehogs are omnivores
Y2:
To identify and name Hedgehogs
About the hedgehogs’ diet and how they obtain food from other animals and plants
Why Hedgehogs hibernate (food and the need for survival)
That Hedgehogs are nocturnal
Full narration notes are provided in either PDF form, or under each slide that you can use in presenter mode.
Once your pupils have learnt about Hedgehogs, why not use our other PowerPoints to help them to compare them with other creatures - all in the local environment - and teach more of the UK National Science Curriculum?
Blackbirds: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12757848
Squirrels: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12742513
Frogs: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12410937