Poetry & literacy resources by published children's poet.
I also lead poetry workshops for UK primary schools.
Website: katewilliamspoet.com
Book news - Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Animal poems - out 9th January '25. Publisher: Otter-Barry Books.
Poetry & literacy resources by published children's poet.
I also lead poetry workshops for UK primary schools.
Website: katewilliamspoet.com
Book news - Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Animal poems - out 9th January '25. Publisher: Otter-Barry Books.
This simple, two-verse rhyme celebrates the colour red, listing some attractive and exciting red items. The tips below include ideas for more red things to prompt for, besides other developments.
The rhyme introduces children to rhythm, rhyme and the concept of poetry, also stretching vocabulary and developing colour awareness. It can be chanted, clapped to a tambourine or drum beat, and even set to music with a simple tune. The items mentioned can also be shaped with hands or, in some cases, enacted.
There is also a cheerful, lively tone to the rhyme, supporting mental wellbeing. Rhythm and rhyme themselves offer a pleasing, reassuring sense of security and order, so this resource also supports PSHE.
This simple, two-verse rhyme about traffic and pedestrians in a busy street provides wide scope for variation and action, stretching vocabulary, dramatic expression, sound awareness, and creativity. The tips below the verses offer handy prompts and ideas for embellishment and development.
Children will develop language skills, including vocabulary-building and dramatic expression. The rhyme also teaches rhythm and rhyme, introducing the concept of poetry. It has a cheerful, upbeat tone, and also encourages physical movement, supporting mental and physical wellbeing. Its theme supports awareness of the outside world, social behaviour and even touches on carbon footprint issues - so there’s plenty to discuss here!
If you have a percussion or musical instrument to hand, you could take the rhyme even further by setting it to music.
Letters and their sounds, c, d, e and f, are presented in pale letters for writing over, alongside pictures of items starting with those letters:
c - car, d - dinosaur, e - elephant, f - fish and frog.
There are no words to read, just letters and their associated pictures, helping children make meaningful links between phonics and their uses. The dinosaur can be coloured in, adding to the fun of this attractive sheet.
For more, see my many other phonics sheets, including one for a, b, c and d. This one revisits the c and d, moving on to e and f too.
Traffic light pictures with “stop” and “go” to copy below on red and green lines. Traffic light pictures to colour in. A fun and meaningful activity to bring phonics alive and encourage reading and writing. Colour differentiation also promoted, besides handwriting, fine motor skills, road safety awareness and transport-related topic studies.
This activity sheet links letter C with four familiar items - cup, crayons, car and cat. The pictures will enable young readers to link the shape and phonic with the relevant words. The pale-coloured Cs can be written over. Two of the pictures are in black and white for colouring opportunities.
Lots of similar phonics sheets at my shop, especially recent uploads.
This phonics activity enables learners to link letters or sounds with familiar words, via picture representations. Instead of the off-putting challenge of words to read, the sheet simply provides the initial letter/sound; the accompanying picture will spur them to say the rest of the word.
e - egg, m - moon and o - orange are given here, in pale letters for writing over.
For more, see my other phonics activities too. (Search under my ‘latest’ or ‘most recent’ items.
Robin writing sheets in 4 grades (4 sheets, 1 file), with teacher’s guide, for young, emergent writers - Reception to Yr 2.
Descriptive language and imagery are invited, plus words for flying (gliding, flapping, darting?), and for the sky. Pictures to colour, hand-drawn by author. Topics addressed: garden birds, flight, movement, spring, animals, colour and more.
The Guide gives word suggestions for each line, for quick reference when providing examples to the children.
This sparkly star picture includes two yellow ‘S’ letters to write over and, below, the ‘sp’ of ‘sparkly’ + the ‘st’ of ‘star’ to write, completing the words. Children will associate the letters with the words and pictures, helping them to learn their phonics. The star can be coloured in, with little stars around for shading too.
Attractive, fun activity for fast, meaningful learning and writing practice.
See my other phonics sheets at my shop. Latest entries.
Beautiful pictures linking with ‘b’ and ‘s’ letters to write over:
bee, butterfly, spider, snail, bat, bird and snake.
Early years and KS1 children will enjoy identifying the creatures, saying the words and writing over the softely coloured letters that they start with - b and s.
An attractive, engaging way to help children connect letters to words and real things. Brings meaning to phonics.
