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 simple game to help children over the tedium of learning to blend, giving plenty of practice blending CVC words, while having fun.
An updated version of a classic game!
Youc an just play as a board game with the fish cards scattered on the table or add more fu by making your own simple rod with a stick, string and magnet and pop a paperclip on each fish.
Over 90+ words included so you will never get bored!
Target the medial sound that each pupil needs practice of.
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.
28 slides. This presentation presents the text of the Early Reader Series 1: Clouds for the purposes of guided reading activities. However it can be used on its own.
It covers:
How clouds are formed
Why clouds float
How clouds move
The three main types of clouds: cirrus, cumulus and stratus
It includes several slides of different cloud formations to stimulate scientific/geographical/language/art observations.
It can also be used alongside our Clouds Project Pack for KS1 available through TES.
10 birds to colour.
Hand-drawn originals.
Suitable for ages 5 +.
Help children to learn:
to identify different birds,
to appreciate their differing colourings and structures
to sort birds
Ideas for use:
Colouring for early finishers - much Science can be learned from colouring birds, so this would not be a ‘busy’ activity.
Once a bird has been coloured, more could be found out about it. This could lead to research, factual writing, as well as Science work as the bird’s characteristics are studied.
If different children take a different bird, then they can share what they have learned and comparisons can be made.
Not for use as Clip Art.
25 Weather words flashcards in a clear font, phonetically coded to help young readers.
Use for:
Writing tasks
Science activities (groups weather by season/kind - e.g. heat/cold/wind etc…)
Word Walls
Literacy Centers
Pocket Charts
Dictionary work
Have you seen our Weather Project Pack?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12616669
And our Clouds Project Pack?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12056090
And our Clouds Power Point lesson?
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12056140
36 worksheets to teach children the meaning of multiplication. Suitable for KS1 National Curriculum work, or for those in later years who are struggling with the concept.
Start by adding the same number lots of times.
Then turn this into ‘lots of’ problems.
Learn how to cross out ‘lots’ of and see the times sum.
Watch the FREE video to reinforce learning. It can also be sent home to help parents support their child at home.
Once multiplication is understood, there are plentiful fun worksheets to help the children learn the 2,5 and 10 times tables facts.
Use as worksheets in class plus suitable as a work book for home-education.
18 pages of ideas/activities for learning about clouds for KS1 (5-7): Science/geography/Language/Art plus supporting worksheets to record observations and learning. This short unit can be used alongside a project about weather.
See also our
Weather for KS1 Project Pack:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12616669
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.
Yes, Y1 can study the life-cycle of a frog.
If frogs or frogspawn captures your children’s interest then use it to teach KS1 Science. Just because the National Curriculum says do life-cycles in Y2, it does not mean you cannot touch the subject in Y1! Much can be learnt that can actually covers the Y1 Science Curriculum!
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.
Y1 Science is all about arousing interest in the world around the child - use whatever is at hand, such as…
Butterflies: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12679180
Conkers: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12239335
Squirrels: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12742537
Use our Lesson notes to help you to plan your lesson about the life-cycle of butterflies.Aimed to help stimulate enquiry and observation. Useful as part of work on life-cycles.
How to raise butterflies from the egg stage
Links to the National Curriculum for Science
What to look for/background information for each stage - helping you to feel like an expert!
Questions to help get the class thinking and to model asking questions
Guided reading sheets: blow up for class use, or copy for group/individual use
Use the worksheets for follow up:
Pictures to order the life-cycle of a butterfly
Label the parts of a butterfly
Draw and write about an observed caterpillar/butterfly
Reading comprehension
2 poems with comprehension exercises to follow each (two ability levels)
Decorated writing sheets
See our other life-cycle Lesson resources and Powerpoints:
Life-cycle of a Horse Chestnut Tree
Apples
Frogs
Daffodils
Apples
This is a fun, interactive counting PowerPoint to help young children/SEN pupils to count backwards from five as they join in the rhyme:
Five little fishes swimming near the shore, one swam a way and then there were …four.
Full instructions are given. Please play with it first yourself so that you know how it works, before using it with your pupil/s.
Bright hand-drawn, colourful pictures make this a charming activity!
I made this fun PowerPoint for a SEND eight-year-old who is learning to count and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope your pupils do too!
See our Bird Counting Power Point for counting to five and adding one more.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12522911
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 complete lesson to teach ch and sh of Phase 3 Letters and Sounds.
Suitable for use with all phonic programmes including Read, Write Inc…
A great little pack for classroom, home use and special needs catch-up work .
Handy teaching hints/plan included.
Pack includes:
Ch and Sh lesson videos (FREE)
ch and sh flashcards
ch and sh word flashcards
Sentences to read
Speed reading practice sheets for both sounds
ch and sh Worksheets
Assessment sheets for both sounds - help to know what further work needs to be done
Short reading book to practice cvc and ck words.
ch/sh game - a matching pictures to sounds - either for individual matching or to play as a game for two players.
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!
Buy our 2 clouds project resources in one bundle price.
The Cloud Power Point presentation follows the text of the Cloud reader, available for free in Lilibette’s Resources store, adding in slides to stimulate further thought/discussion: full of beautiful photos of the sky. This brings the book to life!
Last but not least, a pack of ideas for Science/Geography/English and Art activities to help you teach young children about clouds.
This bundle pack will work well with a project about the weather.
A 26 slide PowerPoint about Squirrels for EYFS/Y1. Suitable for use a as lesson starter, or to ignite interest, or for reinforcement. Full of beautiful, original photos. Best used in autumn or winter when squirrels are more obvious.
The PowerPoint is read by the teacher, using either the notes seen in presenter view (go to slide show and then into presenter view). or from the notes pack attached in the download.
It can be used to teach the Animals component of the National Curriculum for Science for Year 1.
It starts in story form to engage pupils before leading them to consider:
What squirrels look like - their characteristics
Where they live
What they eat
How they behave
Once studied, pupils can use their knowledge to compare squirrels with other animals.
This PowerPoint can be used with our Squirrel Photo Pack and our Squirrel Worksheets for Y1.
Brought to you by KS1 Nature
20 spring vocabulary cards, all phonetically coded.
Use for:
display
Word walls
Language development
Reading and spelling phonic work
Make picture dictionaries to go with your topic work
Use them in pocket charts - children just love these!
Science work and much more…
Use your imagination!
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.
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
This is a listening game to help the child to hear the ‘ee’ sound in words, as different to the ‘e’ sound as some children have difficulty hearing the new ee’ sound as their brain is trying to say 'e.
One of my pupils has a speech delay. When I introduced him to ‘ee’, he tried to sound out the words saying ‘e’ instead of ‘ee’. It was as if ‘ee’ was a foreign sound to him. So, I devised this game to help him to hear the ‘ee’ 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 ‘ee’ sound. In addition it helps the pupil to understand that the sound ‘e’ does not change as some children will start to say ‘ee’ every time they see ‘e’.
Find more help with teaching the ee sound at Reading made Simple, my FREE Phonic reading and spelling programme that is really simple and really works!
https://readingmadesimple.weebly.com/level-1---ee.html