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 is a fun phonic game to help children learn the sounds ‘m’ and ‘n’ when learning the initial sounds.
Some children have difficulty with these two sounds, so this game can help clear any confusion.
Simple-to-play, print n’ play!
It is a game for 2 players and can be played with either the pictures as baseboards with players collecting their letters or with letters as the baseboard, collecting pictures. Or, of course, it can be played both ways to give even more practice!
The ‘m’ or ‘n’ Game is suitable for:
young learners,
those with special needs,
and ESL/EFL students.
Black and white for eco printing.
Colour your own or get a colour version here.
It can easily be used in class, at home or in a one-to-one situation.
This ck reading book is a sample of my graded, systematic, phonic reading books with nearly 100% decodable words for the sounds:
ck,oo, ee, sh, ch, th, ng, ing, ar and or.
Suitable for use with any phonic programme, including Letters and sounds Phase 2 and RWI Speed Sets 1+ 2, once a child cna blends words with a short vowel sound, including those with consonant blends.
You can find the complete Red Level Set 1 books in a package with the simple lesson notes and all you need to help your child learn to read, including the necessary flashcards and phonic word lists here, saving you time and effort:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12863669
Special Features of these graded phonic reading books:
As each new phonic sound is introduced, words from that phonic family are practiced and words met in previous readers revised, while new words from phonic sound families already taught are gradually introduced.
Because of this highly structured nature they are suitable for all children to enable good progress , but particularly for those who are struggling to learn to read.
The books should be read in sound order as above.
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 that meaning has to be gleaned from the text.
Each book tells a simple story with humour where possible
They have been tried on tested on many children now, 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 older struggling readers with dyslexia, or any with a processing difficulty of any kind.
Teaching reading
Reading intervention
They were written for Reading MadeSimple but can be used with Letters and Sounds Phases 3 and 4, and RWI Speed Set 2.
You can help a struggling reader today!
An easy phonetic 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 a garden bird - the Chaffinch- 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.
This book contains factual information about Rooks besting in spring, written in fictional style. Children will have fun learning science as they read!
Here are 16, FREE, fully decodable CVC reading books to help build fluency reading CVC words with a short vowel sound, for use with any phonic programme, including Phase 2 of Letters and Sounds and RWI Set 1 sounds.
All you need to start your child on a lifetime of reading!
This is truly a bumper pack - a freebie like no other!
Scope and Sequence included.
Theses books focus purely on sounding out with only the key words
a, is, the, of being gradually introduced.
Pictures are minimal to encourage the child to gain meaning from the text and not to guess.
Punctuation is minimal to begin with so as to give every advantage to those with special needs who are so easily confused by capital letters and strange marks.
Phonic words are introduced and then met again in subsequent readers, to help develop confidence and fluency.
Each book tells a little story with words and pictures- no stilted phonics here! The stories are based around farmer Tom with his animals, his wife, his son Sam and daughter, Pam, dog Jiff and the cat. The careful use of pictures helps to tell the parts of the story for which we cannot use words.
Suitable for dyslexic children
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. Children love them because they can READ them!
These books are compatible with Letters and Sounds, Jolly Phonics and Read, Write Inc, but were written for Reading Made Simple.
Find the next pack in the series here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12974906
TEACHERS: See our CVC Words worksheets: fully differentiated to meet the needs of every pupil in your class.
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.
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!
A simple phonic board game to practice reading words containing the phonic sounds: ck,oo,ee and sh.
As your pupil has fun, his/her confidence will get a boost!
Use with any phonic programme provided the above sounds have been taught.
Great for any pupil, but especially those with a special need.
*Written especially for use with Reading Made Simple, a 100% FREE reading and spelling programme of systematic phonics, for use by home-educators, parents and schools. So systematic it works even for those who have failed with other programmes.
This game will help children to hear the sounds ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ in words. The child is not expected to read the words, just to listen for the sounds.
Some children, especially those with a speech delay, have difficulty differentiating between ‘sh’ and ‘ch’. This game will help to focus the pupil’s attention on the difference between them.
Games can be very effective when helping such children to progress to the next step, taking the fear of failing away and making it alright to make mistakes. They are wonderful for already de-motivated learners.
This entertaining SW Find and Color worksheet for initial blends can help prepare children for more advanced blending work involving four phonemes, is a great way to introduce children orally to initial consonant blends and help them develop the necessary phonemic awareness.