Phonic short o, in ‘on’ and ‘off’, recognition, reading and writing practice, illustrated. Young children will instantly connect with the pictures and familiar, simple words - on and off, and enjoy writing over the pale, coloured letters, twice over.
See my other short ‘o’ phonic resources and other sound practice sheets too, for more phonic teaching support.
4 simple phonics writing + colouring sheets to learn ‘o’ in fox, box, dog, frog, dots, spots, on and off. Offers reading, writing and motor control development, with pale letters to over-write. Each o is presented in a different colour from the other letters, to stand out. It is also shown separately, in a bright colour. The pictures bring meaning and interest, and assist learning.
This fun writing sheet highlights the letter-phonic ‘e’ in ‘pen’ and ‘red pen’, with an extra ‘e’ circled. The pale words can be written over, plus there’s an ‘e’ to hear in ‘teddy’ - a picture of a teddy holding a red pen.
Supports phonic and letter learning, handwriting and fine motor skills, with a pen to shade in, also offering discussion scope.
For similar sheets featuring other vowel sounds and letters, please visit my shop, then click recent.
Phonic ‘a’ in the word ‘bat’, illustrated writing sheet, with pale letters to write over. The word is presented three times, with three sweeping, swooping bats and stars to colour in.
See also my other phonic ‘a’ sheets with ‘cat’ and ‘cat in a hat’.
Phonic ‘o’ is presented in dog and frog, for young children to read or recognise, and over-write. The pictures can be coloured in for extra fun and meaningfulness.
See my other ‘o’ writing and colouring sheets in this series - fox, box; dots and spots.
Phonic ‘o’ as in ‘dots’ and ‘spots’ is attractively presented for reading, recognising and over-writing, along with the letters around it, with coloured dots and spots to add to, for extra fun. The pictures and words bring meaning to the phonic for young children.
See my various other phonics resources too, for a wider range.
Phonic ‘o’ as in fox and box - writing practice with pictures to colour. Simple, but fun and meaningful, bringing ‘o’ alive for young children.
See my other phonics activities too, spread through my catalogue.
This funny, lively space rhyme supports all-round literacy. It’s simple, four-line verse can be varied to allow for different ideas, and each can be enacted or expressed with gestures, sounds or mime. Children will enjoy its catchy rhythm and be interested in the rhyme (space/face), also finding the tone cheerful and humorous. The resource offers embellishment for space topics, too, and encourages physical movement and expression.
The tips below the rhyme include handy prompts for enacting, line by line, and also for eliciting alternative alien features.
Using a simple, familiar tune, this verse could also be set to music.
A punchy, 4-verse rhyme about shells, with guidance notes for presentation and development, for use with young children.
Can be chanted with hand gestures, with scope for more verses using children’s volunteered alternative describing words for shells.
Supports speaking and listening skills, drama, presentation, self-confidence, seaside topics and more.
The four rhyming verses describe sea shells in different ways, drawing attention to different types and their varying features, and the beauty and jewel-like quality of underwater shells, too.
Video: Here’s me talking about shells, showing some, and reciting the poem, at a make-believe seaside: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wkeZ8K6iCfcFQneZ9 .
Here’s a writing/colouring sheet to follow on with: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/shells-can-be-illustrated-writing-frame-guide-sheet-12099487
This lively action-rhyme consists of four couplets. Each tells of a spider’s movements, dangling, landing (on your head), running round your hair… running everywhere. The notes below it provide tips for acting out these different stages.
The rhyme supports all-round literacy, including vocabulary, speaking and listening, expressive and creative presentation, and rhythm and rhyme development. It also teaches children about spiders and helps them to appreciate these delicate mini creatures, reducing any fears they may have of them.
Tapping or shaking the beat will add to the punch and fun of this rhyme, while acting out provides an alternative approach. Perhaps do both by turn.
This two-verse ladybird rhyme has rhythm, rhyme and word fun. There’s ample scope for acting out, too, and the notes below the text provide a few tips for this.
The rhyme supports all-round literacy, including vocabulary, rhyme and imagery (red as a poppy). It also develops awareness of insects and appreciation of their tiny, delicate features. Enacting the verses will encourage creative, expressive movement, and the cheerful tone will support mental wellbeing, too.
You may also like my spider rhyme: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/rhyme-spider-12304548