The pack contains one sheet for the SW initial blend.
It is part of a pack of 20 such worksheets that can be purchased for a small price here to save you the time and effort of downloading 20 individual worksheets.
On each worksheet, students have to blend the two letters and then search for objects that begin with that blended consonant. After then, only these objects should be colored; the others should remain uncolored.
Once they are given instructions, children can readily work on the sheets without assistance; nevertheless, for the most benefit, it is strongly advised that an adult work with special needs children.
It is necessary to introduce the idea of early blends in detail. Upon working with kids, particularly those who have special needs, my first preference is to teach them how to blend two consonant letters. Next, I focus on enhancing the childrens’ phonemic awareness, which is the capacity to distinguish each blend of consonants at the beginning of a word.
Some students find this challenging, and it requires a lot of practice. The purpose of these worksheets is to help students hear the blend at the beginning of a word by first encouraging them to blend the two consonant letters. Encourage the kids to blend the letters in each initial blend by practicing as often as you can. Modeling, in my opinion, is essential.
This entertaining SK Find and Color worksheet for initial blends can help prepare children for more advanced blending work involving four phonemes. It is a great way to introduce them orally to initial consonant blends and help them develop the necessary phonemic awareness.
The pack contains one sheet for the SK initial blend.
It is part of a pack of 20 such worksheets that can be purchased for a small price here to save you the time and effort of downloading 20 individual worksheets.
On each worksheet, students have to blend the two letters and then search for objects that begin with that blended consonant. After then, only these objects should be colored; the others should remain uncolored.
Once they are given instructions, children can readily work on the sheets without assistance; nevertheless, for the most benefit, it is strongly advised that an adult work with special needs children.
It is necessary to introduce the idea of early blends in detail. Upon working with kids, particularly those who have special needs, my first preference is to teach them how to blend two consonant letters. Next, I focus on enhancing the children’s phonemic awareness, which is the capacity to distinguish each blend of consonants at the beginning of a word.
Some students find this challenging, and it requires a lot of practice. The purpose of these worksheets is to help students hear the blend at the beginning of a word by first encouraging them to blend the two consonant letters. Encourage the children to blend the letters in each initial blend by practicing as often as you can. Modeling, in my opinion, is essential.
Teach the sound ‘ee’ with our little phonics workbook - the next in a popular series. Suitable for Reception and special needs children. Written to accompany our FREE phonics reading and spelling programme: Reading Made Simple, but can be used with any programme. These books build upon each other, building confidence in children.
Reading Made Simple: truly systematic - each tiny step builds on the one before.
Suitable for Reception and special needs children.
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.
A Power point or video lesson to introduce young children to the concept of blending, starting with words in the ‘a’ family.
Simple, to the point and short.
Stop the video if you need more time on a slide.
This is a taught lesson, but the Power Point allows the teacher to have more control over the speed.
Like having your own phonics teacher!
By a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics.
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.
A Power Point or video lesson to introduce the consonant digraph ‘sh’ to children, especially suitable for those who have special needs or a slower pace, but fine for all abilities.
This is one of a series of videos.
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.
For supporting flashcards/worksheets/reading book and game see:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complete-ch-sh-lesson-for-special-needs-home-learning-12462988
Just like having your own phonics teacher.
Written by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics.
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.
Reading Made Simple: helping parents to teach their child to read.
Four phonics lessons for Phase 3 Set 3 Letters and Sounds:ch,sh,th and ng. suitable for all abilities, but especially helpful for special needs/catch-up work.
Video or Power Point to give more control over the speed of the lesson.
Produced by a teacher with over 30 years experience of teaching phonics to special needs children.
Great to help parents support the learning of their child at home.
Shows parents what to do and what is needed to help their child succeed as well as instructing the child.
Totally phonetic
No guessing!
REAL READING!
These lessons are intended to be watched with a teacher/parent/guardian.
An easy phonetic reader about snails 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 Snails through a simple story.
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 Reading Made Simple.
A Power Point lesson to introduce the digraph ‘ee’ 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. The Power Point allows for control over the speed, but the video is for those who cannot use PowerPoint.
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.
A Power Point or video lesson to introduce the consonant digraph ‘ch’ 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.
For supporting flashcards/worksheets/reading book and game see:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complete-ch-sh-lesson-for-special-needs-home-learning-12462988
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.